Abstract

This study addressed the conflict between empirical and clinical accounts of the relationship between grandiose narcissism and envy. Because earlier findings point to a discrepancy between explicit and implicit responses, envy was assessed at both levels: explicit envy with a self-report questionnaire and implicit envy with the Affect Misattribution Procedure (AMP). A total of 114 undergraduate students took part in either an upward social comparison condition (n=56) or a neutral comparison condition (n=58). Grandiose narcissism did not moderate the effect of the comparison condition on explicit envy. It did, however, significantly moderate the effects of the comparison condition on implicit envy and on the discrepancy between implicit and explicit envy. These findings support the mask model, according to which the grandiose self serves to defend against and conceal an underlying vulnerable self.