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The Grandiose Narcissism Scale (GNS; Foster, McCain, Hibberts, Brunell, & Johnson, 2015) is a 33-item measure of grandiose narcissism (as opposed to vulnerable narcissism) developed by our research group. It was designed to produce a full-scale narcissism score plus seven subscale scores. The GNS subscale scores reflect the seven factors of the Narcissistic Personality Inventory reported by Raskin and Terry (1988).

 

The 33 GNS items are listed below grouped by their respective subscales. When administering the GNS, it is acceptable to present the items in any order (e.g., random order) and ungrouped. Items are responded to on a 1 (strongly disagree) to 6 (strongly agree) scale. There are no reverse-scored items. To score, simply sum item responses together.

 

Foster et al. (2015, Study 2) reported the following descriptive statistics for the full-scale score from a sample of 980 undergraduate students (61% female, 64% white, M age = 20.32) at the University of South Alabama: M = 114.66, SD = 22.32, α = .91. Descriptive statistics attained from the same sample for each of the subscale scores are reported below.

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Researchers are granted permission to use the GNS in their research free of charge. Kindly email copies of papers and presentations that use the GNS to Josh Foster at foster@southalabama.edu.

 

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Authority

α = .88, M = 20.44, SD = 5.61

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  1. I like to be in charge of things.

  2. I lead rather than follow.

  3. I naturally take charge in situations.

  4. I have a take charge personality.

  5. I am a natural born leader.

 

Self-sufficiency

α = .77, M = 23.16, SD = 4.47

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  1. I don’t rely on other people to get things done.

  2. When something needs to be done, I do it on my own.

  3. I get irritated when I have to depend on other people.

  4. I don’t like to depend on other people to do things.

  5. I like to do things on my own.

 

Superiority

α = .78, M = 13.53, SD = 4.25

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  1. I’m more talented than most other people.

  2. I’m better than other people at most things.

  3. If it’s just me versus another person, I almost always win.

  4. I have more going for me than most people.

 

Vanity

α = .88, M = 21.55, SD = 5.35

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  1. I care about how good I look.

  2. I try to look as attractive as possible when I leave the house.

  3. Looking good is important to feeling good.

  4. My looks are important to me.

  5. I think it’s important to look as good as possible.

 

Exhibitionism

α = .88, M = 13.47, SD = 5.79

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  1. I do things that grab people’s attention.

  2. I do things that get people to notice me.

  3. I make myself the center of attention.

  4. I can be a showoff.

  5. I do things to get attention.

 

Entitlement

α = .77, M = 11.90, SD = 4.48

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  1. I expect to be treated better than average.

  2. The level of treatment I expect is higher than what most other people expect.

  3. I deserve to get what I want.

  4. I deserve more out of life than other people.

 

Exploitativeness

α = .86, M = 10.61, SD = 5.32

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  1. I’ll do whatever it takes to get ahead, even if it means some people get hurt.

  2. If I have to take advantage of somebody to get what I want, so be it.

  3. I can be pretty manipulative.

  4. I’m willing to manipulate others to get what I want.

  5. I’ve been known to use people to get what I want.

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References

 

Foster, J. D., McCain, J. L., Hibberts, M. F., Brunell, A. B., & Johnson, R. B. (2015). The Grandiose Narcissism Scale: A global and facet-level measure of grandiose narcissism. Personality and Individual Differences, 73, 12–16.

 

Raskin, R., & Terry, H. (1988). A principal-components analysis of the Narcissistic Personality Inventory and further evidence of its construct validity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54(5), 890–902.

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