Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gbm5v Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T19:28:31.714Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The narcissistic self and its psychological and neural correlates: an exploratory fMRI study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 December 2010

Y. Fan ,
C. Wonneberger ,
B. Enzi ,
M. de Greck ,
C. Ulrich ,
C. Tempelmann ,
B. Bogerts ,
S. Doering  and
G. Northoff
Y. Fan
Affiliation:
Institute of Mental Health Research, University of Ottawa, Canada Department of Psychiatry, Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg, Germany Cluster of Excellence ‘Language of Emotion’ and Dahlem Institute for Neuroimaging of Emotion, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany
C. Wonneberger
Affiliation:
Institute of Mental Health Research, University of Ottawa, Canada Department of Psychiatry, Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg, Germany
B. Enzi
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg, Germany
M. de Greck
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Peking University, Beijing, China
C. Ulrich
Affiliation:
Department of Psychotherapeutic Medicine, Fachklinikum Uchtspringe, Germany
C. Tempelmann
Affiliation:
Department of Neurology, Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg, Germany
B. Bogerts
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg, Germany
S. Doering
Affiliation:
Psychosomatics in Dentistry, Department of Prosthodontics and Material Sciences, University of Muenster, Germany Department of Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, University of Muenster, Germany Department of Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy, Medical University Vienna, Austria
G. Northoff*
Affiliation:
Institute of Mental Health Research, University of Ottawa, Canada
*
*Address for correspondence: Dr G. Northoff, M.D., Ph.D., F.R.C.P.C., Research Unit Director, Mind, Brain Imaging and Neuroethics, Canada Research Chair, The Michael Smith Chair, ELJB-CIHR, Royal Ottawa Healthcare Group, University of Ottawa Institute of Mental Health Research, 1145 Carling Avenue, Room 6435, Ottawa, ON K1Z 7K4, Canada. (Email: [email protected])
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Background

The concept of narcissism has been much researched in psychoanalysis and especially in self psychology. One of the hallmarks of narcissism is altered emotion, including decreased affective resonance (e.g. empathy) with others, the neural underpinnings of which remain unclear. The aim of our exploratory study was to investigate the psychological and neural correlates of empathy in two groups of healthy subjects with high and low narcissistic personality trait. We hypothesized that high narcissistic subjects would show a differential activity pattern in regions such as the anterior insula that are typically associated with empathy.

Method

A sample of 34 non-clinical subjects was divided into high (n=11) and low (n=11) narcissistic groups according to the 66th and 33rd percentiles of their scores on the Narcissism Inventory (NI). Combining the psychological, behavioral and neuronal [i.e. functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)] measurements of empathy, we compared the high and low narcissistic groups of subjects.

Results

High narcissistic subjects showed higher scores on the Symptom Checklist-90 – Revised (SCL-90-R) and the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) when compared to low narcissistic subjects. High narcissistic subjects also showed significantly decreased deactivation during empathy, especially in the right anterior insula.

Conclusions

Psychological and neuroimaging data indicate respectively higher degrees of alexithymia and lower deactivation during empathy in the insula in high narcissistic subjects. Taken together, our preliminary findings demonstrate, for the first time, psychological and neuronal correlates of narcissism in non-clinical subjects. This might stipulate both novel psychodynamic conceptualization and future psychological–neuronal investigation of narcissism.

Keywords

EmpathyfMRInarcissismright anterior insulaself
Type
Original Articles
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 41 , Issue 8 , August 2011 , pp. 1641 - 1650
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

