I like how you phrase that, "In doing so, they do nothing but harm their own image..."
It amazes me the simple way we see some people differently than others. I see my husband as kind and loving, but then he also always sees the positives in every situation. On the other hand, I tend to see someone like my mother with a bit of a different lens. She's highly reactive to almost everything we (her children), and others say or do.
She's spends a lot of time looking at her environment through this lens where if we don't call her, then we must be mad at her; or if my brother-in-law doesn't invite her to stay for dinner, then it's obvious that he hates her. I gotta say that in these situations, it's not just that she harms her image, but interaction with her becomes draining.