There’s been talk during this year’s presidential race about whether any of the candidates is a “narcissist.” Generally speaking, the term refers to an extreme egocentric more in love with himself, or herself, than with anyone else. More serious is narcissistic personality disorder, a recognized psychological impairment that describes people who exhibit a pervasive pattern of grandiosity, an unquenchable need for admiration and a lack of empathy.
There’s been talk during this year’s presidential race about whether any of the candidates is a “narcissist.” Generally speaking, the term refers to an extreme egocentric more in love with himself, or herself, than with anyone else. More serious is narcissistic personality disorder, a recognized psychological impairment that describes people who exhibit a pervasive pattern of grandiosity, an unquenchable need for admiration and a lack of empathy.
While narcissists are all about believing their superiority, experts note that their behavior is often linked to the opposite: feelings of vulnerability and a fear of rejection.
Might your favorite candidate be a narcissist?
Below is a selection of paired statements from the Narcissistic Personality Inventory, an exercise developed to measure narcissism as a personality trait in social psychological research. This is not a diagnostic tool. It measures normal expressions of narcissism — meaning even someone who gets the highest possible score does not necessarily have NPD.
Try it this way: Choose a presidential candidate, then look at each pair of statements and select the one that best describes that person. We aren’t providing scoring, but the contrasts are quite vivid and should give you a sense of your chosen candidate’s personality. As if you didn’t already suspect.
You can take a full test at chicagotribune.com/ego.
— I have a natural talent for influencing people.
— I am not good at influencing people.
— The thought of ruling the world frightens the hell out of me.
— If I ruled the world it would be a better place.
— I prefer to blend in with the crowd.
— I like to be the center of attention.
— I will be a success.
— I am not too concerned about success.
— I am no better or worse than most people.
— I think I am a special person.
— I like to have authority over other people.
— I don’t mind following orders.
— I find it easy to manipulate people.
— I don’t like it when I find myself manipulating people.
— I don’t particularly like to show off my body.
— I like to show off my body.
— I can read people like a book.
— People are sometimes hard to understand.
— I just want to be reasonably happy.
— I want to amount to something in the eyes of the world.
— My body is nothing special.
— I like to look at my body.
— I try not to be a show off.
— I will usually show off if I get the chance.
— I always know what I am doing.
— Sometimes I am not sure of what I am doing.
— I sometimes depend on people to get things done.
— I rarely depend on anyone else to get things done.
— Sometimes I tell good stories.
— Everybody likes to hear my stories.
— I would prefer to be a leader.
— It makes little difference to me whether I am a leader or not.
— I am going to be a great person.
— I hope I am going to be successful.
— People sometimes believe what I tell them.
— I can make anybody believe anything I want them to.
— I am much like everybody else.
— I am an extraordinary person.
Source: Robert Raskin, Howard Terry (1988). “A principal-components analysis of the Narcissistic Personality Inventory and further evidence of its construct validity.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
Michael Lev is a member of the Chicago Tribune Editorial Board. Readers may send him email at mlev@tribpub.com