Narcissism and Reactions to Interpersonal Feedback

Abstract We investigated the role of narcissism in reactions to interpersonal feedback. Participants first completed the Narcissism Personality Inventory (Raskin & Terry, 1988). They then participated in a laboratory session in which they received either positive or negative feedback. A variety of reactions to the feedback were then assessed. The results indicated that following positive feedback, narcissism was related to perceiving the evaluation technique as more diagnostic and the evaluator as more competent. Conversely, following negative feedback, narcissism was associated with perceiving the evaluation technique as less diagnostic and the evaluator as less competent and likeable. However, narcissism did not moderate the impact of feedback on emotional reactions. Additional analyses revealed some, but not complete, overlap with effects found for level of self-esteem. Theoretical implications are discussed.