The public image of narcissism and its social consequences

Smith, Sarah 2025. The public image of narcissism and its social consequences. PhD Thesis, Cardiff University. Item availability restricted.

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Abstract

Narcissism is a construct with both scientific and cultural significance, yet its public image remains poorly understood. This thesis adopts a bottom-up, participant-led approach to examine how narcissism is conceptualized, structured, and visually represented in everyday life, using qualitative, quantitative, and visual methods across three empirical papers. Paper 1 (two studies; N = 842) analyzed lay conceptualizations of narcissism and narcissistic acquaintances. Participants emphasized selfishness and vanity in their conceptualization of narcissism, with narcissistic acquaintances described as extraverted, disagreeable, low in warmth, and placing high importance of self-enhancement values. Further, participants scoring higher in narcissism evaluated narcissism and narcissistic acquaintances more positively. Paper 2 (four studies; N = 718) investigated the prototype structure of narcissism. Central traits clustered into grandiose egocentricity (e.g., vanity, attention-seeking) and interpersonal antagonism (e.g., manipulation, lack of empathy). These traits were applied more readily, judged as more prototypical, and evaluated more positively by participants higher in narcissism, extending the tolerance effect to lay-defined content. Paper 3 (three studies; N = 841) employed reverse correlation to generate images of selfish narcissists and vain narcissists. Naïve observers judged narcissistic faces as less warm and trustworthy overall, yet the vain image was seen as more competent, attractive, and romantically appealing. Narcissistic tolerance also extended to visual representations of the vain narcissist, with higher-narcissism participants rating the vain image more positively via perceived self-similarity. Overall, the findings show that public conceptions of narcissism are structured and consequential. They converge with and diverge from academic and clinical accounts, revealing tensions between narcissism’s social costs and superficial appeal. This bottom-up approach advances theory, underscores the value of lay perspectives for construct validity, and demonstrates the wider social consequences of narcissism as a public image.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Date Type:	Completion
Status:	Unpublished
Schools:	Schools > Psychology
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	27 January 2026
Last Modified:	27 Jan 2026 17:07
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/184215

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