The one Question A True Narcissist Cannot Resist. Take The Narcissist Test: Do I Take The Red or Blue Pill, Inquire Within . . .
Feb 17, 2016 13:07:46 #
01/28/2016 How to Profile a Narcissist With One Simple Question
The one question a true narcissist cannot resist.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/socially-relevant/201601/everything-youve-always-wanted-know-about-narcissism
Have you ever wondered whether someone you know, perhaps a friend, a colleague, or even a close family member, is a narcissist?
How would you find out?
You could try to get the person of interest evaluated by a licensed clinical psychologist, for probably, a steep fee.
Alternatively, you might try to administer the most widely used measure of narcissism in personality research yourself; the 40-item Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI). Choose C. it will cost you a lot less money.
a. https://www.statisticssolutions.com/narcissistic-personality-inventory-40-npi-40/
b. http://www.statisticssolutions.com/narcissistic-personality-inventory-16-npi-16/
c. www2.psych.ubc.ca/~dpaulhus/research/DARK_TRIAD/MEASU
Yet, I have a distinct feeling that neither of these options seem plausible to most people.
At Indiana University, Sara Konrath and her colleagues recently sought to address some of the challenges associated with administering such long questionnaires, and in response, developed the so-called Single-Item Narcissism Scale (SINS).
At first, my colleague Seth Rosenthal (Yale) and I were skeptical about the idea that one simple questionAre you a "narcissist"?could accurately identify narcissists given that narcissism is such a complex and multidimensional personality trait (for a discussion, see my previous post
"Everything You've Always Wanted to Know about Narcissism).
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/socially-relevant/201601/everything-youve-always-wanted-know-about-narcissism
Given our initial skepticism paired with a dedication to replication science in social-personality research, we decided to see if we could replicate these initial positive findings with a sample of over 2,000 American adults.
The results of our new study were recently published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0191886915300167
In a nutshell, we were able to replicate most of the authors' initial findings and we reached two main conclusions;
(1) The single-question measure does indeed correlate positively with the more complex 40-item NPI http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/psp/54/5/890/ questionnaire (i.e., they both seem to measure narcissism).
(2) Importantly, while the NPI-based measure seems to conflate narcissism with normal, or healthy self-esteem (due to questions that ask people about more normative traits like "confidence" and "assertiveness"), the single-item measure did not correlate with self-esteem at all! In other words, the measure does not appear to capture people who might have some milder "lower-order" narcissistic traitswhich implies that the question actually singles out the "hard-line" narcissists pretty well.
So, by now, I am sure you are anxious to know what the magic question actually is! It is probably much simpler than you imagine.
If you want to find out whether someone is a narcissist, simply ask them:
Are you a "narcissist"?
This may seem counter-intuitive at first, and it certainly doesn't always work to ask people directly about their personality traits, but the case of narcissism is unique. True narcissists do not appear to view their narcissism as a bad thing. In fact, they are likely to be proud of it! Indeed, a number of recent Studies: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15298868.2012.659427
have shown that narcissists often admit that they behave in explicitly narcissistic ways, that they happily describe themselves as arrogant, braggy, etc., and even strive to be more narcissistic!
Narcissists also appear aware that other people view them less positively than they view themselves, yet simply don't care.
My co-author, Seth Rosenthal, suggests that there are several interesting factors about the scale itself that may play an important role in its validity:
1) First, the scale asks respondents to identify with the trait as a noun I am a narcissist, rather than the adjective I am narcissistic.
That gives narcissists the opportunity to stake their claim to a special identity that they know most people would rejecti.e., providing an affirmative response to the question gives them the opportunity to boost their ego.
2) Second, the one-item survey comes with a definition of narcissism: "Are you a 'narcissist'?
The word narcissist means egotistical, self-focused, and vain."
If a more severe set of descriptive traits had been chosen (like entitled, exploitative, arrogant, un-empathetic), it might have been too difficult for people to endorse the item.
