Concealed measures of individual narcissism

To assess narcissism, as well as many other characteristics of people, participants are often asked to answer a series of questions about themselves, such as “I like to be the centre of attention”.  In these instances, the purpose of these questions, called self-report tests or explicit measures, are somewhat transparent.

Two issues compromise the validity and utility of these explicit measures. First, individuals are sometimes oblivious to their characteristics, unable to access this information from memory (Grum & von Collani, 2007). Second, participants often distort their responses, often to appear more appealing (Greenwald et al., 1998).  The implicit association test is a paradigm that researchers often use to circumvent these problems.

Illustration: Rapid serial visual presentation

One procedure, called the rapid serial visual presentation, can be used to assess narcissism implicitly.  For example, Atkinson and Heerey (2025) designed a method that assesses the degree to which individuals are attuned to words that epitomise status.  The rationale of this procedure is that individuals who are sensitive to these words may be especially concerned about status—indicative of narcissism. 

Specifically, on each trial, participants watch sequences of strings, each appearing for only 120 ms.  A typical sequence of strings might be

• SFKLJHFAJKSDHFA
• XXXXXTABLEXXXX
• ADFGKJHADFGAS
• SDFJKHSADFJDJH
• XXXXXFAMEXXXX
• SDFASDFKJLHJHJ

After they watch this sequence of 6 strings, participants indicate whether they identified any words.  In this sequence, two of the strings were presented in a bold font.  In addition, embedded within these strings were two words: table and fame.  If people notice the first word, they tend to overlook the second word—especially if this second word appears within 300 ms of the first word.  However, participants may identify the second word in some circumstances, such as if this term is especially relevant to their motives.  Accordingly, participants may be more likely to identify the second term if

• this term is related to status, such as fame, power, wealth, and leader,
• the participants exhibit the signs of narcissism.

Atkinson and Heerey (2025) did indeed substantiate this possibility.  That is, in this study, participants completed a range of personality scales, including the Narcissistic Admiration and Rivalry Questionnaire.  If participants scored high on this scale, indicating narcissism, they were more likely to identify the second word—even when this term followed the first word within 240 ms—provided this second term was relevant to status.

Introduction

In 2025, two academics from the Sapienza University of Rome, Dentale and Vecchione, published an illuminating paper.  Specifically, as this paper reveals, researchers can utilise a renowned and validated procedure, called the implicit association test (Greenwald et al., 1998), to assess some facets of narcissism.  To illustrate this procedure, participants may first be instructed to press one button, perhaps the letter Q on a keyboard, whenever a word that corresponds to themselves appear, such as the words I, me, mine, or self.  They are also instructed to press another button, such as the P on a keyboard, whenever a word that corresponds to other people, such as they, them, their, it, or other, is presented.

Next, participants might be asked to also press the letter Q when a word that is synonymous with superiority appears, such as exceptional, special, and superior.  They are also told to press the letter P when a word that is synonymous with inferiority appears, such as insignificant, mediocre, and inferior (Dentale & Vecchione, 2025).

Thus, in these trials, the same button represents both the self and a sense of superiority.  Individuals who exhibit grandiose narcissism—and thus may associate themselves with a sense of superiority—should perform this task effectively, committing few errors and responding rapidly.

On other trials, the buttons that correspond to these traits are reversed. The letter P might correspond to words that epitomise the self and inferiority.  The letter Q might correspond to words that epitomise other people and superiority.  During these trials, the same button represents both the self and inferiority. Individuals who do not exhibit grandiose narcissism should thus perform more effectively in this condition. The difference in performance across the two conditions is assumed to reflect the extent to which individuals exhibit grandiose narcissism (Dentale & Vecchione, 2025).

Evidence the implicit association test can measure facets of narcissism

Dentale and Vecchione (2025) examined whether the implicit association test can indeed measure grandiose narcissism accurately.  In this study, 317 psychology students completed this implicit association test as well as several measures of narcissism and self-esteem including

• the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (Raskin & Hall, 1979; see Fossati et al., 2008, for the Italian version) to measure facets of grandiose narcissism—such as a sense of authority, displays of grandiosity, and entitlement,
• an Italian version of the Narcissistic Admiration and Rivalry Questionnaire (Vecchione et al., 2018), designed to measure narcissism admiration, or the degree to which participants inflate their capabilities and achievements, as well as narcissistic rivalry, or the degree to which participants undermine other people to protect their self-esteem,
• the Rosenberg self-esteem scale.

