The analysis of personality through language: Narcissism predicts use of shame-related words in narratives

The current study examined narcissism in relation to self-conscious emotions, pronoun use, affective processes and other linguistic characteristics. Participants responded to three written prompts about shame, neutral, and pride experiences and completed measures of personality. We hypothesized that narcissism would be related to use of shame and hubristic pride words, but would be unrelated to use of guilt and authentic pride words. We also expected that narcissism would predict use of the word “I” and that this relation would be strongest in the pride condition. Narratives were analyzed using the Linguistic Inquiry and Word (LIWC) Count System. Results revealed that, in the shame condition, narcissism was marginally associated with use of shame words, and this finding was not accounted for by self-esteem. Our other hypotheses were not supported; hubristic pride was not related to narcissism and “I” was not positively associated with narcissism, but instead a negative correlation between “I” and narcissism approached significance in the shame condition. Analyses revealed a relation between narcissism and content relating to status as well as use of fillers and anxiety in the shame condition. We discuss the utility of written language analysis in assessing shame and other self-conscious emotions that are not identifiable using self-report measures. NARCISSISM PREDICTS SHAME 3 The Analysis of Personality through Language: Narcissism Predicts Use of Shame-Related Words in Narratives Narcissism is characterized by arrogance, feelings of superiority and grandiosity, a sense of entitlement and need for admiration, lack of empathy, and interpersonally exploitive behavior. In constant hunger for attention and admiration, narcissistic individuals may fantasize about wealth, power, or beauty, and use others as tools in an attempt to maintain and affirm their fragile and unrealistic self-perceptions (Andersen, Miranda, & Edwards, 2001; Raskin & Shaw, 1988). This constellation of personality attributes can be observed both at clinical levels, reflecting narcissistic personality disorder (American Psychiatric Association, 1994), and at subclinical levels, reflecting a normally distributed personality characteristic (Raskin & Hall, 1979). Yet, there are inconsistencies in the literature regarding the etiology and emotional manifestations of narcissism. In particular, there has been a long-standing debate over the role of shame in the development and maintenance of narcissism. For decades, researchers have hypothesized that shame is the “keystone affect” in narcissism (Wright, O‟Leary & Balkin, 1989), but empirical research addressing this issue yields mixed findings. Some studies suggest that narcissists report higher levels of shame (e.g., Watson, Hickman, & Morris, 1996), whereas other studies suggest the opposite (e.g., Gramzow & Tangney, 1992). The lack of consistent findings across studies suggests the need for an alternative method of assessing shame and its relation to narcissism. We believe that analysis of written language will address this need. Unlike self-report measures, writing does not require individuals to introspectively rate themselves but instead provides an unguarded glimpse into feelings and personality (Pennebaker & Lay, 2002). Indeed, research has demonstrated that certain aspects of language are impossible to control in speech, even under experimental manipulation (Chung & NARCISSISM PREDICTS SHAME 4 Pennebaker, 2007; Rochon, Saffran, Berndt, & Schwartz, 2000). Therefore, analyzing written language can provide information about less conscious aspects of personality, potentially revealing relations between personality characteristics and emotions that cannot be assessed with face-valid rating scales. It was this utility of language analysis and our interest in the role of shame in narcissism that led us to investigate language use and self-conscious emotions in the current study. Specifically, we examined whether narcissism was related to the use of shame-related words when participants wrote about personally meaningful childhood memories. Previous literature has suggested the usefulness of studying self-defining memories among narcissists (Robins, Tracy, & Shaver, 2001). We expected that the effects of narcissism would be particularly evident when participants described experiences of shame and pride, thought to be central to narcissistic self-esteem regulation (Wright, O‟Leary, & Balkin, 1989), compared to emotionally neutral experiences. We also examined other linguistic categories that are likely to be relevant to narcissism, including other categories of self-conscious emotions (e.g., pride, guilt), first-person pronoun use, and affective processes (e.g., positive emotion words, anxiety). Because narcissistic individuals place great value on status and self-importance, spending time fantasizing about wealth, power, or beauty, we also examined the prevalence of these themes in their narratives. Additionally, we examined the use of filler words and phrases (e.g., like, I mean) because they suggest uncertainty and insecurity speaking about a topic (Tausczik & Pennebaker, 2010). In the following sections, we first consider the utility of using language to examine personality processes. We then describe the specific narrative features that we hypothesized to be related to narcissism in the current study. NARCISSISM PREDICTS SHAME 5 Manifestations of Personality in Language Language has long been understood to be a marker of individual differences and, more recently, has been used to understand personality. However, which aspects of language most reliably reflect stable personality traits versus contextual influences is unclear, and has become a popular arena of investigation. In a seminal study, Pennebaker and King (1999) demonstrated relations between groupings of linguistic categories (e.g., “making decisions”, comprised of words related to exclusivity, tentativeness, negations, inclusivity, and discrepancies), the Big Five personality dimensions, and symptoms of depression and anxiety in sample of substance abuse inpatients. This study paved the road for further analyses of personality and written language, and has led to many interesting findings. For instance, use of first-person singular pronouns (e.g., I, me, my) is higher in individuals who are of high status (Newman, Pennebaker, Berry, & Richards 2001), currently or previously depressed (Rude, Gortner, & Pennebaker, 2001), or suicidal (Stirman & Pennebaker, 2001), suggesting that a single linguistic marker can result from a variety of personal characteristics. There have also been some attempts to correlate personality and spoken language. One study conducted an investigative analysis between the Big Five and spoken language over a twoday period using the Electronically Activated Recorder (EAR). Results suggested a moderate relation between personality, gender, and language use (Mehl, Gosling, & Pennebaker, 2006). For example, extraversion was related to a higher word count for both men and women and more past tense verbs for women. In addition, conscientiousness predicted more second-person pronouns in men and more exclusive word use (e.g., but, without, exclude) in women. Similarly, using self and acquaintance ratings of personality, Fast and Funder (2008) found a relation between linguistic categories and personality. For instance, greater use of certainty and NARCISSISM PREDICTS SHAME 6 smart/thoughtfulness words was related to emotionality, and use of sexual words was positively related to personality traits described as extraverted, dramatic, and unconventional. Taken together, these studies suggest that language use may be a reliable and revealing route to the study of personality. There are reasons to believe that narcissism, like other personality dimensions, may be related to specific linguistic patterns. Narcissism is a stable, pervasive trait that has been associated with behavior in a variety of contexts (e.g., aggression, Bushman & Baumeister, 1998). Yet, the manifestations of narcissism in language have been largely ignored. In one exception, Raskin and Shaw (1988) found evidence that, in spoken language, narcissists use more first-person singular pronouns (e.g., I) and fewer first-person plural pronouns (e.g., we). Personal pronouns are one of the most frequently used parts of speech and function to distinguish between the speaker and others. Therefore, pronouns reflect a person‟s self-awareness or degree of egocentricity (i.e., use of first person singular pronouns “I”) as well as their social orientation (i.e., use of first plural pronouns like “us”). Raskin and Shaw (1988) found that narcissism was not related to second (e.g., you) or third person-pronoun (e.g., he) use, but they did not examine other linguistic categories and, to our knowledge, no studies have investigated the manifestations of narcissism in written language. Relations Between Narcissism and Self-Conscious Emotions