7. A person’s emotionality is superficial, labile, and instrumental.
People high in narcissistic tendencies construct their emotional lives based on social cues that indicate what emotional lives should be like, instead of actually having rich emotional lives. Their emotions are labile, meaning that they can almost instantly shift from one emotional state to another since their emotions are skin-deep. They are instrumental in that they use expressions of normal human emotions to obtain emotional control over someone or to achieve a specific goal.
8. A person is obsessed with social status and recognition.
In a narcissist’s view, people are strictly hierarchically organized, so they tend to infiltrate themselves in social circles they perceive as being well-positioned inside a specific cultural context in which the narcissist lives. This tactic is designed to provide them with the recognition and admiration they believe they deserve. If they don’t manage to gain the social status they think they are entitled to, they tend to devalue the same social groups they wanted to associate with.
A Book: Why Does He Do That?: Inside the Minds of Angry and Controlling Men.
9. A person is always projecting and deflecting.
If a person engages in frequent projections, which refers to accusing other people of their own impulses that make them feel uncomfortable, they are likely to possess narcissistic traits. Deflection is almost a tell-tale sign of narcissistic defenses, and it consists of ignoring their own problematic behavior and instead of trying to shift focus from themselves by focusing on other people’s flaws and deficiencies or other topics completely unrelated to the topic of discussion.
10. A person never takes responsibility for their actions.
Narcissists are notoriously known for their inability to take responsibility for their own, sometimes extremely manipulative, hurtful, and irrational actions, and are more likely to shift the blame to innocent people or place that blame on external circumstances.
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