Self-Esteem Regulation

Captured under the umbrella of grandiosity, self-esteem dysregulation serves to maintain inflated self-experiences and undo feelings of inadequacy and insufficiency. Studies have also identified narcissism as a defensive form of selfesteem regulation (Kernis & Sun, 1994; Raskin, Novacek & Hogan, 1991). These studies verified that narcissistic self-esteem management, consisting of dominance, hostility, and grandiosity (Raskin et al., 1991), serves to enhance the vulnerable grandiose self and protect it from self-doubt and feelings of inferiority and insufficiency. In addition, it protects against other threatening feelings such as anger, anxiety, fear, shame, and depression. In other words, narcissistic individuals with an inflated self-view and high but unstable self-esteem tend to dominate and control situations and other people, and react with anger and hostility toward perceived threats to their positive self-regard and self-esteem (Bushman & Baumeister 1998; Kernis, Granneman, & Barclay, 1989; Smalley & Stake, 1996). They also react with increased optimism and unrealistic goal setting, leading to impaired judgment and risk of self-regulation failure (Baumeister, Heatheron, & Tice, 1993).

Ronningstam, Elsa. "Identifying Pathological Narcissism." Identifying and Understanding the Narcissistic Personality. New York: Oxford UP, 2005. 77-78. Print.