ArticlePloS one2012
Expensive egos: narcissistic males have higher cortisol.
Article in PloS one, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 17 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed, 61 citations in OpenAlex.
- Self-compassion training modulates alpha-amylase, heart rate variability, and subjective responses to social evaluative threat in women.Psychoneuroendocrinology · 2014Trial
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- Emergence versus Reductionism in Science Publications.Journal of health and social behavior · 2025Article
- Revisiting the Relation Between Steroid Hormones and Unethicality in an Exploratory, Longitudinal Study With Female Participants.Personality & social psychology bulletin · 2025Article
- Characterizing the early relationship between covert narcissism and cognitive empathy in medical students: a cross-sectional study.BMC medical education · 2025Article
- Female Narcissism: Assessment, Aetiology, and Behavioural Manifestations.Psychological reports · 2022Review
- Early physiological indicators of narcissism and self-esteem in children.Psychophysiology · 2022Article
- Cortisol reactivity to psychosocial stress in vulnerable and grandiose narcissists: An exploratory study.Frontiers in psychology · 2022Article
- Can neuroscience help to understand narcissism? A systematic review of an emerging field.Personality neuroscience · 2021Review
- Biomarkers for the Rich and Dangerous: Why We Ought to Extend Bioprediction and Bioprevention to White-Collar Crime.Criminal law and philosophy · 2019Article
- Guilt and Proneness to Shame: Unethical Behaviour in Vulnerable and Grandiose Narcissism.Europe's journal of psychology · 2018Article
- Examining sex differences in DSM-IV-TR narcissistic personality disorder symptom expression using Item Response Theory (IRT).Psychiatry research · 2018Article
- Self-viewing is associated with negative affect rather than reward in highly narcissistic men: an fMRI study.Scientific reports · 2017Article
- The Relationship between Grandiose and Vulnerable (Hypersensitive) Narcissism.Frontiers in psychology · 2017Article
- Narcissists' social pain seen only in the brain.Social cognitive and affective neuroscience · 2015Article
- Personality and gene expression: Do individual differences exist in the leukocyte transcriptome?Psychoneuroendocrinology · 2015Article
- Empathy and stress related neural responses in maternal decision making.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2014Article
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundNarcissism is characterized by grandiosity, low empathy, and entitlement. There has been limited research regarding the hormonal correlates of narcissism, despite the potential health implications. This study examined the role of participant narcissism and sex on basal cortisol concentrations in an undergraduate population. METHODS AND
findingsParticipants were 106 undergraduate students (79 females, 27 males, mean age 20.1 years) from one Midwestern and one Southwestern American university. Narcissism was assessed using the Narcissistic Personality Inventory, and basal cortisol concentrations were collected from saliva samples in a laboratory setting. Regression analyses examined the effect of narcissism and sex on cortisol (log). There were no sex differences in basal cortisol, F(1,97) = .20, p = .65, and narcissism scores, F(1,97) = .00, p = .99. Stepwise linear regression models of sex and narcissism and their interaction predicting cortisol concentrations showed no main effects when including covariates, but a significant interaction, β = .27, p = .04. Narcissism was not related to cortisol in females, but significantly predicted cortisol in males. Examining the effect of unhealthy versus healthy narcissism on cortisol found that unhealthy narcissism was marginally related to cortisol in females, β = .27, p = .06, but significantly predicted higher basal cortisol in males, β = .72, p = .01, even when controlling for potential confounds. No relationship was found between sex, narcissism, or their interaction on self-reported stress.
conclusionsOur findings suggest that the HPA axis is chronically activated in males with unhealthy narcissism. This constant activation of the HPA axis may have important health implications.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.