Skip to main content
  • Submit
  • About
    • Editorial Board
    • PNAS Staff
    • FAQ
    • Accessibility Statement
    • Rights and Permissions
    • Site Map
  • Contact
  • Journal Club
  • Subscribe
    • Subscription Rates
    • Subscriptions FAQ
    • Open Access
    • Recommend PNAS to Your Librarian
  • Log in
  • My Cart

Main menu

  • Home
  • Articles
    • Current
    • Special Feature Articles - Most Recent
    • Special Features
    • Colloquia
    • Collected Articles
    • PNAS Classics
    • List of Issues
  • Front Matter
  • News
    • For the Press
    • This Week In PNAS
    • PNAS in the News
  • Podcasts
  • Authors
    • Information for Authors
    • Editorial and Journal Policies
    • Submission Procedures
    • Fees and Licenses
  • Submit
  • About
    • Editorial Board
    • PNAS Staff
    • FAQ
    • Accessibility Statement
    • Rights and Permissions
    • Site Map
  • Contact
  • Journal Club
  • Subscribe
    • Subscription Rates
    • Subscriptions FAQ
    • Open Access
    • Recommend PNAS to Your Librarian

User menu

  • Log in
  • My Cart

Search

  • Advanced search
Home
Home

Advanced Search

  • Home
  • Articles
    • Current
    • Special Feature Articles - Most Recent
    • Special Features
    • Colloquia
    • Collected Articles
    • PNAS Classics
    • List of Issues
  • Front Matter
  • News
    • For the Press
    • This Week In PNAS
    • PNAS in the News
  • Podcasts
  • Authors
    • Information for Authors
    • Editorial and Journal Policies
    • Submission Procedures
    • Fees and Licenses

New Research In

Physical Sciences

Featured Portals

  • Physics
  • Chemistry
  • Sustainability Science

Articles by Topic

  • Applied Mathematics
  • Applied Physical Sciences
  • Astronomy
  • Computer Sciences
  • Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences
  • Engineering
  • Environmental Sciences
  • Mathematics
  • Statistics

Social Sciences

Featured Portals

  • Anthropology
  • Sustainability Science

Articles by Topic

  • Economic Sciences
  • Environmental Sciences
  • Political Sciences
  • Psychological and Cognitive Sciences
  • Social Sciences

Biological Sciences

Featured Portals

  • Sustainability Science

Articles by Topic

  • Agricultural Sciences
  • Anthropology
  • Applied Biological Sciences
  • Biochemistry
  • Biophysics and Computational Biology
  • Cell Biology
  • Developmental Biology
  • Ecology
  • Environmental Sciences
  • Evolution
  • Genetics
  • Immunology and Inflammation
  • Medical Sciences
  • Microbiology
  • Neuroscience
  • Pharmacology
  • Physiology
  • Plant Biology
  • Population Biology
  • Psychological and Cognitive Sciences
  • Sustainability Science
  • Systems Biology
Reply

Reply to Kealy et al.: Theoretical precision in the study of narcissism and its origins

Eddie Brummelman, Sander Thomaes, Stefanie A. Nelemans, Bram Orobio de Castro, Geertjan Overbeek, and Brad J. Bushman
PNAS June 9, 2015 112 (23) E2987; first published May 19, 2015; https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1507468112
Eddie Brummelman
aResearch Institute of Child Development and Education, Department of Educational Sciences, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam 1001 NG, The Netherlands;
bDepartment of Developmental Psychology, Utrecht University, Utrecht 3584 CS, The Netherlands;
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • For correspondence: e.brummelman@uva.nl
Sander Thomaes
bDepartment of Developmental Psychology, Utrecht University, Utrecht 3584 CS, The Netherlands;
cCenter for Research on Self and Identity, Department of Psychology, University of Southampton, Southampton SO17 1BJ, England;
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Stefanie A. Nelemans
dResearch Centre Adolescent Development, Department of Youth and Family, Utrecht University, Utrecht 3584 CS, The Netherlands;
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Bram Orobio de Castro
bDepartment of Developmental Psychology, Utrecht University, Utrecht 3584 CS, The Netherlands;
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Geertjan Overbeek
aResearch Institute of Child Development and Education, Department of Educational Sciences, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam 1001 NG, The Netherlands;
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Brad J. Bushman
eDepartment of Communication and Psychology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210-1339;
fDepartment of Communication Science, VU University Amsterdam, Amsterdam 1081 HV, The Netherlands
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site

