A. Heiserman et H. Cook, NARCISSISM, AFFECT, AND GENDER - AN EMPIRICAL-EXAMINATION OF KERNBERGS AND KOHUTS THEORIES OF NARCISSISM, Psychoanalytic psychology, 15(1), 1998, pp. 74-92
The activation of narcissistically affirming and disaffirming early me
mories were used to assess Kernberg's and Kohut's propositions regardi
ng the roles of hostile, depressive, and positive affect in narcissist
ic character structures. After completing the Narcissistic Personality
Inventory participants wrote either an early memory of pride, an earl
y memory of shame, an unspecified memory, or no memory before completi
ng the Projective Affect Scale and Multiple Affect Adjective Checklist
. ANOVAs were conducted on participants ratings of hostile, depressive
, and positive affect. The results indicated that for high relative to
low narcissists, prideful and nonspecific memories resulted in less h
ostility, less pride, and more positive affect. Shameful memories resu
lted in higher projected hostility for high narcissists. Shame was neg
atively related to narcissism for males and positively related for fem
ales.