The data indicate the implicit association test may be a valid measure of grandiose narcissism in general as well as narcissistic admiration in particular, defined as the extent to which individuals strive to inflate their capabilities and contributions.   Specifically, this implicit measure of narcissism was

• positively associated with all facets of the Narcissistic Personality Inventory—a measure of grandiose narcissism,
• positively associated with all facets of narcissistic admiration,
• to a lesser extent, positively related to self-esteem as well,
• not significantly related to any facets of narcissistic rivalry.

A second study also corroborated the validity of this test.  In this study, 222 participants completed the same implicit and explicit measures of narcissism together with two procedures that assess the inclination of individuals to overestimate their capabilities or contributions:

• First, the participants rated themselves on ten attributes, such as imaginative, competent, and responsible, relative to other people (cf., Brown, 2012).
• Second, participants rated their IQ on 14 dimensions, such as verbal, spatial, practical, musical, and interpersonal (cf Furnham & Buchanan, 2005; for evidence of validity, see Dentale et al., 2020).

As hypothesised, the implicit association test of grandiose narcissism was positively associated with the extent to which individuals rated themselves favourably on the various attributes and facets of intelligence.  More importantly, these relationships were observed after controlling the explicit measures of narcissism—verifying the incremental validity of this implicit measure.

Introduction

Dentale and Vecchione (2025) also designed and validated another task that could measure grandiose narcissism implicitly, called the Relational Responding Task (see De Houwer et al., 2015, for previous variants of this procedure).  During each trial, a word or sentence appears on a screen.  Participants need to press one of two buttons in response to this word or sentence: true or false.  Specifically, during one block of trials

• participants need to press true if the sentence represents a grandiose personality, such as “I am a special person” or “I think I am the best”,
• they also need to press true if a word that is synonymous with truth appears, such as correct or real,
• participants need to press false if the sentence represents low levels of grandiosity, such as “I think I am average”,
• they also need to press false if a word that is synonymous with false appears, such as fake or incorrect.

Individuals who have developed grandiose narcissism tend to perform effectively during this block of trials.  For another set of trials, the instructions are similar, except

• participants need to press false if the sentence represents a grandiose personality,
• participants need to press true if the sentence represents low levels of grandiosity.

Individuals who have not developed grandiose narcissism tend to perform effectively during this block of trials.  The researchers then calculate the difference in performance between these two blocks of trials to measure grandiose narcissism.

Evidence the relational responding task can measure facets of narcissism

In the same study that was conducted to validate the implicit association test of narcissism, Dentale and Vecchione (2025) also investigated whether the relational responding task can measure grandiose narcissism accurately.  That is, 317 psychology students completed this relational responding task—together with the implicit association test of narcissism, the Narcissistic Personality Inventory, the Narcissistic Admiration and Rivalry Questionnaire, and the Rosenberg self-esteem scale

Like the implicit association test of narcissism, the relational responding task was positively associated with all facets of grandiose narcissism, all facets of narcissistic admiration, and self-esteem.  Conversely, the relational responding task was not significantly related to any facets of narcissistic rivalry.  Finally, the implicit association test and relational responding task were positively associated with each other—but this relationship was modest rather than high. 

A second study also validated this relational responding task.  This second study was similar to the first study except

• the sentences were modified to represent narcissistic admiration—such as “I attract attention easily”—rather than grandiose narcissism,
• participants completed the two procedures that assess the inclination of individuals to overestimate their capabilities or contributions.

The relational responding task, now modified to gauge narcissistic admiration, was also positively associated with the tendency of individuals to inflate their capabilities—even after controlling explicit measures of narcissism.  Again, the association between the implicit association test and relational responding task was modest.  Arguably,

• the implicit association test measures the degree to which individuals associate themselves with superiority or grandiosity, perhaps unconsciously—called an associative test
• the relational responding task measures the extent to which individuals believe they are superior or grandiose, perhaps consciously—called a proposition test,
• consequently, these two tasks purportedly measure different cognitive operations. 

Peering into a mirror

As Piff (2014) argued, narcissistic people, when granted the opportunity, should be more inclined to check their appearance in a mirror. Consistent with this premise, measures of grandiose narcissism, such as the Narcissism Personality Inventory, tend to include questions that assess vanity or an obsession with physical appearance. Indeed, according to Sivanathan et al. (2025), vanity is one of the two features of grandiose narcissism that seem universal across cultures.

Consequently, to measure narcissism covertly, Piff (2014) utilised the following protocol.  Embedded within other activities, a researcher asked participants whether they would agree to be photographed.  Purportedly, the photographs would be utilised in future studies on facial perception.  After they agreed, participants were granted an opportunity to check their appearance in a mirror, located several metres down a hall.  The photographer then retrieved the camera from another room, enabling the participants to check themselves in the mirror privately—although their behaviour was recorded discreetly. 

