Concept Clarity in Relation to Online Dating Behaviors
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NARCISSUS ONLINE: AN INVESTIGATION OF NARCISSISM AND SELF- CONCEPT CLARITY IN RELATION TO ONLINE DATING BEHAVIORS by MARYAM TAJMIRRIYAHI Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Arlington in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT ARLINGTON December 2020 Copyright © by Maryam Tajmirriyahi 2020 All Rights Reserved ii Acknowledgements “Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and right doing, there is a field, I'll meet you there.” -Rumi I would like to thank my advisor, Dr. William Ickes, for giving me many opportunities to flourish and succeed, and for helping me grow as a scholar throughout this long and arduous process. I also would like to send special thanks to my committee members, Dr. Scott Coleman, Dr. Angela Dougall, Dr. Jared Kenworthy and Dr. Vivian Ta, for all their support, feedback, and insights. I would like to pay tribute to my family, Maman, Baba, Saeed, Zahra, Sami, Hesam, Sahar, Parsa, Atrisa and my friends, for providing me with love, support, and above all, encouragement. Finally, I want to acknowledge my awesome lab mates, Shaikha Aldousari, Dr. Meghan Babcock, Stephen Doerfler, Dr. Rebecca Robinson, Dr. Eric Russell, and Dr. Vivian Ta, for all their help and support. I owe a lot of not-falling-apart-in-grad-school to them. December 8, 2020 iii Abstract NARCISSUS ONLINE: AN INVESTIGATION OF NARCISSISM AND SELF- CONCEPT CLARITY IN RELATION TO ONLINE DATING BEHAVIORS Maryam Tajmirriyahi, Ph.D. The University of Texas at Arlington, 2020 Supervising Professor: Dr. William Ickes Nemours studies over the years have provided extensive knowledge about the association between narcissism and romantic relationship initiation. With the increased interest in using online dating sites for finding sexual/romantic partners, it is important to examine the behavior of narcissistic individuals in online dating context. The current study systematically examined how grandiose and vulnerable narcissism (as measures of an inflated self-view), in conjunction with the level of self-concept clarity (as an additional measure of a fragile self-view) can influence a number of online dating behaviors (e.g., photographic self-presentation, inauthentic self-presentation, assertive self-presentation, self-disclosure, verbal behavior, derogatory behavior toward other daters after receiving romantic rejection, derogatory behavior toward the experiment/er after receiving romantic rejection, change in self-mate value after receiving romantic rejection, willingness to make a change in online dating profile after receiving romantic rejection.). Results and future directions are discussed. iv Table of Contents Acknowledgements………………………………...…………………………………………….iii Abstract……………………………………………………………………………...…………....iv Table of Contents………………………………………………………………………………….v List of Illustrations….……………………………………………………………………..………x List of Tables………………………………………………………………………….……..….xiii Chapter 1 Introduction………………………………………………………...…………………..1 1.1 Theoretical Foundations: Narcissistic personality disorder………………………………….1 1.1.1 The Conceptualization and Measurement of Narcissism……………………………...3 1.1.2 Narcissism and romantic relationships………………………………………………..5 1.1.3 Narcissism and romantic relationship initiation………………………………………7 1.1.4 Narcissism and general online behavior………………………………………………7 1.1.5 Narcissism and online dating behavior………………………………………………..8 1.1.6 Narcissism and offline self-presentation……………………….. …………………….9 1.1.7 Narcissism and online self-presentation……………………………………………..10 1.1.8 Narcissism and self-disclosure behavior……………………………………………..11 1.1.9 Narcissism and interpersonal rejection………………………………………………13 1.2. Theoretical Foundations: Self-concept clarity……………………………………………..15 1.2.1 The Conceptualization and Measurement of Self-concept clarity (SCC)……………16 v 1.2.2 Self-concept clarity and romantic relationships…………………………………...…17 1.2.3 Self-concept clarity and self-presentation…………………………………………....18 1.2.4 Self-concept clarity and self-disclosure……………………………………………...19 1.2.5 Self-concept clarity and interpersonal rejection……………………………………..19 1.3 Narcissism and self-concept clarity………………………………..……………………….20 1.4 The Current Investigation………………………………………………………….……….21 Chapter 2 Method……………………………………………………………….……………….23 2.1 Participants………………………………………………………………………….………23 2.2 Phase 1 Procedure and Personality Measures………………………………………………23 2.2.1 Marlow-Crowne Social Desirability Scale…………………………………….…….24 2.2.2 Big Five Inventory‐10 (BFI‐10)…………………………………………….………..24 2.2.3 Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI)………………………………….…………24 2.2.4 Self-Concept Clarity scale (SCC)…………………………………………...……….25 2.2.5 Hypersensitive Narcissism Scale (HSNS)…………………………………..