RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN EXPLICIT AND IMPLICIT SELF-ESTEEM AND THE NEED FOR SOCIAL APPROVAL AND NARCISSISM IN PERSONS HOLDING MANAGERIAL POSITIONS

Self-esteem determines the well-being of an individual; it is related to health and physical conditions, and consequently, it influences a person’s behavior, decision-making and social functioning. It has been the subject of research for many years, and yet no reliable measurement tools have been developed, especially in relation to implicit self-esteem. It is assumed that explicit and implicit self-esteem are different manifestations of attitudes towards oneself and do not have to be compatible with each other (they are poorly correlated; as a rule, the correlation does not exceed 0.25). For people in managerial positions in an organization, self-esteem can be a decisive factor in achievement. In this study, it was, therefore, assumed that managers have a positive relationship between explicit self-esteem and variables implicitly related to self-esteem, that is, the level of the need for social approval and the level of narcissism. The research was carried out in two groups: managers (people at the highest, middle or lower levels in the organizational structure, managing a team of people) and employees who do not play managerial roles (people who perform a scope of duties that do not include responsibility for the results of other people’s work). The results of this study showed that for managers, the relationship between the scale of the need for social approval and narcissism was particularly important for the leadership and self-sufficiency scales; these are the scales that indicate the most desirable aspects of narcissism for managers. This correlation was not found in the control group. The tools for measuring implicit self-esteem were also used to compare the results for both of its aspects.

Full text (pdf)

1. Aiken, L. S., West, S. G. (1991). Multiple Regression: Testing and interpreting interactions. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
2. Baumeister, R. F., Campbell, J. D., Krueger, J. I., Vohs, K. D. (2003). Does high self-esteem cause better performance, interpersonal success, happiness, or healthier lifestyles?, “Psychological Science in the Public Interest”, 4(1).
3. Bosson J. K., Brown R. P., Zeigler-Hill V., Swann W. B., (2003). Self-Enhancement Tendencies Among People With High Explicit Self-Esteem: The Moderating Role of Implicit
4. Self-Esteem. “Self and Identity”, Vol. 2, issue 3.
5. Bosson, J. K. et al. (2008). Untangling the links between narcissism and self-esteem:
6. A theoretical and empirical review. “Social and Personality Psychology Compass” 2(3).
7. Brown, R. P., Zeigler-Hill, V., (2004). Narcissism and the non-equivalence of self-esteem measures: A matter of dominance?, “Journal of Research in Personality”, Vol. 38, issue 6.
8. Brummelman, E., Thomaes, S., Sedikides, C. (2016). Separating narcissism from self-esteem, Vol. 25, issue 1. Access on the internet: journals.sagepub.com.
9. Brunell, A. B., Fisher, T. D. (2014). Using the bogus pipeline to investigate grandiose narcissism. “Journal of Experimental Social Psychology”, Vol. 55.
10. Brzezińska, R., Drat-Ruszczak, Z. (2000). Struktura narcyzmu w polskiej adaptacji kwestionariusza NPI Ruskina i Halla. „Czasopismo Psychologiczne”, 6.
11. Cain, N. M., Pincus, A. L., Ansell, E. B. (2008). Narcissism at the crossroads. Phenotypic description of pathological narcissism across clinical theory, social/personality psychology, and psychiatric diagnosis. “Clinical Psychology Review”, Vol. 28, 4.
12. Campbell, W. K., Bosson, J. K., Goheen, T. W., Lakey, C. E., Kernis, M. H. (2007). Do narcissists dislike themselves „deep down inside”?, “Psychological Science”, 8.
13. Dickinson, K. A., Pincus, A. L. (2005). Interpersonal analysis of grandiose and vulnerable narcissism. “Journal of Personality Disorders”, Vol. 17, No. 3
14. Di Pierro, R., Mattavelli, S., Gallucci, M. (2016). Narcissistic traits and explicit self-esteem: The moderating role of implicit self-view. “Frontiers in Psychology”, 7.
15. Drwal, R. Ł., Wilczyńska, J. T. (1980). Opracowanie kwestionariusza aprobaty społecznej. „Przegląd Psychologiczny”, 23(3).
