Sculpting Narcissus: A dyadic perspective on narcissism and buffering effects of perceived ideal self affirmation on relationship commitment

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Gloor, Sandra; Kumashiro, Madoka and Morf, Carolyn C.. 2025. Sculpting Narcissus: A dyadic perspective on narcissism and buffering effects of perceived ideal self affirmation on relationship commitment. Journal of Research in Personality, 117, 104626. ISSN 0092-6566 [Article]

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Abstract or Description

Narcissistic self-regulation strategies aimed at pursuing a grandiose self can undermine relationship commitment. This study examined whether Michelangelo phenomenon mechanisms, whereby partners facilitate each other’s ideal selves through affirmation processes, can mitigate these potentially detrimental effects. Across three
dyadic survey-based studies (Ns = 107, 212, 213 romantic couples), our findings demonstrated that perceiving a partner as affirming or facilitating the movement toward the ideal self buffered otherwise adverse effects of grandiose narcissism on commitment. In contrast, no moderation effects were observed for vulnerable narcissism
– highlighting self-regulatory differences between these narcissism manifestations. Altogether, perceiving a partner as ideal-promoting may mitigate commitment by serving the narcissistic self-goal pursuit and hence present one way to foster interdependence without compromising the narcissistic ego.

Item Type:

Article

Identification Number (DOI):

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2025.104626

Additional Information:

Funding sources: Study 1 was supported by funding by National Science Foundation Grant BCS-0132398 (awarded to Caryl E. Rusbult). Studies 2 and 3 received funding from the University of Bern.

Data Access Statement:

This study’s design and its analysis were not pre-registered. Supplemental material, the R codes for the statistical analyses, and a link to request the data are publicly available at https://osf.io/q9wcj/.

Keywords:

Narcissism, Michelangelo phenomenon, Ideal self promotion, Perceived partner affirmation, Commitment, Romantic relationships, Dyadic data

Departments, Centres and Research Units:

Psychology

Dates: