Each month our editorial team sifts through hundreds of papers and curates notable findings—for practitioners and informed readers who want to stay current with the evidence. Subscribe to the monthly Research Digest for expert analysis and concise summaries of key papers.
This 1992 review describes the five-factor model, which groups personality into five basic traits: Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Neuroticism, and Openness to Experience. The authors summarize research using natural-language adjectives and personality questionnaires that supports the model’s broad coverage of personality and its usefulness across different observers and cultures. They review…
Researchers compared how well computers and humans can judge personality. They used data from 86,220 volunteers who took a 100-item personality questionnaire and looked at people’s Facebook Likes as the computer’s input. Computer predictions based on Likes matched the questionnaire scores better (r = 0.56) than friends’ judgments did (r…
Borderline personality disorder (BPD) and narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) are different but can look similar. BPD is marked by unstable moods, a shifting sense of self, fear of abandonment, and often impulsive or self-harming behavior. NPD is marked by grandiosity, a strong need for admiration, low empathy, and using others…
This review examines empathy in people with narcissistic personality disorder (NPD). It says empathy is not simply missing in NPD, but is complex and varies by situation and motivation. The paper notes empathy has two parts—feeling with others (emotional empathy) and understanding others' thoughts and feelings (cognitive empathy)—and finds emotional…
Researchers compared an MBTI-style test and a Big Five test in studies of U.S. adults and found the Big Five predicted 37 measured life outcomes about twice as well as the MBTI-style test. The MBTI-style test did better than astrology but worse than the Big Five. The MBTI-style test often…
This 2020 article reviews studies on parenting, attachment, and empathy in people with pathological narcissism and proposes using mentalization-based treatment (MBT) as a main therapy. The authors say problems with mentalization — understanding one’s own and others’ thoughts and feelings — are central to their model. They describe core MBT…
This paper reviewed 34 neuroscience studies about different kinds of narcissism, including grandiose, vulnerable, pathological forms, and Narcissistic Personality Disorder. The authors found that neuroscience studies often show people with grandiose narcissism are more alert to threats to their ego and show stronger stress responses after such threats, and they…
This study followed 173 people for 3 weeks and collected 2,342 reports of their most intense daily anger. Each day participants wrote what triggered their anger and rated how strong it felt, how much they controlled it, and what strategies they used. Researchers grouped the triggers into five categories and…
This review sums up what researchers have learned about narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) in the last decade. It explains that diagnosis now includes both the old yes/no view and a newer scale-based view, describes two main types called grandiose and vulnerable narcissism, reports many possible causes and mechanisms across areas…
This study tested 60 healthy adults (30 women, 30 men) to see how two types of narcissism — vulnerable and grandiose — relate to emotion regulation. Researchers used questionnaires and a lab task that asked people to either feel naturally or use reappraisal (change how they think) while viewing sad…
This book chapter reviews research about how grandiose narcissism relates to romantic relationships. It says narcissism is often linked to thoughts and actions that harm relationships, but also notes some positive or short-term advantages like first-impression charm. The authors summarize both the negative and positive findings and suggest topics and…
This study asked 683 people who lived closely with a relative with pathological narcissism about their grief, burden, mental health, and coping. Most participants were romantic partners. The study found very high levels of burden and mental-health problems in this group, and it notes that sample selection limits how the…
