Distinguishing narcissism and hostility: similarities and differences in interpersonal circumplex and five-factor correlates.

Narcissism and hostility are both characterized by dysfunctional social interactions, including tendencies to perceive slights, experience anger, and behave aggressively. The aim of this study was to examine the similarities and differences of narcissism and hostility, using 2 conceptual tools-the interpersonal circumplex and the Five-factor model. In a sample of 292 undergraduate men and women, composite measures of hostility (i.e., Buss-Perry Aggression Questionnaire [Buss & Perry, 1992] and Cook-Medley Hostility [Cook & Medley, 1954] total scores) were inversely correlated with affiliation and unrelated to dominance. In contrast, composite narcissism scores (i.e., Narcissistic Personality Inventory) were positively correlated with dominance and inversely correlated with affiliation. Examination of components of these traits revealed additional similarities and differences, as did associations with other dimensions of the Five-factor model. These findings suggest that the traits of narcissism and hostility are distinguishable by their interpersonal referents, as are their components.

On self-aggrandizement and anger: a temporal analysis of narcissism and affective reactions to success and failure.

Narcissists are thought to display extreme affective reactions to positive and negative information about the self. Two experiments were conducted in which high- and low-narcissistic individuals, as defined by the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI), completed a series of tasks in which they both succeeded and failed. After each task, participants made attributions for their performance and reported their moods. High-NPI participants responded with greater changes in anxiety, anger, and self-esteem. Low self-complexity was examined, but it neither mediated nor moderated affective responses. High-NPI participants tended to attribute initial success to ability, leading to more extreme anger responses and greater self-esteem reactivity to failure. A temporal sequence model linking self-attribution and emotion to narcissistic rage is discussed.

Cognitive, behavioral, and affective correlates of the Cook and Medley Hostility Scale.

The Cook and Medley Hostility (Ho) Scale is an increasingly important measure in studies examining health consequences of hostility. The two studies discussed herein provide further evidence of the construct validity of this measure. In Study 1, high Ho scores were associated with a greater level of aroused anger and disparaging appraisals of subjects' partners in a competitive reaction-time game as well as marginally more frequent antagonistic behavior. In Study 2, high Ho scores were associated with greater levels of angry and suspicious thoughts and feelings in response to hypothetical interpersonal conflicts and the tendency to attribute hostile intent to actors' displays of negative social behaviors. These findings are consistent with previous conceptual descriptions of the cognitive, behavioral, and affective correlates of hostility. The results are discussed in terms of interpretation of studies using the Ho scale and possible refinements of the measure.

Optimism, neuroticism, coping, and symptom reports: an alternative interpretation of the Life Orientation Test.

Found in two studies that the Life Orientation Test (LOT) had limited discriminant validity relative to measures of neuroticism. Furthermore, although previous correlations of the LOT with measures of symptom reports and coping behaviors were replicated, these correlations were eliminated when neuroticism was controlled. In contrast, the correlations of symptoms and coping with neuroticism remained significant when LOT scores were controlled. Thus, the LOT is virtually indistinguishable from measures of neuroticism, and previously reported findings using this scale are perhaps more parsimoniously interpreted as reflecting neuroticism rather than optimism. These findings are discussed in terms of existing support for models of optimism and self-control and general methodological issues in studies of personality and health.

Appraisal of life change, depression, and illness in hardy and nonhardy women.

A survey study of adult women was conducted to examine whether psychological hardiness buffers people against stressful life change through the appraisal and interpretation of life experiences. Hardy and nonhardy participants reported life events for the previous year, physical illness for the previous 6 months, and current levels of depression and rated each reported event in terms of its desirability. Results indicate that, although hardiness is not associated with the likelihood of reporting any specific life event, nonhardy subjects appraise a significantly higher proportion of their life experiences as undesirable than do hardy subjects and report that each negative event requires greater adjustment. Discussion focuses on nonhardiness as a correlate of the trait of negative affectivity rather than hardiness as a reflection of special resiliency to stress.

A person-environment analysis of job stress: a contingency model explanation.

The contingency model of leadership was applied in a field study of job stress. Fifty-one university administrators completed a series of questionnaires that assessed their leadership style, degree of situational control within their work setting, perceived job stress, physical health, and psychological well-being. Multivariate analyses of variance (MANOVAs) showed that administrators whose leadership style and level of situational control were "in match" reported significantly less job stress, fewer health problems, and fewer days missed from work than administrators who were "out of match." The results are discussed as supporting the person-environment fit model of job stress.

Self-involvement, self-attribution, and the Type A coronary-prone behavior pattern.

Various conceptualizations of the coronary-prone behavior pattern have at their core the idea that Type As and Type Bs differ in the ways in which they evaluate themselves. In this study the relationship between self-references in speech indicative of self-involvement and self-attributional biases was examined. Twenty Type A and 20 Type B men and women completed the Attributional Style Questionnaire, an instrument that requires subjects to make attributions for and to describe six positive and six negative events. The responses were coded for attributions and frequency of self-references. Results indicated that for positive events, both Type A and Type B subjects attributed causality to themselves. However, for negative events, Type As made self-attributions and Type Bs made situational attributions. In addition, compared with Type Bs, Type A subjects used a greater percentage of self-references in their event causes, but not in the event descriptions. The implications of these findings for a self-evaluative model of Type A behavior are discussed.

The Type A behavior pattern and carotid artery atherosclerosis.

The Type A behavior pattern has been identified as an important precursor of coronary atherosclerosis. However, atherosclerosis is a disease process that occurs throughout the arterial system. The present research examined the hypothesis that the Type A pattern may also be related to disease in other arteries such as the carotid arteries. Men (n = 21) and women (n = 23) from 40 to 65 years of age were examined for carotid artery atherosclerosis using doppler ultrasonography. Subjects also completed the Jenkins Activity Survey (JAS) to measure the Type A pattern. The results indicated that the diseased individuals were more likely to be classified as Type A (71%) than as Type B (29%), Z = 2.08, p less than 0.05. The nondiseased individuals were not more likely to be Type A (53%) than Type B (47%). The results are consistent with the hypothesis that atherosclerosis in Type A individuals is not limited to the coronary arteries but the disease is likely to occur throughout the arterial system.

Reactance and the coronary-prone behavior pattern: the role of self-attribution in responses to reduced behavioral freedom.

An experiment is reported that explored the role of self-attributional differences as mediators of reactions to threats to control in Type A and Type B individuals. Both Type A and Type B subjects were placed in a choice elimination reactance paradigm. In addition to the standard control and choice elimination conditions, subjects were induced to attribute having a choice among evaluated items either to themselves or to the situation prior to experiencing the elimination of choice. Reactance was measured by the subjects' reevaluations of the eliminated choice alternative. Results indicated that when a behavioral freedom is blocked, without manipulating attributions, only Type As experienced reactance. When subjects were induced to attribute having a choice to themselves, the magnitude of the reactance responses increased for both Type As and Type Bs. In contrast, when Type As and Type Bs were induced to attribute having choice to the situation, neither group reacted to the loss of choice. These results are integrated with previous findings on the coronary-prone behavior pattern.