Hypervigilance To Self-Threat: Further Experimental Evidence For The Mask Model Of Narcissism

According to the mask model, narcissists portray a hard exterior, but possess a soft core. This presumed fragility has been typically operationalized as a discrepancy between explicit and implicit self-esteem, producing inconsistent findings. A reason for the inconclusiveness may be that narcissism has been tested in situ. We report an experiment (N=209) where narcissists manifested hypervigilance: faster reaction times to self-threatening stimuli when their fragility was subliminally exposed. However, given ampler time (235ms vs. 149ms), narcissists switched from defensiveness to self-regulation: equivalent reaction times to those of non-narcissists. This switch, being rapid and difficult to detect, may explain prior inconclusiveness. Despite transient intrapersonal turbulence in the face of self-threat, narcissists quickly regain their composure and re-establish their granite exterior.