This article has a Letter. Please see:

  • On overvaluing parental overvaluation as the origins of narcissism - May 19, 2015

See related content:

  • Origins of narcissism in children
    - Mar 09, 2015
  • Article
  • Info & Metrics
  • PDF
Loading

We thank Kealy et al. (1) for noting that our article on the origins of narcissism (2) “is a notable contribution to the empirical literature” and “has important implications for helping parents foster appropriate and realistic self-views in their children.” However, they raise questions regarding the interpretation of our findings.

Kealy et al. ask to what extent narcissism as we measured it maps onto pathological narcissism. As noted in our article, we measured narcissism as a subclinical personality trait in a general, nonclinical sample of children. Even in its subclinical form, narcissism predicts significant maladjustment, ranging from aggression, violence, and delinquency to anxiety, depression, and addiction (3). In its extreme form, subclinical narcissism may become pathological, and develop into narcissistic personality disorder: “a pervasive pattern of grandiosity (in fantasy or behavior), need for admiration, and lack of empathy” (4). We advocate a dimensional perspective that conceptualizes narcissistic personality disorder as an extreme manifestation of subclinical narcissism (3). Consistent with this perspective, research in adults shows that (i) subclinical narcissism correlates substantially with interview assessments of narcissistic personality disorder, (ii) subclinical narcissism and narcissistic personality disorder have similar correlates, (iii) and there is no “shift” from normal to extreme narcissism (5). Thus, studying subclinical narcissism may provide preliminary insight into narcissistic personality disorder.

Additionally, Kealy et al. argue that our findings do not refute psychoanalytic theory as a whole. We agree. Our findings do, however, refute the psychoanalytic hypothesis that narcissism is cultivated by lack of parental warmth. Psychoanalytic theory has long been criticized to be unfalsifiable. Most notably, Karl Popper noted, “Once your eyes were thus opened you saw confirming instances everywhere: the world was full of verifications of [psychoanalytic] theory. Whatever happened always confirmed it” (6). We believe, and our study demonstrates, that psychoanalytic theory can generate falsifiable hypotheses. What makes psychoanalytic hypotheses generally difficult to falsify, however, is their imprecision. For example, Kealy et al. argue that psychoanalytic theory predicts that children develop “identity distortion” when they are “not really loved for [themselves] as a person” and that this resonates with our finding that children become more narcissistic when they are overvalued by their parents. However, “identity distortion” and “not really being loved for oneself as a person” are imprecisely defined concepts that leave considerable room for speculation. For too long, research on the origins of narcissism has been hampered by such theoretical imprecision. Precision is imperative in research on socialization, because even subtle differences in socialization practices can have remarkably different consequences for children’s development. In our study, we precisely demarcated parental overvaluation from parental warmth, and demonstrated that overvaluation predicts narcissism, whereas warmth predicts high self-esteem. Narcissism entails unhealthy feelings of superiority, whereas self-esteem entails healthy feelings of worth.

Thus, we call for a dimensional perspective on narcissism, but above all, we call for theoretical precision. Our task is to demarcate the socialization practices that foster narcissism from those that do not. Only by doing so can we develop targeted interventions to curtail narcissistic development.

Acknowledgments

We thank Fedde Benedictus, Peter A. Bos, and Arne Leer for their valuable comments on the manuscript. The original research was supported by The Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (Grant 431-09-022).

Footnotes

  • ↵1To whom correspondence should be addressed. Email: e.brummelman{at}uva.nl.
  • Author contributions: E.B. drafted the paper; E.B., S.T., S.A.N., B.O.d.C., G.O., and B.J.B. wrote the paper.

  • The authors declare no conflict of interest.

