Thread: How narcissistic are you? Board: Oblivion / Ship of Fools.


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Posted by Chorister (# 473) on :
 
I read some interesting research arguing that in the West we have placed so much emphasis on self-esteem, believing we can achieve whatever we set out to do, thinking we are wonderful, that it has gone too far - there are now an excessive number of people displaying Narcissistic tendencies. This is a negative trait, resulting in failed relationships, etc.

I can't imagine that many shipmates fall into this category, but it is still fun to take the test.
(And the longer article is here for those who are interested. But it is not necessary to read the article just to take the test.)

Any thoughts? How did you score?

[ 13. February 2013, 04:29: Message buggered about with by: Ariston ]
 

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Posted by Lyda*Rose (# 4544) on :
 
Score of 4.

If you want me, just knock on the woodwork.
 

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Posted by kingsfold (# 1726) on :
 
I'm too modest to tell you...
 

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Posted by Chorister (# 473) on :
 
Score - very low, almost non-existent. Soon I will vanish completel....

Did anyone else wish there was a 'neither' or 'inbetween' button for some of the questions, or was that just me?
 

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Posted by Welease Woderwick (# 10424) on :
 
My score was very low [1] as well. I was struck by how I might have answered differently at different ages/stages in my life. I'm 63, I've been retired for 15 years and I have nothing to prove to anybody, nor any interest in doing so - I sure as Hell ain't extraordinary unless you count being lucky enough to retire when I did.
 

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Posted by Sioni Sais (# 5713) on :
 
12. Very surprised.
 

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Posted by Boogie (# 13538) on :
 
9 - Exceptionally average
 

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Posted by Imaginary Friend (# 186) on :
 
I find that for many of the questions both answers are true. (Yes, I like to look at my own body AND it's absolutely nothing special!) So I got frustrated and didn't complete the test. I guess that makes me an uber-narcissist!
 

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Posted by jacobsen (# 14998) on :
 
3. But I think that the questionaire ignores the potential extraordinariness of ordinary people.
 

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Posted by leo (# 1458) on :
 
15 - merely 'average'.

One gripe - the test seems to suggest that anyone who seeks 'authority' or 'power' is narcissistic. Surely it depends what you seek power for - like power to make the world a better place, which is why most politicians seek to get elected (not that they don't get corrupted later.

Those of us who are/have been teachers and/or in management set great store on 'authority' - we couldn't do our jobs properly without it.

However, the article linked to in the OP mitigates some possible criticisms:

quote:

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"You need to believe that you can go out and do something but that's not the same as thinking that you're great,"

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quote:

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Originally posted by Chorister:
Did anyone else wish there was a 'neither' or 'inbetween' button for some of the questions, or was that just me?

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I also wanted to answer 'sometimes' or 'neither' for some of the questions. I scored 7.
 

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Posted by Banner Lady (# 10505) on :
 
BL = 2. Obviously more wall than mirror. Possibly I should try to love the God-made fabulousness that is me more than I do - but I'm quite happy to leave that to others, or not; whatever.


 

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Posted by piglet (# 11803) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Chorister:
Did anyone else wish there was a 'neither' or 'inbetween' button for some of the questions, or was that just me?

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quote:

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Originally posted by Chorister:
Did anyone else wish there was a 'neither' or 'inbetween' button for some of the questions, or was that just me?

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quote:

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Originally posted by Chorister:
Did anyone else wish there was a 'neither' or 'inbetween' button for some of the questions, or was that just me?

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quote:

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Originally posted by Imaginary Friend:
I find that for many of the questions both answers are true. <snip> So I got frustrated and didn't complete the test.

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And yes, Ariston, it is all about me. Or it should be. Well, perhaps not all, but surely some?
 

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Posted by Chorister (# 473) on :
 
I wonder how many former grammar school pupils answered that they believe they are exceptional in some way. Rightly or wrongly, we were certainly made to believe that at school in those days.

This book I'm reading at the moment is interesting in relation to the questionnaire.
 

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Posted by jedijudy (# 333) on :
 
My score was 10. Yes, I wanted a 'neither' possibility, too.

Silly me!
 

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Posted by North East Quine (# 13049) on :
 
A surprisingly low 6. Like others, I would have preferred a "neither" or "sometimes" or "occasionally" option.
 

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Posted by leo (# 1458) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Chorister:
This book I'm reading at the moment is interesting in relation to the questionnaire.

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quote:

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Originally posted by North East Quine:
A surprisingly low 6. Like others, I would have preferred a "neither" or "sometimes" or "occasionally" option.

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quote:

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A surprisingly low 6. Like others, I would have preferred a "neither" or "sometimes" or "occasionally" option.

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Same score; and, I suspect, for the same reason.

As I took the test, i found myself disliking (strongly) the obviously narcissistic choices but hesitant to commit the alternatives, especially when they seemed unduly wimpish.

I've been wondering whether the low score is possibly a function of age. Does one grow less narcissistic (or more realistic) as one grows older?

Or could it come from growing up in a time when there was much less emphasis on everyone "being special" than there is today, and when high self-esteem was not idealized as much as it now appears to be?

Or could it come from having been an only child?

Or from a predisposition to ambivalence in general?

Or ... what?

