Anchored in truth but driven by grandiosity: A process account of narcissistic self-enhancement

Self-enhancement is considered a hallmark of grandiose narcissism, yet recent applications of condition-based regression analysis have questioned whether narcissistic admiration, the dimension of grandiose narcissism reflecting assertive self-enhancement, is reliably linked to self-views that overestimate one's attributes. We reconcile these divergent accounts by integrating a process-oriented perspective on self-view formation with condition-based regression analysis, which we use as a diagnostic tool to differentiate two distinct forms of self-enhancement: unanchored self-enhancement (i.e., generally positive self-views) and anchored self-enhancement (i.e., overestimation of self-views relative to objective benchmarks). Across four studies, we examined how actual cognitive ability (truth force) and narcissistic admiration (bias force) jointly influence self-views through cue-based inference and how these processes generate the distinct forms of self-enhancement effects in condition-based regression analysis. In Study 1, a simulation, we illustrated that the relation between narcissistic admiration and anchored inflation effects depends on degree of self-knowledge: Paradoxically, some accuracy is required for anchored self-enhancement to emerge. In Study 2 (N = 1,035), we experimentally manipulated self-knowledge, showing that greater accuracy strengthens the association between narcissistic admiration and self-enhancement. In Study 3 (N = 454), we longitudinally demonstrated that narcissists' self-views rise over time through biased cue-based inference. Finally, in Study 4 (N = 4,950), an individual participant data meta-analysis, we found that, under typical levels of self-knowledge, narcissistic admiration is related to anchored self-enhancement of cognitive ability. Cumulatively, these findings reestablish narcissism as the prototypical self-enhancing trait while clarifying the cognitive conditions under which the distinct forms of self-enhancement are detectable. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).