Narcissism
The trait in question is narcissism. The unit of measure of this trait is Narcissistic Personality Inventory. Narcissism is the quality of one who seeks gratification from vanity; an egotistic person who admires excessively his or her attributes (Holmes, 2001). This is usually derived from arrogance. A person suffering from narcissism is said to have Narcissistic Personality Disorder. It is considered to be a societal ill and is a concept of psychoanalytic theory.
The Narcissistic Personality Inventory is a measure that is taken to measure the standards of Narcissism psychological research (American Psychological Association, 1987). The measure is used to measure narcissism that would be considered normal or subclinical. In other words, scoring very high after taking this test does not directly translate to the clinical diagnosis for the Narcissistic Personality Disorder.
The measure uses seven fundamental structures to measure of narcissism. These include authority, superiority, exhibitionism, vanity, entitlement, exploitations and self-sufficiency (Raskin & Terry, 1988). Further studies show different results after examining this measure. Due to this variety, the solid structure of this measure is yet to be determined. The structure of the Narcissistic Personality Inventory is inconsistent if one is to look at the factors one at a time. However, the measure on a full scale is more reliable and is more consistent on a large group of people.
As such, the measure has been used to determine levels of narcissism of the general population and clinical test for cases of Narcissistic Personality Disorder. Narcissistic Personality Inventory is effective in measuring narcissism on a clinical basis due to its modulation that is based on the DSM-III clinical criteria (Raskin & Terry, 1988).
The measure is reliable since it is currently the most used for the trait of narcissism measurement. Even with the discrepancies that are registered, the overall view of the module is consistent and reliable reading can be made from this module (Psych Central, 2014).
In the personal test, I took I scored 21. This qualifies me to be a narcissist. According to the measure, scoring between 12 and 5 means the person is of average narcissism, popular personalities like celebrities score closer to 18, and those that the score above 20 are outright narcissistic. The factors that determine narcissism are also rated in the test.
The first factor is Authority. According to the test, I scored a four out of a possible ten. The higher the score, the higher the likelihood of a person to like being in power for the sake of it. The score of a four means that I am almost average on the authority factor.
The second factor is Self-sufficiency. This is a measure of how self-sufficient a person is. This is a measure of how much one depends on others as compared to how he depends on himself to meet one's needs. In the score, I scored a one. According to the test, this means that I highly depend on others to fulfill any objective in my life.
The third trait is superiority. This trait speaks to the persona character on how superior he or she feels towards those around him. On the test, I scored two out of a possible ten. This means that I view those around me as equals.
The fourth factor is exhibitionism. This is a person’s affinity for attention. The higher the score on the test the more the person craves for the attention of those around him. According to the test, this is the factor that I scored the highest on. I got a six out of a possible ten; meaning that I want to be the center of attention for those around me, and more often than not it is at their expense.
Fifth on the list is the factor of exploitations. This factor is symbolic of the ability of a person to exploit those around him for his or her benefit. According to the test, I scored a three out of ten. This symbolizes that I have the knack of exploiting those around me for my benefit and fulfilling my needs at the expense of others.
The sixth narcissistic trait is vanity. This is the ability in one's ability and attractiveness. According to the test, I scored a three out of a possible ten which is particularly high number. This means that I believe strongly in my ability and my attractiveness and much more so than I believe in the same quality in others.
The last trait is that of entitlement. This trait is characteristic of those that have high expectations of life. Those that score very lowly in this trait have low expectations from those around them and life in general. According to the test in regard to this trait I scored a two out of a possible ten.
After the score, the test suggested that my personality is outright narcissistic. This is based on the markers/ traits that characterize narcissistic personalities. Not all the traits that are accurate but looking at the overall view of the score, a narcissistic personality would describe me. For example, expect everybody in the class to know me and am offended if someone in the class does not notice my presence. This example shows the traits of exhibitionism and entitlement which are traits of narcissism.
Single-Item Narcissistic Scale
The other measure for narcissism is Single-Item Narcissistic Scale (SINS). Contrary to the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI), this measure uses only one trait to determine whether or not a person is narcissistic or not. In other words, instead of seven traits, this method uses only one (Konrath, 2014). According to this test only one question is needed to identify a narcissistic person. Studies show that asking a narcissistic person to rate themselves on a scale of one to seven, one being not narcissistic and seven being very narcissistic would provide a fairly correct answer to the question of whether a person is narcissistic or not.
The accuracy of this method has been corroborated with another test for grading narcissism including the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (Konrath, 2014). The reasoning behind this test is very simplistic in nature. People who are narcissistic in nature do not have a problem admitting as such. They see narcissism as a virtue that one should be proud of. On the other hand, people who are not narcissistic are not narcissistic from upon narcissism (Konrath, 2014). This, therefore, means that asking if a person is narcissistic will more often than not provide an accurate answer.
Upon taking the test, I agree with the results that suggest I am narcissistic. The Narcissistic Personality Inventory test showed that I portrayed signs of narcissism. The one pertinent question in the Single-Item Narcissistic Scale is whether I think I am a narcissist or not. I tend to agree since the Narcissistic Personality Inventory test displayed characteristics of mine that were synonymous with those that belong to narcissists. This further goes to prove the validity and efficiency of this test.
The NPI and The SINS
Comparisons
Both of these methods are effective in determining narcissistic personalities. To determine narcissistic personality, there are traits to look out for. The questions asked in these two tests bring out this quality or lack thereof.
Contrast
There are several differences between the NPI and the SINS methods. The major one is the fact that the NPI has 40 different questions that determine try to establish the seven subscales of the NPI while the SINS has only one question that answers the question just as effectively.
Another difference is that the NPI is time-consuming while, in comparison, the SINS takes virtually no time at all. The 40 different questions that are needed to determine the traits for narcissism in NPI take a long time to answer in comparison to the single question that is used in SINS.
Comparing the two methods, it is very easy to identify a narcissist in SINS than it is using NPI. This is because of the simplicity that comes with the former and the variation that comes with the latter.
Analysis of NPI and SINS
Essentially, both the tests are similar considering they strive to answer the same question. The major difference is that one is more detailed whereas the other is more specific. Comparing the two methods, NPI seems to be the more accurate of the two, reason being the answered questions offer the degree of narcissism of the subject. One advantage of NIP over SINS is that the researcher can get more information about the subject’s narcissism (Ritzer, 1997). The major advantage of SINS is that it is specific, and the researcher can reach a relatively accurate conclusion faster than in other methods.
References
Holmes, J. (2001). Narcissism. Cambridge: Icon.
Integrating personality and social psychology: special issue [of the] Journal of personality and social psychology.. (1987). Washington, D.C. American Psychological Association.
Konrath, S. (2014). Development and Validation of the Single Item Narcissism Scale (SINS). EBCO host connection. Retrieved October 15, 2014, from http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/articles/97801028/development-validation-single-item-narcissism-scale-sins
Psych Central. (2014). Narcissistic Personality QUiz. Retrieved October 15, 2014, from http://psychcentral.com/quizzes/narcissistic.htm
Ritzer, D. R. (1997). Confirmatory factor analysis of the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI) and the Self-Report of Psychopathy Scale (SRPII). Ann Arbor, Mich.: University Microfilms International.
Raskin, R. & Terry, H. (1988). A principal-components analysis of the Narcissistic Personality Inventory and further evidence of its construct validity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54, 890-902.doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.54.5.890