Of course, self-reports arent perfect: https://scan.oxfordjournals.org/content/10/3/335.abstract
People may say one thing, and the t***h may be another.
In addition, a single-question like that doesn't tell us much about the "type" of narcissism we're dealing with or whether particular narcissistic traits (e.g., grandiosity) are more pronounced than others (e.g., lack of empathy).
Which is important because we know different aspects of narcissism can influence behavior in different ways.
In conclusion, while a single question: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0191886915300167 narcissism assessment might not give us a detailed personality profile, it seems to measure the bottom line pretty well.
In other words, if you want to find out whether someone you know is a narcissist, it might be worth simply asking them!
Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI)
A. I have a natural talent for influencing people.
B. I am not good at influencing people.
A. Modesty doesnt become me.
B. I am essentially a modest person.
A. I would do almost anything on a dare.
B. I tend to be a fairly cautious person.
A. When people compliment me I sometimes get embarrassed.
I know that I am good because everybody keeps telling me so.
A. The thought of ruling the world frightens the hell out of me.
If I ruled the world it would be a better place.
A. I can usually talk my way out of anything.
I try to accept the consequences of my behavior.
A. I prefer to blend in with the crowd.
I like to be the center of attention.
A. I will be a success.
I am not too concerned about success.
A. I am no better or worse than most people.
I think I am a special person.
A. I am not sure if I would make a good leader.
I see myself as a good leader.
A. I am assertive.
I wish I were more assertive.
A. I like to have authority over other people.
I dont mind following orders.
A. I find it easy to manipulate people.
I dont like it when I find myself manipulating people.
A. I insist upon getting the respect that is due me.
I usually get the respect that I deserve.
A. I dont particularly like to show off my body.
I like to show off my body.
A. I can read people like a book.
People are sometimes hard to understand.
A. If I feel competent I am willing to take responsibility for making decisions.
I like to take responsibility for making decisions.
A. I just want to be reasonably happy.
I want to amount to something in the eyes of the world.
A. My body is nothing special.
I like to look at my body.
A. I try not to be a show off.
I will usually show off if I get the chance.
A. I always know what I am doing.
Sometimes I am not sure of what I am doing.
A. I sometimes depend on people to get things done.
I rarely depend on anyone else to get things done.
A. Sometimes I tell good stories.
Everybody likes to hear my stories.
A. I expect a great deal from other people.
I like to do things for other people.
A. I will never be satisfied until I get all that I deserve.
I take my satisfactions as they come.
A. Compliments embarrass me.
I like to be complimented.
A. I have a strong will to power.
Power for its own sake doesnt interest me.
A. I dont care about new fads and fashions.
I like to start new fads and fashions.
A. I like to look at myself in the mirror.
I am not particularly interested in looking at myself in the mirror.
A. I really like to be the center of attention.
It makes me uncomfortable to be the center of attention.
A. I can live my life in any way I want to.
People cant always live their lives in term of what they want.
A. Being an authority doesnt mean that much to me.
People always seem to recognize my authority.
A. I would prefer to be a leader.
It makes little difference to me whether I am a leader or not.
A. I am going to be a great person.
I hope I am going to be successful.
A. People sometimes believe what I tell them.
I can make anybody believe anything I want them to. 

A. I am a born leader.
Leadership is a quality that takes a long time to develop.
A. I wish somebody would someday write my biography.
I dont like people to pry into my life for any reason.
A. I get upset when people dont notice how I look when I go out in public.
I dont mind blending into the crowd when I go out in public.
A. I am more capable than other people.
There is a lot that I can learn from other people.
A. I am much like everybody else.
I am an extraordinary person.
KEY TEST RESULTS:
1.A 2.A 3.A 4.B 5.B 6.A 7.B 8.A 9.B 10.B 11.A 12.A
13.A 14.A 15.B 16.A 17.B 18.B 19.B 20.B 21.A 22.B 13.B 24.A
25.A 26.B 27.A 28.B 29.A 30.A 31.A 32.B 33.A 34.A 35.B 36.A
37.A 38.A 39.A 40.B SCORING KEY
Assign one point for each response that matches the key.