……….25 2.2.6 Self-mate Value Scale………………………………………………………………..25 2.3 Phase 2 Procedure and Personality Measures……………………………………..………..25 2.3.1. Photographic self-presentation………………………………………………………26 2.3.2 Assertive Self-presentation Scale……………………………….…………………27 2.3.3 Real/Inauthentic Self-presentation Scale………………………….…………………27 2.3.4 Self-reported self-disclosure………………………...……………………………….27 vi 2.3.5 Personal dating desirability (PDD)…………….……………………………...……..28 2.3.6 Preference for a short-term relationship partner scale………………………….……28 2.4 Phase 3 Procedure and Personality Measures……………………………..………………..29 2.4.1 Researcher-made online dating profiles……………………………………...………30 2.4.2 Modified Self-perceived Mate-value Scale………………………………………….31 2.4.3 Study evaluation questionnaire…………………………………………..…………..31 2.5 Phase 2 behavioral coding……………………………………………………….…………31 2.5.1 Photographic self-presentation coding………………………………………….……31 2.5.2 Behavioral self-disclosure coding……………………………………………...…….32 2.5.3 Verbal behavior in online dating profiles……………………………………………32 2.6 List of hypotheses……………………………………………………………………..……35 Chapter 3 Results………………………………………………………………………...………43 3.1 Descriptive Statistics and Zero Order Correlations………………………………………...43 3.2 LIWC analysis……………………………………………………………………………...47 3.3 Tests of Main Hypotheses…………………………………………………….. ……………50 3.3.1 Testing the hypotheses derived from Phase 2…………………………………………..52 3.3.1.1 Photographic self-presentation as the outcome……………………………….……52 3.3.1.2 Inauthentic self-presentation as the outcome………………………………………60 3.3.1.3 Self-reported assertive self-presentation as the outcome…………………………..63 3.3.1.4 Self-disclosure as the outcome……………………………………………………..64 vii 3.3.1.5 Personal dating desirability (PDD) as the outcome………………………………..70 3.3.1.6 Preference for a short-term relationship partner as the outcome…………………..72 3.3.1.7 Use of first-person singular pronouns as the outcome variable ……………………77 3.3.1.8. Usage of Sexual Words as a Cue for Interest in Sexual Intimacy as the outcome variable ……………………………………………………………………………………82 3.3.1.9. Affective words as a Cue for Emotional Intimacy as the outcome variable………87 3.3.10 Achievement related words as the outcome variable…………………………….…90 3.3.1.11 Social processes words as the outcome variable………………………………….93 3.4 Testing the hypotheses derived from Phase 3 of the study……………………………...…97 3.4.1 Manipulation check…………………………………………………………………..97 3.4.2 Derogatory behavior toward other daters as the outcome variable………………....100 3.4.3 Derogatory behavior toward the experiment as the outcome variable……………..107 3.4.4 Change in self-perceived mate value as the outcome value………………………..112 3.4.5 Willingness to make changes in profile as the outcome variable…….…..……...…121 Chapter 4 Discussion……………………………………………………….…………………..125 4.1 Discussion………………………………………………………….……………………..125 4.1.1 Photographic self-presentation…………………………………………………….125 4.1.2 Inauthentic self-presentation………………………………..……….………….…126 4.1.3 Self-reported assertive self-presentation…………………………..…….………...127 4.1.4 Self-disclosure……………………………………………………………………..128 viii 4.1.5 Personal dating desirability (PDD)……………………………………………...…129 4.1.6 Preference for a short-term relationship partner ………………………………..…130 4.1.7 Use of first-person singular………………………………………………………..131 4.1.8 Usage of Sexual Words as a Cue for Interest in Sexual Intimacy…………………132 4.1.9 Affective words as a Cue for Emotional Intimacy…………………………..…….133 4.1.10 Use of achievement related words………………………………………………..134 4.1.11 Use of social processes words……………………………………………………135 4.1.12. Derogatory behavior toward other daters……………………………………..…135 4.1.13. Derogatory behavior toward the experiment…………………………………….136 4.1.14 Change in self-perceived mate value…………………………………………..…136 4.1.15 Willingness to make changes in one’s dating profile after receiving romantic imaginary rejection………………………………………………………………………137 4.2 Strengths, Limitations, and Future Research……………………………………………...138 Chapter 5 Conclusions………………………………………………………………………….141 Appendix A…………………………………………………………………………..…………142 Appendix B………………………………………………………………………….………….147 Appendix C……………………………………………………………………………………..150 Appendix D……………………………………………………………………………………..154 Appendix E……………………………………………………………………..………………156 Appendix F……………………………………………………………………..……………….163 ix List of Illustrations Figure 1. The moderation effect of gender on the relationship between vulnerable narcissism and behavioral photographic self-presentation……………………………………………………….57 Figure 2. The moderation effect of gender on the relationship between self-concept clarity and behavioral photographic self-presentation……………………………………………………….59 Figure 3. The moderation effect of self-concept clarity on the relationship between vulnerable narcissism and behavioral