Intuition: The BYU Undergraduate Journal of Psychology

Article Title

Will Narcissists Distort? Personal Perceptions of Success and Failure in Narcissistic Individuals

Authors

Abstract

This study examines the relationship between participants' levels of narcissism and their perceptions of success. The researchers hypothesized that more narcissistic individuals would perceive greater success on a word unscrambling test compared to less narcissistic participants. Seventy-eight BYU undergraduates completed the NPI-16 (a measure of narcissism), followed by an easy or difficult word unscrambling test, and then a demographic questionnaire. Results showed that more narcissistic participants did perceive greater personal success than less narcissistic participants, regardless of test difficulty. These findings show support far self deception as a key to grandiose narcissism. Further research could investigate whether task difficulty influences narcissistic self deception, and whether nongrandiose narcissists engage in similar self deception.

Recommended Citation

(2009) "Will Narcissists Distort? Personal Perceptions of Success and Failure in Narcissistic Individuals," Intuition: The BYU Undergraduate Journal of Psychology: Vol. 5: Iss. 1, Article 6.
Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/intuition/vol5/iss1/6