Evaluating the Instantiation of Narcissism Components in Contemporary Measures of Psychopathy

Narcissistic traits figure prominently in classical conceptualizations of psychopathy and bear substantial empirical overlap with components of psychopathy. Yet the degree to which various widely used self-report measures of psychopathy include relevant narcissistic content has not been evaluated, especially in relation to new, multidimensional models of narcissism. Using a large undergraduate sample (N = 432) and self- and informant-ratings of narcissism, the present study examined narcissism's instantiation in several commonly used self-report psychopathy measures. A modern conceptualization of narcissism at three levels of hierarchical organization (i.e., Trifurcated Model of Narcissism) was applied to comprehensively evaluate narcissism's instantiation in these psychopathy measures. Although narcissistic traits related to self-centered antagonism were well-instantiated across psychopathy self-report measures, narcissistic traits related to agentic extraversion were represented more modestly by most (i.e., Triarchic Psychopathy Measure, Self-Report Psychopathy Scale: Version III, Levenson Self-Report Psychopathy Scale), but not all (i.e., Elemental Psychopathy Assessment [EPA]) psychopathy measures. Only the EPA contained substantial representation of all narcissism components. Given the theoretical and empirical overlap between psychopathy and narcissism, it behooves researchers to be aware of the degree to which psychopathy measures capture narcissistic content.

Automated summary

This study examined how narcissistic traits are represented in commonly used self-report measures of psychopathy, finding that while self-centered antagonism traits were well-captured, traits related to agentic extraversion were more modestly represented. Only the Elemental Psychopathy Assessment (EPA) contained substantial representation of all narcissism components.