16. Dziwota, K., Dudek A., Szpak, A., Ludwikowska, K. (2016). Value preferences in individuals with low and high self-esteem. “Current Problems of Psychiatry”.
17. Dzwonkowska, I., Lachowicz-Tabaczek, K., Łaguna, M. (2008). Samoocena i jej pomiar. Polska adaptacja skali SES M. Rosenberga. Podręcznik. Warszawa: Pracownia Testów Psycho-
18. logicznych PTP.
19. Emmons, R. A. (1987). Narcissism: Theory and measurement. “Journal of Personality and Social Psychology”, 52(1).
20. Fossati, A., Feeney, J., Pincus, A., Borroni, S., Maffei, C. (2015). The structure of pathological narcissism and its relationships with adult attachment styles: A study of Italian nonclinical and clinical adult participants. “Psychoanalytic Psychology”, 32(3).
21. Gebauer, J. E., Riketta, M., Broemer Ph., Maio G. R., (2008). How much do you like your name? An implicit measure of global self-esteem. “Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, Elsevier”, 44(5).
22. Golec de Zavala, A., Cichocka, A., Eidelson, R. Jayawickreme, N. (2009). Collective narcissism and its social consequences. “Journal of Personality and Social Psychology”.
23. Greenwald, A. G., Farnham, S. D. (2000). Using the Implicit Association Test to measure
24. self-esteem and self-concept. “Journal of Personality and Social Psychology”, 79.
25. Greenwald, A. G., McGhee D. E., Schwartz, Jordan L. K. (1998). Measuring individual differences in implicite cognition: The Implicit Association Test. “Journal of Personality and Social Psychology”, 74(6).
26. Gregg, A. P., Sedikides, C., (2010). Narcissistic fragility: rethinking its links to explicit and implicit self-esteem. “Self and Identity”, 9:2. Access on the internet: www.psypress.com/sai
27. Jaksic, N., Goran, M., Ivezic, E., Wertag, A., Jokic-Begic, N., Pincus, A. L. (2014). The Pathological Narcissism Inventory (PNI) in a transitional post-war socjety: Factor structure and psychometric properties among Croatian University students. “Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment”, 36(4).
28. Jordan, C. H., Spencer, S. J., Zanna, M. P. (2003). „I love me… I love me not:” Implicit self-esteem, explicit self-esteem, and defensiveness [In:] Spencer, S. J., Fein, S., Zanna, M.P., Olson J. M., eds, Motivated Social Perception: The Ontario Symposium. Vol. 9. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
29. Kernberg, O. (1975). Further contributions to the treatment of narcissistic personalities: A reply to the discussion by Paul H. Ornstein. “The International Journal of Psychoanalysis”, 56.
30. Kernis, M.H. (2003). Toward a conceptualization of opimal self-esteem. “Psychol. Inq.”, 14. DOI: 10.1207/S15327965PLI1401_01.
31. Kohut, H., Wolf, E.S. (1986). „The disorders of self and their treatment: an outline” [In:] Morrison A. P., ed., Essential Papers on Narcissism, New York: New York University Press.
32. Koole, S. L., Dijksterhuis, A., van Knippenberg, A. (2001). What’s in a name: Implicit self-
33. -esteem and the automatic self. “Journal of Personality and Social Psychology”, 80(4).
34. Krusemark, E., Lee, Ch., Newman, J. (2014). Narcissism demensions differentially moderate selective attention to evaluative stimuli in incarcerated offenders. “Personality Disorders: Theory, Research and Treatment”, 6(1).
35. Łaguna, M., Lachowicz-Tabaczek K., Dzwonkowska I., (2007). Skala samooceny SES Morrisa Rosenberga – polska adaptacja metody. „Psychologia społeczna”, t. 2 02(04).
36. Mandal, E. (2014). Beauty and social influence. Adonization and its correlates. “Polish Psychological Bulletin”.
37. Marissen, M. A. E., Brouver, M. E., Hiemstra, A. M. F., Deen, M. L., Franken, I. H. A. (2016). A masked negative self-esteem? Implicite and explicit self-esteem in patients with Narcissistic Personality Disorder. “Psychiatry Research”, 30.
