According to the continuum hypothesis, narcissism is a personality construct relevant to a dimension of psychological functioning that ranges from pathological narcissism, to healthy narcissism, and finally to self-esteem. This possibility first appeared in studies examining factors from the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI) in American samples. Unpublished previous studies have revealed the NPI to have low internal consistency in Iranian samples. In this study, narcissism was investigated crossculturally in Iran and in the United States using the Marglois-Thomas (1980) Narcissism Scale. The results revealed that in both samples, all observed factors appeared to be pathological. Pathological narcissism was defined by
different specific factors in the two societies. In correlations with other variables, individualism predicted greater
 pathological narcissism in the US, and not in Iran. Collectivism was associated with lower narcissism in both cultures.
Iranians scored higher on pathological narcissism with Americans being higher on individualism. Such contrasts
must be interpreted cautiously because these scales may not be measuring exactly the same thing in the two societies.
These findings suggest that different theories may need to be developed for explaining the nature and causes of narcissism in Iran in comparison to the West.