The Narcissism Terminology Trap: Why Grandiose/Overt and Vulnerable/Covert Are Two Sides of the Same Coin
Someone today commented at r/narcissism on the article below:
Raf Adel (UK-based Psychologist)
He said affirmatively:
Hi, vulnerable / grandiose and overt/covert are NOT synonyms
Here's my reponse to that:
Well, sorry to correct you on this one, but as a psychologist and author on the matter, I feel it's important to clarify that grandiose/overt and vulnerable/covert are widely treated as direct synonyms or interchangeable terms to describe the two primary faces of narcissism.
In psychological literature and clinical practice, grandiose/overt and vulnerable/covert are widely treated as direct synonyms or interchangeable terms to describe the two primary faces of narcissism.
Take a look at this research paper titled: “The Association Between Vulnerable/Grandiose Narcissism and Emotion Regulation", which directly points out that researchers 'examined the association between overt and covert narcissism (often used interchangeably with “grandiose” and “vulnerable” narcissism, Pincus and Lukowitsky, 2010).'
While some contemporary researchers occasionally draw fine structural distinctions, viewing overt/covert as the outward visibility of the behavior and grandiose/vulnerable as the underlying emotional state, the baseline consensus across peer-reviewed studies is that they map onto the exact same dimensions.
However, this issue often brings us back to the challenge of online misinformation. I actually wrote an article on this exact topic, exploring how misconceptions about NPD and narcissistic traits spread and why accurate information is vital; you can read it here: The Echo Chamber of Digital Narcissism: How Online Misinformation Distorts Narcissim & NPD