38. Miller, J. D., Campbell, W. K. (2008). Comparing clinical and social-personality con-
39. ceptualizations of narcissism. “Journal of Personality”. Access on the internet: www.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
40. Olson, M. A., Fazio, R. H., Hermann, A. D. (2007). Reporting tendencies underlie discrepancies between implicite and explicit measures of self-esteem. “Psychological Science”, 18.
41. Ong, Ch. W., Roberts, R., Arthur, C. A., Woodman, T., Akehurst, S. (2016). The leadership
42. is sinking: A temporal investigation of narcissistic leadership. “Journal of Personality”, Vol. 84, issue 2.
43. Oura, S., Matsuo, K., Inagaki (Fujii), T., Shima, Y., Fukui, Y. (2017). Effects of manifestation and potential internal working models of attachment on depression. J-STAGE. “Emotional Psychology Research”, Vol. 25(2017).
44. Owens, B. P., Walker, A. S., Waldman, D. (2015). Leader narcissism and follower outcomes: The counterbalancing effect of leader humility. “Journal of Applied Psychology”, 100(4).
45. Pilch, I., Hyla, M. (2017). Narcissism and self-esteem revisited: The relationships between the subscales of the NPI and explicit/implicit self-esteem. “Polish Psychological Bulletin”.
46. Pincus, A. L., Ansell, E. B., Pimentel, C. A., Cain, N. M., Wright, A. G. C., Levy, K. N. (2009). Initial construction and validation of the Pathological Narcissism Inventory. “Psychological Assessment”, 21(3).
47. Pincus, A. L., Cain, N. M., Wright, A. G. C. (2014). Narcissistic grandiosity and narcissistic vulnerability in psychotherapy. “Personality Disorders: Theory, Research, and Treatment”, 5(4).
48. Pincus, A. L., Lukowitsky, M. R. (2010). Patological narcissism and Narcissistic Personality Disorder. “Annual Reviews of Clinical Psychology”, Vol. 6.
49. Raskin, R. N., Hall, C. S. (1979). A narcissistic personality inventory. Access on the internet: www.journals.sagepub.com
50. Ronningstam, E. F. (2005). Identifying and understanding the narcissistic personality. Oxford University Press.
51. Rosenthal, S. A., Hooley, J. M. (2010). Narcissism assessment in social-personality research: Does the association between narcissism and psychological health result from a confound with
52. self-esteem? “Journal of Research in Personality”, 44(4).
53. Rosenthal, S. A., Pittinsky, T. L. (2006). Narcissistic leadership. “The Leadership Quarterly”,
54. Vol. 17, issue 6.
55. Vater, A., Schröder-Abé, M., Renneberg, B., Schulze, L., Bosson, J. K., Roepke, S. (2013). The Narcissistic Personality Inventory: a useful tool for assessing pathological narcissism? Evidence from patients with narcissistic personality disorder. “Journal of Personality Assessment”, 95(3).
56. Watson, D., Gamez, W., Simms, L. J. (2005). Basic dimensions of temperament and their relation to anxiety and depression: A symptom-based perspective. “Journal of Research in Personality”, 39.
57. Wilson, T. D., Lindsey, S., Schooler, T. Y. (2000). A model of dual attitudes. “Psychological Review”, Vol. 107(1).
58. Wright, A. G. C., Lukowitsky, M. R., Pincus, A. L., Conroy, D. E. (2010). The higher order factor structure and gender invariance of the Pathological Narcissism Inventory. “American Psychological Association, Society for Clinical Psychology” (Division 12), Section IX (Assessment,) 20.
59. Xiao, X., Liu, F., Zhou, F., Chen, S. (2018). Narcissistic leadership and employees’ knowledge sharing: Influence of organizational identification and collectivism. “Social Behavior and Personality”, 46(8).
60. Zeigler-Hill, V. (2006). Discrepancies between implicite and explicit self-esteem: Implications for narcissism and self-esteem instability. “Journal of Personality”, Vol. 74, issue 1. Access on the internet: www.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
61. Zweigenhaft, R. L. I., Marlowe, D. (1973). Signature size: Studies in expressive movement. “Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology”, 40.