Grandiose and vulnerable narcissism from the perspective of the interpersonal circumplex

A growing empirical literature documents the existence of two distinct dimensions of narcissism, grandiose and vulnerable. In order to better understand the nature of these dimensions, we examined them in the context of the interpersonal circumplex (IPC). Using a sample collected on-line (N = 277), we examined the relations between these two narcissism dimensions - generated as a result of an exploratory factor analysis of 15 narcissism and narcissism-related scales - and two measures of the IPC. GN was most strongly linked with high agency and low communion. Conversely, vulnerable narcissism was most strongly linked with low communion. The data also suggest that the assessment of IPC can substantially influence the pattern of findings for vulnerable narcissism. (c) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.