By If you see your partner flirting with other people in your presence or leaving obvious signs that he or she has been out with someone else, it may not be a case of infidelity. Learn what this narcissistic strategy is all about.
One of the traits that reveals a narcissist is that he seeks to generate jealousy in his partner. . Everything indicates that this type of person performs actions such as flirting with someone in the presence of the other person or leaving clues of possible infidelity. Causing insecurity in the other person is a way of manipulating them.
This is the conclusion reached by a study titled Do Narcissists Purposely Try to Induce Jealousy in Their Romantic Partners? An Examination of Motives for Deliberately Inducing Jealousy Across Narcissism Subtypes . It was published in the scientific journal Personality and Individual Differences . , in 2014.
Research found that provoking jealousy is important for a narcissist, as it puts their partner in a vulnerable position . This makes it easier to control and manipulate the relationship. Typically, they are not even interested in being unfaithful, but rather in provoking doubts, thus creating the conditions to weaken their partner.
“He who is jealous is never jealous of what he sees; what he imagines is enough.”
~ Jacinto Benavente ~
Study on the narcissistic need to generate jealousy
The study was conducted by Gregory Tortoriello, Joshua D. Foster, and W. Keith Campbell, researchers affiliated with the University of Alabama in the United States. The goal was to examine whether narcissists attempt to cause jealousy in their romantic partners. deliberately
The study involved 237 participants, all college students. Of these, 54% were women and 46% were men. The volunteers completed questionnaires and personality measures to assess narcissism and jealousy-inducing tendencies in their romantic relationships.
It is important to note that, as the sample consisted only of university students, the results do not generalize to the entire population. Furthermore, it is possible that behaviors and motivations related to narcissism and jealousy vary in other age groups or contexts other than the one considered for exploration.
How was the study conducted?
To conduct the research, a group of volunteers, young men and women, were recruited on campus. Basic data about the participants was then collected, such as age, gender, and average duration of romantic relationships. , was then collected .
The next step was an assessment of possible narcissistic traits in each of them . Thus, participants filled out questionnaires and personality measures. The forms included widely used scales such as the Narcissistic Personality Inventory ( NPI) and the Narcissistic Personality Inventory ( NPI). NPI) and considered the following aspects:
- vanity,
- authority,
- claim,
- exploitation,
- superiority,
- exhibitionism,
- self-sufficiency.
Each volunteer was then assessed for their jealousy-inducing tendencies. Specific questionnaires were administered to achieve this goal. These explored the underlying motives and strategies used by the participants to induce jealousy in their partners.
Finally, statistical analysis of the collected data was performed to examine the relationships between narcissism and jealousy provocation, as well as to identify underlying motives and differences between subtypes of narcissism.
The NPI only assesses the adaptive (subclinical) dimensions of narcissism.
The results of the study
The main conclusion of the study is that individuals with narcissistic tendencies are prone to deliberately try to generate jealousy. in their romantic partners. This is more pronounced in those people whose narcissistic traits border on the pathological.
This form of manipulation can mediate the emergence of psychological abuse. In fact, research from The Journal of Psychology points out that vulnerable and grandiose narcissism are associated with psychological abuse. in romantic relationships. Of both categories, the latter was directly linked to this type of abuse, while the former was only indirectly linked.
Regarding the findings of the study carried out by academics from the University of Alabama, three basic motivations for such behavior were detected:
- Boosting self-esteem: Narcissists tend to feel better about themselves when they achieve jealousy in their partner; they perceive themselves as more valuable and important.
- Control: They felt that if they managed to provoke jealousy in their partner, they also acquired greater control over the relationship and this, in turn, allowed them to feel more powerful.
- Desire for attention : If they manage to generate jealousy in their partner, he or she begins to pay more attention to them. They were not concerned if said attention was based on insecurity and not on greater affection or romantic interest.
The above suggests that the narcissist may seek to generate jealousy as a strategy to satisfy his needs for attention , reaffirm his self-esteem and exert control over his partners.
Important: These results are not generalizable.
It is important to note that this study focused specifically on the context of romantic relationships and did not cover all dimensions of narcissism, nor all possible motivations for generating jealousy.
By not taking into account the different aspects of this personality type, the results may not be representative of the entire population of narcissistic people . Therefore, they should not be generalized.