Keith Campbell, professor in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences’ psychology department, recently spoke with the Huffington Post about relationships with covert narcissists.
“It takes a while to see the self-centeredness and entitlement in covert narcissism because it’s often indirect and comes out in them as anger about other people’s success, and insecurity and defensiveness about not being appreciated,” Campbell said.
Covert narcissists may appear quiet, introverted, anxious or even depressed, according to Campbell.
“People use the term ‘covert narcissist’ informally to describe somebody who is high on that personality trait of covert narcissism,” he said. “But that is not a clinical description.”
One particular trait Campbell points out is that they might be very defensive. It might show up as “defensiveness about one’s lack of achievements or negativity and hostility towards other people’s success,” Campbell said.