[ 06. January 2013, 16:23: Message edited by: roybart ]
 

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Posted by Ariston (# 10894) on :
 
As always, experimental design and questionnaire wording has a lot to do with answers. Would I like to live/have lived a really interesting life and have done Great things? Sure! It's hard sometimes not to want to be a crusader for justice, to want to right all the wrongs of the world (or even just one or two of them), to do something worth being remembered for. I guess it's almost natural to want to change the world for the better, and, well, radically. Not that I ever actually will; nobody who scores a 2 on that silly thing is likely to be much more than a wallflower, no?
 

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Posted by orfeo (# 13878) on :
 
Well, I got a lowish score, but the pairing of the answers was usually so incredibly obvious I'm not convinced of the value of that test.

Highest score, easily, was for Superiority. Well, duh. Because I'm not going to lie, people have been telling me I'm exceptionally intelligent since the age of 4. In all seriousness, is it narcissistic to eventually accept that this is what people see in me?

That doesn't mean I see myself as superior in every respect, but I think there'd be something ELSE wrong with me if I kept trying to say "oh no, I'm not oustanding in any way" when people have been telling me regularly for decades that they think I am oustanding in a particular way.
 

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Posted by Lucia (# 15201) on :
 
A score of 2. Nothing special then...
 

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Posted by Traveller (# 1943) on :
 
It's very obvious in every case which answer will score you a narcissistic "point", but there were several where I would want some context before clicking one or the other.

I've tried it twice, being pompous and modest, getting scores of 8 and 1.

That's rather a large range
 

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Posted by Tree Bee (# 4033) on :
 
I scored 3, all in self sufficiency . Seems reasonable.
Was brought up with little praise and a horror of showing off.
I went to a grammar school where we were told we were the worst class they'd ever had there.
My Mum said her class was told that 20 years earlier.
 

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Posted by churchgeek (# 5557) on :
 
I scored a 5 and felt guilty each "point" I got. The trouble is, though, you can tell which answer is the "narcissistic" one in each question. Of course, the point is that it's natural and healthy to have a certain number of those traits, just not too many. I tend to suffer from depression, and low self-esteem. Duh.

Here was my breakdown.

Narcissistic Trait
Authority: 1.00
Self-Sufficiency: 0.00
Superiority: 1.00
Exhibitionism: 1.00
Exploitativeness: 1.00
Vanity: 1.00
Entitlement: 0.00

Ironic, since I actually am rather self-sufficient! And I don't like being in authority at all.
 

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Posted by Sir Kevin (# 3492) on :
 
Narcissistic Trait Strength of Trait
Authority: 3.00
Self-Sufficiency: 0.00
Superiority: 4.00
Exhibitionism: 3.00
Exploitativeness: 2.00
Vanity: 1.00
Entitlement: 0.00
 

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Posted by leo (# 1458) on :
 
Similar to my score - If I remember correctly, you're a teacher - I reckoned that the job of teaching develops/enhances one's personality in the direction of 'authority' and 'exhibitionism'.
 

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Posted by Chorister (# 473) on :
 
However, remember I'm also a teacher and my score was only 2. It depends whether the traits you describe become part of your overall character, or whether you stay detached from them, just putting on an act when you are actually teaching. (Or have developed a more collaborative method of teaching where authority and exhibitionism is not so prevalent.)
 

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Posted by leo (# 1458) on :
 
There are other factors, perhaps e.g. what subject? secondary or primary? male or female teacher? male or female students/pupils?
 

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Posted by Light User (# 14254) on :
 
My score was 2. I'm not sure that lurkers make great narcissists.
 

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Posted by Robert Armin (# 182) on :
 
I scored 1. Given that this is a Christian website, that shows I am amazingly humble, and therefore far more spiritual than the rest of you (apart from WW). Do I embarrass anyone with my humility?
 

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Posted by Spike (# 36) on :
 
I got 4 which surprised me a little as I am quite extrovert and outgoing.
 

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Posted by seasick (# 48) on :
 
15! Bit concerned now...
 

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Posted by RooK (# 1852) on :
 
20.

Seemed low.
 

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Posted by Kelly Alves (# 2522) on :
 
I surprised myself; I got 16. Scored highest in leadership (!), lowest (meaning-nil) in exhibitionism.
 

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Posted by lilBuddha (# 14333) on :
 
I took the test twice. I answered it honestly both times. I scored a 32 and a 4.
 

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Posted by Kelly Alves (# 2522) on :
 
That's because you are a complex person who defies categorization.
 

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Posted by lilBuddha (# 14333) on :
 
Amazing! Those are exactly the words of one of my voices. The others are still debating....
 

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Posted by pjl (# 16929) on :
 
Answered the way I would have done a few years ago in my engineering capacity. Always got a buzz when the call came in that some customers manufacturing plant had broken down and losing 'a million pounds an hour' which was fairly common over the years.

No dithering about, solve the prob and hope you have trained your team to cope.

I scored 24 and 0 for vanity
 

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Posted by Robert Armin (# 182) on :
 
I just took the quiz again, because last time I cancelled the page without realising there wasn't anything to look at except the simple score. I thought I gave exactly the same answers as before, but this time I score 0. Should I be worried?
 

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Posted by cheesymarzipan (# 9442) on :
 
As other folks have said,the problem with some of the questions is you want to answer 'both' or 'neither' or 'somewhere in between'.

I took it a couple of times - once for 'when I've first met people and I'm shy' side of me and once for 'Look at me' attention seeking side of me.
Shy side scored 1. Attention seeker scored 16.
 

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