Does your partner regularly flirt with attractive strangers in front of you? You may be dating a narcissist, who deliberately induces jealousy to boost their self esteem or gain control, according to a new study.
Researchers asked 237 undergraduates to fill out questionnaires about their personality traits, jealousy- inducing behaviours and the motives for those behaviours.
They found that the more narcissistic the person, the more likely they were to try to make their romantic partners jealous.
The reasons for these romantic head games varied by the type of narcissism, though.
Psychological research suggests that narcissistic personalities fall into two categories. The first is grandiose narcissism, marked by entitlement, extroversion and high self-esteem. Grandiose narcissists are very self-assured, said Gregory Tortoriello, from the University of Alabama in the US.
The second category, vulnerable narcissism, describes people who are similarly entitled and willing to exploit people to get what they want. However, vulnerable narcissists have an “inherent fragility.
They are insecure, and have low self-esteem,” Tortoriello told ‘Live Science’.
Grandiose narcissists reported being motivated by their desire to gain power and control within the relationship. Vulnerable narcissists, on the other hand, tried to induce jealousy for multiple reasons. Control was one, along with testing the relationship’s strength, seeking security in the relationship, compensating for low self-esteem and exacting revenge for what they perceived to be their partner’s bad behaviour.
The findings were published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences. (PTI)
