This page describes one possible result of the quiz Am I a narcissist?
Many narcissistic traits
You believe in yourself firmly, you like attention, and you expect others to take that into account.
What this means
You scored high on narcissistic traits. You rate yourself above most people, you like being noticed, and you often want to decide how things go and who gets heard. You probably said yes to many of these statements knowingly, and that honesty counts for something.
Strengths
These traits are not only a problem. Confident, assertive people get picked as leaders, sell ideas well, recover quickly from rejection and are willing to take risks others avoid.
The costs
They usually land on relationships. Other people can feel unheard, used or pushed aside, and the goodwill runs out slowly enough that you may not notice until it is gone. Criticism can also sting more than you show.
What helps
Ask someone who does not depend on you, not an employee or a fan, what it is like to disagree with you, and listen to the end. A high score is not a diagnosis. If relationships or work keep breaking down in the same way, talking to a psychologist is a strong move, not a weak one.
About the quiz: Am I a narcissist?
Narcissism is more than vanity. Psychologists describe narcissistic traits through several sides: how important you feel, how much you want attention and how strongly you want to steer others. Everyone has some of each. The question is how much.
This test uses 18 statements from the public-domain International Personality Item Pool (IPIP). Rate how accurately each one describes you. It takes about four minutes, and you get an overall score and a 0–100 score on three facets, with nothing to sign up for.
It does not diagnose anything. Narcissistic personality disorder can only be assessed by a psychiatrist or clinical psychologist.
How this quiz works
This test combines three short scales from the International Personality Item Pool (IPIP), a public-domain collection of personality items that may be used, translated and published for any purpose. Each facet has six statements: self-importance (the IPIP-NEO Modesty facet, scored in reverse; Goldberg, 1999), attention-seeking (the IPIP scale for a construct similar to exhibitionism in the Hogan Personality Inventory) and dominance (the IPIP scale for a construct similar to the dominance/narcissism scale of the California Psychological Inventory). Longer source scales were shortened to six items. Entitlement, another core feature of narcissism, has no public-domain IPIP scale and is not measured separately.
You rate each statement from 1 (very inaccurate) to 5 (very accurate). Six statements are reverse-keyed. Each facet is averaged and converted to 0–100, and the overall score is the average of all 18 answers on the same scale. An overall score of 30 or below is shown as “few”, 31–55 as “some” and above 55 as “many” narcissistic traits. These cut-offs are descriptive, not population norms.
What it does not do: it is not the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI), it is not a clinical instrument and it does not diagnose narcissistic personality disorder. It measures the grandiose, outward side of narcissism; the vulnerable side (insecurity, hypersensitivity to criticism, shame) is not covered. Like every self-report test, it reflects how you see yourself.
References: Goldberg, L. R. (1999). A broad-bandwidth, public domain, personality inventory measuring the lower-level facets of several five-factor models. In I. Mervielde et al. (Eds.), Personality Psychology in Europe, 7, 7–28. Goldberg, L. R. et al. (2006). The International Personality Item Pool and the future of public-domain personality measures. Journal of Research in Personality, 40, 84–96. Items: ipip.ori.org.
Frequently asked questions
Does this test tell me if I am a narcissist?
It tells you how strongly you show narcissistic traits, on a scale everyone sits somewhere on. It does not diagnose narcissistic personality disorder, which requires a clinical assessment of how the traits affect your life over a long time.
What is the difference between narcissistic traits and narcissistic personality disorder?
Traits are normal personality differences: some people are more self-assured, attention-seeking or dominant than others. The disorder is rare and means those patterns are rigid, cause lasting problems in relationships or work, and usually go with a lack of empathy. Only a psychiatrist or clinical psychologist can assess it.
Would a narcissist answer honestly?
Often, yes. Research on narcissism questionnaires has found that people high in narcissistic traits tend to admit them quite openly, because they do not see them as flaws. Answering strategically still distorts any self-report test, so the result is only as honest as your answers.
Is this the NPI test?
No. The Narcissistic Personality Inventory is copyrighted and its authors allow free use for research only. This test uses public-domain IPIP items that measure similar features: self-importance, attention-seeking and dominance.
What is vulnerable or covert narcissism?
A form of narcissism that looks like insecurity rather than confidence: strong sensitivity to criticism, resentment, envy and a fragile need for admiration. This test focuses on the grandiose, outward form and does not measure the vulnerable form.
Is my result stored?
Your answers stay in your browser. We keep only anonymous aggregate statistics so we can show how others scored. No name, email or account is asked for.
Other results
- Few narcissistic traitsYou don't see yourself as more important than others and you don't need to be the centre of attention.
- Some narcissistic traitsYou have healthy confidence and sometimes a wish to stand out, like most people.