Biesen Judith N, Smith David A
University of South Florida.
University of Notre Dame.
J Psychol. 2023;157(8):516-547. doi: 10.1080/00223980.2023.2255925. Epub 2023 Oct 24.
People with elevated vulnerable narcissism (VN) or grandiose narcissism (GN) trait levels tend to experience greater difficulties in their romantic relationships than their counterparts with lower levels of VN or GN. Although there are no evidence-based approaches to alter the interpersonal behavior of persons with VN or GN traits, experimental research shows that it is possible to produce relationship-enhancing attitudes in people with GN traits through communal activation (CA). : We examined whether a CA manipulation in the context of relationship education improves attitudes that promote romantic relationship health, and whether VN and GN would moderate these associations. : Participants ( =148, = 71) watched psychoeducational videos on relationships and were randomly assigned to either answer questions about the videos' content (control group) or to complete CA exercises (experimental group) in addition to questionnaires to measure empathy, criticism, commitment, desire for closeness, and communication (positive interaction, demand/withdraw communication, criticize/defend communication) before and after the experimental manipulation. : There was a main effect of condition, such that, relative to the control group, fewer improvements in perceived demand/withdraw communication were observed in the experimental condition. VN, but not GN, moderated the link between condition and commitment, demand/withdraw and criticize/defend communication, such that elevated VN levels predicted the most improvement in commitment, demand/withdraw and criticize/defend communication in the experimental condition. : We conclude with recommendations to adopt ego-enhancing reinforcement for communal behaviors with clients who endorse GN traits and considering less personally relevant CA exercises with clients who endorse VN traits.
具有较高脆弱型自恋（VN）或夸大型自恋（GN）特质水平的人，相较于VN或GN特质水平较低的人，在恋爱关系中往往会遇到更大的困难。尽管目前尚无基于证据的方法来改变具有VN或GN特质者的人际行为，但实验研究表明，通过集体激活（CA）有可能使具有GN特质的人产生增进关系的态度。我们研究了在关系教育背景下的CA操作是否能改善促进恋爱关系健康的态度，以及VN和GN是否会调节这些关联。参与者（n = 148，女性 = 71）观看了关于人际关系的心理教育视频，并被随机分配到要么回答关于视频内容的问题（对照组），要么除了在实验操作前后完成CA练习（实验组），同时还要填写问卷以测量同理心、批评、承诺、亲密渴望以及沟通（积极互动、需求/退缩沟通、批评/辩护沟通）。存在条件的主效应，即相对于对照组，在实验条件下观察到感知到的需求/退缩沟通方面的改善较少。VN而非GN调节了条件与承诺、需求/退缩和批评/辩护沟通之间的联系，使得较高的VN水平预示着在实验条件下承诺、需求/退缩和批评/辩护沟通方面的改善最大。我们最后提出建议，对于认可GN特质的客户，采用增强自我的强化方式来对待其集体行为；对于认可VN特质的客户，则考虑采用与个人相关性较低的CA练习。
