Do narcissists really love themselves as much as it seems? The psyschodynamic mask model of narcissistic self-worth

The psychodynamic mask model of narcissism asserts that while narcissists hold external grandiose and exaggerated feelings of self-worth, they actually suffer from feelings of inferiority and low self-esteem. Early research investigating the link between narcissism and underlying feelings of self-worth seemed to support the contention of the mask model, but more recent research has provided less consistent support for this model. In this chapter, we suggest three explanations for these inconsistent findings, including the lack of psychometrically valid measures of implicit attitudes, the possibility that narcissists only hold negative self-views in specific domains, and the possibility that there are several forms of narcissism that may have different associations with self-esteem.