View Abstract

References

  1. ↵
    1. Kealy D,
    2. Hadjipavlou GA,
    3. Ogrodniczuk JS
    (2015) On overvaluing parental overvaluation as the origins of narcissism. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 112:E2986
    .
    OpenUrlFREE Full Text
  2. ↵
    1. Brummelman E, et al.
    (2015) Origins of narcissism in children. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 112(12):3659–3662
    .
    OpenUrlAbstract/FREE Full Text
  3. ↵
    1. Cicchetti D
    1. Thomaes S,
    2. Brummelman E
    (2015) Narcissism. Developmental Psychopathology, ed Cicchetti D (Wiley, Hoboken, NJ), 3rd Ed, Vol 4
    .
  4. ↵
    1. American Psychiatric Association
    (2013) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Ed: DSM-5 (American Psychiatric Association, Arlington, VA)
    .
  5. ↵
    1. Miller JD,
    2. Campbell WK
    (2010) The case for using research on trait narcissism as a building block for understanding narcissistic personality disorder. Pers Disord 1(3):180–191
    .
    OpenUrlCrossRef
  6. ↵
    1. Mace CA
    1. Popper K
    (1957) Philosophy of science: A personal report. British Philosophy in Mid-Century, ed Mace CA (Allen and Unwin, London), pp 155–189
    .
PreviousNext
Back to top
Article Alerts
Email Article

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word on PNAS.

NOTE: We only request your email address so that the person you are recommending the page to knows that you wanted them to see it, and that it is not junk mail. We do not capture any email address.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
Reply to Kealy et al.: Theoretical precision in the study of narcissism and its origins
(Your Name) has sent you a message from PNAS
(Your Name) thought you would like to see the PNAS web site.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Citation Tools
Theoretical precision in the study of narcissism
Eddie Brummelman, Sander Thomaes, Stefanie A. Nelemans, Bram Orobio de Castro, Geertjan Overbeek, Brad J. Bushman
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Jun 2015, 112 (23) E2987; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1507468112

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
Request Permissions
Share
Theoretical precision in the study of narcissism
Eddie Brummelman, Sander Thomaes, Stefanie A. Nelemans, Bram Orobio de Castro, Geertjan Overbeek, Brad J. Bushman
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Jun 2015, 112 (23) E2987; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1507468112
Digg logo Reddit logo Twitter logo Facebook logo Google logo Mendeley logo
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like
  • Mendeley logo Mendeley
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences: 112 (23)
Table of Contents

Submit

Sign up for Article Alerts

Article Classifications

  • Social Sciences
  • Psychological and Cognitive Sciences

Jump to section

  • Article
    • Acknowledgments
    • Footnotes
    • References
  • Info & Metrics
  • PDF

You May Also be Interested in

Abstract depiction of a guitar and musical note
Science & Culture: At the nexus of music and medicine, some see disease treatments
Although the evidence is still limited, a growing body of research suggests music may have beneficial effects for diseases such as Parkinson’s.
Image credit: Shutterstock/agsandrew.
Large piece of gold
News Feature: Tracing gold's cosmic origins
Astronomers thought they’d finally figured out where gold and other heavy elements in the universe came from. In light of recent results, they’re not so sure.
Image credit: Science Source/Tom McHugh.
Dancers in red dresses
Journal Club: Friends appear to share patterns of brain activity
Researchers are still trying to understand what causes this strong correlation between neural and social networks.
Image credit: Shutterstock/Yeongsik Im.
Yellow emoticons
Learning the language of facial expressions
Aleix Martinez explains why facial expressions often are not accurate indicators of emotion.
Listen
Past PodcastsSubscribe
Goats standing in a pin
Transplantation of sperm-producing stem cells
CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing can improve the effectiveness of spermatogonial stem cell transplantation in mice and livestock, a study finds.
Image credit: Jon M. Oatley.

Similar Articles

Site Logo
Powered by HighWire
  • Submit Manuscript
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • RSS Feeds
  • Email Alerts

Articles

  • Current Issue
  • Special Feature Articles – Most Recent
  • List of Issues

PNAS Portals

  • Anthropology
  • Chemistry
  • Classics
  • Front Matter
  • Physics
  • Sustainability Science
  • Teaching Resources

Information

  • Authors
  • Editorial Board
  • Reviewers
  • Librarians
  • Press
  • Site Map
  • PNAS Updates

Feedback    Privacy/Legal

Copyright © 2021 National Academy of Sciences. Online ISSN 1091-6490