Short CommunicationCan't take my eyes off me: Attentional bias of the vulnerable narcissist

•Vulnerable narcissism, body satisfaction, and attentional bias are examined.•Body satisfaction predicted self-attentional bias in vulnerable narcissists.•The direction of such prediction depended upon duration of stimulus exposure.•Attentional processing strategies may be used to protect self-representation.

Body-dissatisfied individuals show attentional bias to photographs of oneself. The present study explored whether this relationship is moderated by narcissistic vulnerability. Seventy-nine female undergraduates completed questionnaires pertaining to narcissism and body satisfaction followed by a laboratory visit to engage in a dot probe task. At 175 ms exposure duration, greater narcissistic vulnerability predicted attentional bias towards oneself when participants had high body satisfaction relative to their low-satisfaction counterparts. An opposite pattern emerged at 500 ms exposure duration such that greater narcissistic vulnerability predicted attentional bias towards oneself when participants had low body satisfaction. These observations suggest that in response to stimuli that pose a threat to self-representation, narcissistically vulnerable individuals may engage in attentional processing strategies to maintain their self-representation.