Prychological Reports, 1979,45. 590. @ Psychological Reports 1979 A NARCISSISTIC PERSONALITY INVENTORY ROBERT N. RASKlN AND CALVIN S. HALL Santa Cruz, California The immediate stimulus for developing a test of narcissism was the inclusion of a new category, the narcissistic personality disorder, in the diagnostic manual (DSM-111) being prepared by the American Psychiatric Association. The narcissistic personality disorder is defined by the following characteristics: (1) grandiose sense of one's self-irn- portance; (2) preoccupation with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love; (3) exhibitionism; (4) responds to criticism, indifference, or defeat either with cool indifference or with marked feelungs of rage, inferiority, shame, humiliation, or emptiness; (5) entitlement, expecting spec~al favors without assuming reciprocal respon- sibilities; (6) exploitativeness; ( 7 ) relationships vacillate between the extremes of over- idealization and devaluation; and (8) lack of empathy. W e made up 223 items which sampled the domain of the narcissistic personality as defined by the foregoing characteristics. Each item is a pair of statements, one narcissistic and the other nonnarcissistic. Subjects are required to check one of rhe two statements. This is an example. A. I really like to be the center of attention. B. It makes me uncomfortable to be the center of attention. The inventory was administered to 71 students at the University of California, Santa Cruz. They ranged in age from 18 to 38 yr.. with a mean age of 24. Item analysis was performed on each item by comparing the 20 highest over-all scoring students who chose the narcissistic alternative with the 20 lowest scoring students who chose the narcissistic alternative. Eighty items met the criterion of significance at or below the .05 level. Split-half reliability for these 80 items was .80. The 80 items were divided into two forms. Form A and Form B. The inventory is not necessarily a measure of a personality disorder, although future research may show that persons diagnosed as having a narcissistic personalicy disorder score high on the inventory. For the present, it should be regarded as a measure of the degree to which individuals differ in a trait we have labeled "narcissism." W e are publishing this note before validity studies underway have been completed in the expectation that other investigators may wish to use the inventory.' Accepted October 11,1979. 'Copies of the inventory will be sent without charge to anyone who desires to use it for research purposes. Requests should be addressed to Robert N. Raskin, 1310 West Cliff Drive, Santa Cruz, CA 95060.

A NARCISSISTIC PERSONALITY INVENTORY

Download PDF Report

Upload
calvin-s
View
226
Download
2

Embed Size (px)

Citation preview

Prychological Reports, 1979,45. 590. @ Psychological Reports 1979

A NARCISSISTIC PERSONALITY INVENTORY

ROBERT N. RASKlN A N D CALVIN S. HALL

Santa Cruz, California

The immediate stimulus for developing a test of narcissism was the inclusion of a new category, the narcissistic personality disorder, in the diagnostic manual (DSM-111) being prepared by the American Psychiatric Association. The narcissistic personality disorder is defined by the following characteristics: ( 1 ) grandiose sense of one's self-irn- portance; ( 2 ) preoccupation with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, o r ideal love; ( 3 ) exhibitionism; ( 4 ) responds to criticism, indifference, or defeat either with cool indifference or with marked feelungs of rage, inferiority, shame, humiliation, o r emptiness; ( 5 ) entitlement, expecting spec~al favors without assuming reciprocal respon- sibilities; (6) exploitativeness; ( 7 ) relationships vacillate between the extremes of over- idealization and devaluation; and ( 8 ) lack of empathy.

W e made up 223 items which sampled the domain of the narcissistic personality as defined by the foregoing characteristics. Each item is a pair of statements, one narcissistic and the other nonnarcissistic. Subjects are required to check one of rhe two statements. This is an example.

A. I really like to be the center of attention. B. It makes me uncomfortable to be the center of attention.

The inventory was administered to 71 students at the University of California, Santa Cruz. They ranged in age from 18 to 38 yr.. with a mean age of 24.

Item analysis was performed on each item by comparing the 20 highest over-all scoring students who chose the narcissistic alternative with the 20 lowest scoring students who chose the narcissistic alternative. Eighty items met the criterion of significance at o r below the .05 level. Split-half reliability for these 8 0 items was .80. The 8 0 items were divided into two forms. Form A and Form B.

The inventory is not necessarily a measure of a personality disorder, although future research may show that persons diagnosed as having a narcissistic personalicy disorder score high on the inventory. For the present, it should be regarded as a measure of the degree to which individuals differ in a trait we have labeled "narcissism."

W e are publishing this note before validity studies underway have been completed in the expectation that other investigators may wish to use the inventory.'

Accepted October 11,1979.

'Copies of the inventory will be sent without charge to anyone who desires to use it for research purposes. Requests should be addressed to Robert N. Raskin, 1310 West Cliff Drive, Santa Cruz, CA 95060.