Substantive vs. superficial self-enhancement: Differentiating narcissism constructs from self-esteem following failure

We proposed that, following failure, narcissistic self-enhancement is designed to buffer symptoms of failure via self-serving accounts or avoidance (i.e., superficial self-enhancement) without promoting actual self-enhancement (i.e., substantive self-enhancement), whereas high-self-esteem self-enhancement is designed to promote substantive self-enhancement. A college sample (N = 232) completed measures of narcissism constructs (grandiose and...