The one question a true narcissist cannot resist.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/socially-relevant/201601/everything-youve-always-wanted-know-about-narcissism
Have you ever wondered whether someone you know, perhaps a friend, a colleague, or even a close family member, is a narcissist?
How would you find out?
You could try to get the person of interest evaluated by a licensed clinical psychologist, for probably, a steep fee.
Alternatively, you might try to administer the most widely used measure of narcissism in personality research yourself; the 40-item Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI). Choose C. it will cost you a lot less money.
a. https://www.statisticssolutions.com/narcissistic-personality-inventory-40-npi-40/
b. http://www.statisticssolutions.com/narcissistic-personality-inventory-16-npi-16/
c. www2.psych.ubc.ca/~dpaulhus/research/DARK_TRIAD/MEASU
Yet, I have a distinct feeling that neither of these options seem plausible to most people.
At Indiana University, Sara Konrath and her colleagues recently sought to address some of the challenges associated with administering such long questionnaires, and in response, developed the so-called Single-Item Narcissism Scale (SINS).
At first, my colleague Seth Rosenthal (Yale) and I were skeptical about the idea that one simple questionAre you a "narcissist"?could accurately identify narcissists given that narcissism is such a complex and multidimensional personality trait (for a discussion, see my previous post
"Everything You've Always Wanted to Know about Narcissism).
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/socially-relevant/201601/everything-youve-always-wanted-know-about-narcissism
Given our initial skepticism paired with a dedication to replication science in social-personality research, we decided to see if we could replicate these initial positive findings with a sample of over 2,000 American adults.
The results of our new study were recently published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0191886915300167
In a nutshell, we were able to replicate most of the authors' initial findings and we reached two main conclusions;
(1) The single-question measure does indeed correlate positively with the more complex 40-item NPI http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/psp/54/5/890/ questionnaire (i.e., they both seem to measure narcissism).
(2) Importantly, while the NPI-based measure seems to conflate narcissism with normal, or healthy self-esteem (due to questions that ask people about more normative traits like "confidence" and "assertiveness"), the single-item measure did not correlate with self-esteem at all! In other words, the measure does not appear to capture people who might have some milder "lower-order" narcissistic traitswhich implies that the question actually singles out the "hard-line" narcissists pretty well.
So, by now, I am sure you are anxious to know what the magic question actually is! It is probably much simpler than you imagine.
If you want to find out whether someone is a narcissist, simply ask them:
Are you a "narcissist"?
This may seem counter-intuitive at first, and it certainly doesn't always work to ask people directly about their personality traits, but the case of narcissism is unique. True narcissists do not appear to view their narcissism as a bad thing. In fact, they are likely to be proud of it! Indeed, a number of recent Studies: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15298868.2012.659427
have shown that narcissists often admit that they behave in explicitly narcissistic ways, that they happily describe themselves as arrogant, braggy, etc., and even strive to be more narcissistic!
Narcissists also appear aware that other people view them less positively than they view themselves, yet simply don't care.
My co-author, Seth Rosenthal, suggests that there are several interesting factors about the scale itself that may play an important role in its validity:
1) First, the scale asks respondents to identify with the trait as a noun I am a narcissist, rather than the adjective I am narcissistic.
That gives narcissists the opportunity to stake their claim to a special identity that they know most people would rejecti.e., providing an affirmative response to the question gives them the opportunity to boost their ego.
2) Second, the one-item survey comes with a definition of narcissism: "Are you a 'narcissist'?
The word narcissist means egotistical, self-focused, and vain."
If a more severe set of descriptive traits had been chosen (like entitled, exploitative, arrogant, un-empathetic), it might have been too difficult for people to endorse the item.
Of course, self-reports arent perfect: https://scan.oxfordjournals.org/content/10/3/335.abstract
People may say one thing, and the t***h may be another.
