 29. Narcissism in Contemporary Personality Psychology  627
forming that includes both vulnerability and 
grandiosity. The kind of consensus model 
helps to organize the different dimensions 
of personality that have been historically as -
sociated with the construct. This model also 
captures the insights that grandiosity and 
vulnerability can co-exist within the same 
individual (e.g., Robins, Tracy, & Shaver, 
2001; Pincus et al., 2009). For example, 
Robins et al. (2001) suggest that narcissis -
tic personality expressions such as excessive 
grandiosity result from psychological pro -
cesses implicated in the regulation of shame 
(i.e., vulnerability).
The Narcissism Spectrum Model: 
An Emerging Consensus 
about  the Conceptualization of  Narcissism
The recently proposed narcissism spectrum 
model (NSM; Krizan & Herlache, 2018) 
considers the domains of entitlement, gran -
diosity, and vulnerability critical to the 
structure and expression of narcissism (for 
a similar taxonomy, see Miller et al., 2017). 
According to the NSM, self-  absorption and 
an entitled self-image lie at the core of nar -
cissism. Moreover, the particular behavioral 
manifestations of this entitled self-image 
may be grandiose or vulnerable. Krizan and 
Herlache (2018) posit that approach-  related 
motivational tendencies underlie grandiose 
expressions (e.g., excessive self-  confidence, 
exhibitionism), whereas avoidance-  related 
motivational tendencies underlie vulnerable 
expressions (e.g., emotional dysregulation 
and ego brittleness that lead to rage and ag -
gression in its more extreme forms). Gran -
diosity reflects self-  regulatory processes as -
sociated with acquisition, attainment, and 
self- promotion, which can fuel a sense of en -
titlement (grandiosity is also similar to the 
construct of Boldness from Patrick, Fowles, 
& Krueger’s [2009] model of psychopathic 
personality traits). Likewise, vulnerability 
entails self-  preservation tendencies and emo -
tional brittleness that can spur entitlement 
as a defensive response to consistent feelings 
of threat and insult. The self may be elevated 
above others as a way of seeking retaliation 
against insults and to compensate for deep- 
seated feelings of inadequacy and insecurity 
(see Robins, Tracy, & Shaver [2001] for a theoretical account of this process). Thus, 
the NSM offers a dual-  process model of ex -
pressions of narcissistic entitlement.
We believe the NSM offers a way to in -
tegrate research on narcissism with existing 
work on psychobiological systems underly -
ing motivation and temperament. It also 
maintains an important theoretical distinc -
tion between grandiosity and vulnerability 
(e.g., Dickinson & Pincus, 2003; Pincus et 
al., 2009; Wink, 1991) and can be used to 
organize DSM-5 criteria for NPD (American 
Psychiatric Association, 2013) as shown in 
Table 29.1.  The NSM also aligns well with 
approaches that characterize narcissistic at -
tributes in terms of the Big Five domains and 
facets (e.g., Glover, Miller, Lynam, Crego, & 
Widiger, 2012; Paulhus, 2001; see also the 
trifurcated model of narcissism by Crowe, 
Lynam, Campbell, & Miller, 2019).
Krizan and Herlache (2018) contains a 
summary of how well currently used mea -
sures provide coverage of the NSM (see their 
Figure 2). While acknowledging that the NPI 
has been generative in launching the boom -
ing narcissism literature in social/personal -
ity psychology, Krizan and Herlache (2018) 
noted concerns with the NPI and argued 
that future research should use targeted 
measures of the core constructs of the NSM 
rather than the NPI total score. In light of 
these considerations, we recommend that 
researchers administer multiple measures 
to ensure adequate coverage of the NSM 
constructs (see, e.g., Crowe et al., 2019). 
Potential scales are listed in Table 29.1 and 
the relatively recently developed Five-  Factor 
Narcissism Inventory is another possibility 
(Glover et al., 2012).
Correlates of Entitlement, Grandiosity, 
and Vulnerability
Table 29.2 provides a summary of the cor -
relates of entitlement, grandiosity, and vul -
nerability, drawing on multiple studies (a 
complete list of sources is available from the 
authors). We combined effect size estimates 
using a random-  effects model following the 
logic of mini meta-  analysis (e.g., Goh, Hall, 
& Rosenthal, 2016). The point of Table 29.2 
is to provide a weighted-  average estimate 
from a selection studies rather than a com -