Dynamism of the self-concept as a moderator of the effect of self-esteem on narcissism

Abstract

The current research utilizes the Mouse Paradigm (Vallacher & Nowak, 1994) to measure "dynamism" of the self-concept, or how the individual's self-evaluation fluctuates without external stimuli. This study examined the role of dynamism of the self-concept in the relationship between self-esteem and narcissism. Rosenberg's self-esteem scale, Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI), and the Mouse Paradigm were administered to 56 university students. The results showed that dynamism of the self-concept moderated the effect of self-esteem on narcissism. Those with high self-esteem showed higher scores on the NPI only when their dynamism in their self-concept is high. When their self-concept dynamism is low, high self-esteem did not lead to narcissism. The results of this study shows the importance of considering dynamic properties of the self when considering the relevance of self-esteem. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2007 APA, all rights reserved) (from the journal abstract)