Narcissistic Personality Traits as a Potential Moderator in Mindfulness Interventions Against Hostile Attribution Bias
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2018-07-06
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en
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Abstract
In recent literature, the potentiality of mindfulness as an intervention for hostile attribution bias
(HAB) has inched to the foreground. The present study aims to extend this work by investigating
whether the outcome of mindfulness interventions depends on a person’s level of narcissism. Fiftysix
students were assessed on their narcissistic personality traits and hostile attributions; the
experimental group were trained to “decenter” themselves through mindful attention. We expected
that: 1) participants in the decentering condition show less hostile attributions, 2) participants with
stronger narcissistic personality traits have a stronger hostile attribution bias, and 3) the
effectiveness of mindfulness training as an intervention for HAB bias depends on the level of
narcissism of the participants. Only the first hypothesis was confirmed: decentered participants
displayed lower levels of HAB in ambiguous social situations than the controls. Contrary to the
second hypothesis, no relation between narcissism and HAB was found. Finally, the level of
narcissism of the participants did not correlate with training effect on HAB. Interestingly, these
findings are the first to suggest that narcissism does not serve as a moderator for the efficacy of
mindfulness training as a HAB intervention, tentatively broadening the potential relevance of
mindfulness across clinical samples.
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Faculteit der Sociale Wetenschappen