In addition, a single-question like that doesn't tell us much about the "type" of narcissism we're dealing with or whether particular narcissistic traits (e.g., grandiosity) are more pronounced than others (e.g., lack of empathy).
Which is important because we know different aspects of narcissism can influence behavior in different ways.
In conclusion, while a single question: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0191886915300167 narcissism assessment might not give us a detailed personality profile, it seems to measure the bottom line pretty well.
In other words, if you want to find out whether someone you know is a narcissist, it might be worth simply asking them!
Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI)
A. I have a natural talent for influencing people.
B. I am not good at influencing people.
A. Modesty doesnt become me.
B. I am essentially a modest person.
A. I would do almost anything on a dare.
B. I tend to be a fairly cautious person.
A. When people compliment me I sometimes get embarrassed.
I know that I am good because everybody keeps telling me so.
A. The thought of ruling the world frightens the hell out of me.
If I ruled the world it would be a better place.
A. I can usually talk my way out of anything.
I try to accept the consequences of my behavior.
A. I prefer to blend in with the crowd.
I like to be the center of attention.
A. I will be a success.
I am not too concerned about success.
A. I am no better or worse than most people.
I think I am a special person.
A. I am not sure if I would make a good leader.
I see myself as a good leader.
A. I am assertive.
I wish I were more assertive.
A. I like to have authority over other people.
I dont mind following orders.
A. I find it easy to manipulate people.
I dont like it when I find myself manipulating people.
A. I insist upon getting the respect that is due me.
I usually get the respect that I deserve.
A. I dont particularly like to show off my body.
I like to show off my body.
A. I can read people like a book.
People are sometimes hard to understand.
A. If I feel competent I am willing to take responsibility for making decisions.
I like to take responsibility for making decisions.
A. I just want to be reasonably happy.
I want to amount to something in the eyes of the world.
A. My body is nothing special.
I like to look at my body.
A. I try not to be a show off.
I will usually show off if I get the chance.
A. I always know what I am doing.
Sometimes I am not sure of what I am doing.
A. I sometimes depend on people to get things done.
I rarely depend on anyone else to get things done.
A. Sometimes I tell good stories.
Everybody likes to hear my stories.
A. I expect a great deal from other people.
I like to do things for other people.
A. I will never be satisfied until I get all that I deserve.
I take my satisfactions as they come.
A. Compliments embarrass me.
I like to be complimented.
A. I have a strong will to power.
Power for its own sake doesnt interest me.
A. I dont care about new fads and fashions.
I like to start new fads and fashions.
A. I like to look at myself in the mirror.
I am not particularly interested in looking at myself in the mirror.
A. I really like to be the center of attention.
It makes me uncomfortable to be the center of attention.
A. I can live my life in any way I want to.
People cant always live their lives in term of what they want.
A. Being an authority doesnt mean that much to me.
People always seem to recognize my authority.
A. I would prefer to be a leader.
It makes little difference to me whether I am a leader or not.
A. I am going to be a great person.
I hope I am going to be successful.
A. People sometimes believe what I tell them.
I can make anybody believe anything I want them to. 

A. I am a born leader.
Leadership is a quality that takes a long time to develop.
A. I wish somebody would someday write my biography.
I dont like people to pry into my life for any reason.
A. I get upset when people dont notice how I look when I go out in public.
I dont mind blending into the crowd when I go out in public.
A. I am more capable than other people.
There is a lot that I can learn from other people.
A. I am much like everybody else.
I am an extraordinary person.
KEY TEST RESULTS:
1.A 2.A 3.A 4.B 5.B 6.A 7.B 8.A 9.B 10.B 11.A 12.A
13.A 14.A 15.B 16.A 17.B 18.B 19.B 20.B 21.A 22.B 13.B 24.A
25.A 26.B 27.A 28.B 29.A 30.A 31.A 32.B 33.A 34.A 35.B 36.A
37.A 38.A 39.A 40.B SCORING KEY
Assign one point for each response that matches the key.
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