APA (1980). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 3rd edn. American Psychiatric Press: Washington, DC.Google Scholar
APA (1994). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edn. American Psychiatric Press: Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Bach, M, Bach, D, de Zwaan, M, Serim, M, Bohmer, F (1996). Validation of the German version of the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale in normal persons and psychiatric patients [in German]. Psychotherapie, Psychosomatik, Medizinische Psychologie 46, 23–8.Google ScholarPubMed
Craig, AD (2009). How do you feel – now? The anterior insula and human awareness. Nature Reviews Neuroscience 10, 59–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Daig, I, Burkert, S, Fischer, F, Kienast, T, Klapp, BF, Fliege, H (2010). Development and factorial validation of a short version of the Narcissism Inventory (NI-20). Psychopathology 43, 150–158.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Decety, J, Lamm, C (2006). Human empathy through the lens of social neuroscience. Scientific World Journal 6, 1146–1163.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Denecke, FW, Hilgenstock, B (1989). The Narcissism Inventory [in German]. Hans Huber: Bern.Google Scholar
Dimaggio, G, Nicolò, G, Popolo, R, Semerari, A, Carcione, A (2006). Self-regulatory dysfunctions in personality disorders: the role of poor self-monitoring and mindreading. Applied Psychology: An International Review 55, 397–407.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Emmons, RA (1984). Factor analysis and construct validity of the Narcissistic Personality Inventory. Journal of Personality Assessment 48, 291–300.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Enzi, B, de Greck, M, Prosch, U, Tempelmann, C, Northoff, G (2009). Is our self nothing but reward? Neuronal overlap and distinction between reward and personal relevance and its relation to human personality. PLoS ONE 4, e8429.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fosshage, JL (2009). Some key features in the evolution of self psychology and psychoanalysis. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 1159, 1–18.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Franke, G (1995). SCL-90-R. Die Symptom-Checkliste von Derogatis – Deutsche Version [SCL-90-R. The Symptom Check-List from Derogatis – German version]. Beltz: Goettingen.Google Scholar
Freud, S (1905). Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality, Vol. 7. Hogarth: London.Google Scholar
Freud, S (1910). Leonardo da Vinci and a memory of his childhood. In The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud (ed. Freud, S.), pp. 59–137. Hogarth Press: London.Google Scholar
Gehrie, MJ (2009). The evolution of the psychology of the self: toward a mature narcissism. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 1159, 31–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hartmann, HP (2009). Psychoanalytic self psychology and its conceptual development in light of developmental psychology, attachment theory, and neuroscience. Annals of the New York Academy of Science 1159, 86–105.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hautzinger, M, Bailer, M, Worall, H, Keller, F (1994). The Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) [in German]. Huber: Bern.Google Scholar
Hooker, CI, Verosky, SC, Germine, LT, Knight, RT, D'Esposito, M (2008). Mentalizing about emotion and its relationship to empathy. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience 3, 204–217.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Horn, W (1983). Leistungsprüfsystem L-P-S, Handanweisung [Achievement Measurement System, User's Guide]. Hogrefe: Göttingen.Google Scholar
Kernberg, OF (1975). Borderline Conditions and Pathological Narcissism. Jason Aronson: New York.Google Scholar
Knutson, B, Adams, CM, Fong, GW, Hommer, D (2001 a). Anticipation of increasing monetary reward selectively recruits nucleus accumbens. Journal of Neuroscience 21, RC159.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Knutson, B, Fong, GW, Adams, CM, Varner, JL, Hommer, D (2001 b). Dissociation of reward anticipation and outcome with event-related fMRI. Neuroreport 12, 3683–3687.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kohut, H (1971). The Analysis of the Self. International Universities Press: New York.Google Scholar
Kohut, H (1977). The Restoration of the Self. International Universities Press: New York.Google Scholar
Kohut, H (1984). How Does Analysis Cure? The University of Chicago Press: Chicago.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kriegeskorte, N, Simmons, WK, Bellgowan, PS, Baker, CI (2009). Circular analysis in systems neuroscience: the dangers of double dipping. Nature Neuroscience 12, 535–540.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lamm, C, Singer, T (2010). The role of anterior insular cortex in social emotions. Brain Structure and Function 214, 579–591.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lasch, C (1979). The Culture of Narcissism: American Life in an Age of Diminishing Expectations. WW Norton: New York.Google Scholar
Lawson, R, Waller, G, Sines, J, Meyer, C (2008). Emotional awareness among eating-disordered patients: the role of narcissistic traits. European Eating Disorders Review 16, 44–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lehrl, S, Triebig, G, Fischer, B (1995). Multiple choice vocabulary test MWT as a valid and short test to estimate premorbid intelligence. Acta Neurologica Scandinavica 91, 335–345.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Modinos, G, Ormel, J, Aleman, A (2009). Activation of anterior insula during self-reflection. PLoS ONE 4, e4618.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Paulus, C (2009). Saarbruecker Persoenlichkeits-Fragebogen zur Empathie (SPF) [Saarbruecker Personality Questionnaires for Empathy (SPF)]. Based on the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI). V5.5. University of Saarbruecken: Saarbruecken.Google Scholar
Preston, SD, de Waal, FB (2002). Empathy: its ultimate and proximate bases. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 25, 1–20; discussion 20–71.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ritter, K, Lammers, CH (2007). Narcissism – variable of personality and personality disorder [in German]. Psychotherapie, Psychosomatik, Medizinische Psychologie 57, 53–60.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Russ, E, Shedler, J, Bradley, R, Westen, D (2008). Refining the construct of narcissistic personality disorder: diagnostic criteria and subtypes. American Journal of Psychiatry 165, 1473–1481.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Singer, JL (1966). Daydreaming: An Introduction to the Experimental Study of Inner Experience. Random House: New York.Google Scholar
Singer, T (2006). The neuronal basis and ontogeny of empathy and mind reading: review of literature and implications for future research. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews 30, 855–863.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Singer, T, Lamm, C (2009). The social neuroscience of empathy. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 1156, 81–96.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Singer, T, Seymour, B, O'Doherty, J, Kaube, H, Dolan, RJ, Frith, CD (2004). Empathy for pain involves the affective but not sensory components of pain. Science 303, 1157–1162.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Singer, T, Seymour, B, O'Doherty, JP, Stephan, KE, Dolan, RJ, Frith, CD (2006). Empathic neural responses are modulated by the perceived fairness of others. Nature 439, 466–469.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Smallwood, J, Schooler, JW (2006). The restless mind. Psychological Bulletin 132, 946–958.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Watson, PJ, Grisham, SO, Trotter, MV, Biderman, MD (1984). Narcissism and empathy: validity evidence for the Narcissistic Personality Inventory. Journal of Personality Assessment 48, 301–305.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Watson, PJ, Sawrie, SM, Greene, RL, Arredondo, R (2002). Narcissism and depression: MMPI-2 evidence for the continuum hypothesis in clinical samples. Journal of Personality Assessment 79, 85–109.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Supplementary material: File

Fan Supplementary Material

Appendix.doc

Download Fan Supplementary Material(File)
File 936.4 KB