The effects of overt and covert narcissism on forgiveness mediated by cumulative humiliation

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effects of overt and covert narcissism, isolated from self-esteem, on forgiveness, as mediated by cumulative humiliation. To test the validity of the model used in this study, structural equation modeling was performed on data collected from 388 undergraduate students. The results indicated that both overt and covert narcissism had direct, positive effects on revenge, and only covert narcissism, mediated by cumulative humiliation, had positive effects on revenge and avoidance and negative effects on benevolence. These findings suggest that overt and covert narcissism moderate revenge in order to recover self-evaluation. The results also suggest that covert narcissism had more negative effects on forgiveness.