Differences in emotions arising at failure among groups in a two-dimensional model of social phobic tendency and narcissistic personality: Focusing on the effects of self-presentation motivation

Abstract

Narcissistic personality and social phobic tendency are similar to the sub-constructs of narcissistic personality disorder, and have characteristics in common with shame-proneness. The present study investigated different effects of self-presentation motivation (praise-seeking and rejection-avoidance motivation) on emotions (shame, hostility, and depression) arising from failure, among groups in a two-dimensional model of social phobic tendency and narcissistic personality. Undergraduates (N=368) completed a questionnaire. Factor analysis of the data revealed that failure situations could be classified into 2 factors: "failures by themselves" and "pointing or reproach by others". In the "pointing or reproach by others" situation, the individuals with high narcissistic personality and those with high social phobic tendency showed rejection-avoidance motivation effects on depression, mediating shame at failure. It was suggested that, in the individuals in which either narcissistic personality or social phobic tendency is relatively high, evaluation hypersensitivity may have strong effects on shame at failure, and that attributing failure to the general self may harm self-evaluation so severely that a deep depression may be brought about.