Admittedly, 63% of the participants checked themselves in the mirror.  Because this percentage is high, not all participants who peered into the mirror could be high in narcissism.  Nevertheless, participants who peered into the mirror were assumed to be, on average, more narcissistic than participants who did not peer into the mirror. 

To establish the validity of this procedure, Piff (2014) examined whether the inclination of participants to peer into a mirror was associated with social class.  That is, according to Piff, people who occupy a higher social class should be more likely to demonstrate the hallmarks of narcissism.  The reason is that

• if individuals have accumulated negligible wealth, they depend more on their community to survive,
• these individuals are thus more likely to prioritise the goal to assist other members of this community (Argyle, 1994) and to receive support in reciprocation (Lamont, 2000),
• this tendency to consider and to accommodate the needs of other people deviates from the defining features of narcissism—a trait that coincides with an obsession with status rather than cooperation,
• in contrast, if individuals have accrued significant wealth, they are not as dependent on their community and indeed not as sensitive to the needs of other people (Stellar et al., 2012).

To assess whether a high social class coincides with the inclination of individuals to check themselves in the mirror, in one study, 244 undergraduate students answered a series of questions that gauge social class.  For example, they indicated the degree to which they agree with statements such as “I don’t need to worry too much about paying my bills” (Griskevicius et al., 2011).  As hypothesised, if participants indicated their social class was high, they were more inclined to check themselves in the mirror later.   

This finding, however, can be deemed as evidence of validity only if social class does indeed predict narcissism. Piff (2014) conducted other studies that substantiate this premise.  To illustrate

• as another study revealed, undergraduate students whose parents earn considerable money were more likely than other participants to score high on the Narcissistic Personality Inventory,
• similarly, adults who perceived themselves as higher than average on income, education, and occupational prestige were more likely than other participants to score high on a measure of entitlement, exemplified by questions like “I honestly feel I’m just more deserving than others”.

Use of makeup

Sometimes, individuals—such as recruiters or psychologists—may suspect that someone is narcissistic but are not certain about this judgment.  To confirm their suspicions, they might assess whether this person exhibits some of the signs of narcissism, especially signs that are not widely known.  As one simple example

• people who are narcissistic are often preoccupied with their appearance,
• however, because they are more concerned about their status than perhaps their genuine qualities, these individuals tend to enhance their appearance only when likely to be judged.

To illustrate, at the University of São Paulo, Mafra et al. (2025) explored whether narcissism and other personality traits coincide with how often women apply makeup.  In this study, over 1400 Brazilian women completed an online survey.   The scales were translated to Portuguese and back translated to English to confirm their accuracy (cf., Epstein et al., 2015).  Specifically, the participants indicated

• the frequency with which they use five cosmetics: base concealer, mascara, eyeliner, eyeshadow, and lipstick or gloss,
• the frequency with which they use these cosmetics in various circumstances (see Guthrie et al., 2008)—such as at home, when exercising, at work, at a job interview, meeting female friends, meeting male friends, meeting family, on a first date, and on a later date,
• their monthly expenditure on makeup,
• the degree to which they demonstrate 25 adjectives, representing the five factors of personality, such as extraversion or neuroticism (Hauck-Filho et al., 2012),
• the Dirty Dozen scale, designed to measure narcissism (e.g., “I tend to seek prestige or status”), psychopathy (e.g., “I tend to lack remorse”), and Machiavellianism (for the Portuguese version, see Gouveia et al., 2016).

As the findings revealed, personality affected makeup usage (Mafra et al., 2025).  For example, narcissistic individuals, as well as extraverted individuals, were more likely to apply makeup frequently and spent more excessively to purchase makeup.  Yet, narcissistic individuals tended to apply makeup primarily in social circumstances—in circumstances in which they might attract a partner, for example—but not at home, when exercising alone, or when shopping.  In contrast, if participants scored high on psychopathy or emotional stability, their use of makeup did not differ as markedly across these circumstances. 

Other physical manifestations of narcissism

Narcissism may also manifest in other similar behaviours.  For example

• narcissistic individuals often wear more expensive, flashy and revealing clothing (Vazire et al., 2008),
• narcissistic people tend to purchase items, such as accessories, that are more conspicuous, flashy, exclusive, or luxurious rather than useful (Lee et al., 2013; for a review, see Cisek et al., 2014).

Evidence that narcissism coincides with specific linguistic patterns

When speaking to other people, narcissistic individuals are more likely than other individuals to use specific words or phrases (e.g., Carey et al., 2015; Holtzman et al., 2019). For example, Zhang, Fingerman, et al. (2023) investigated which categories of words tend to coincide with narcissism.  In this study, approved by the University of Texas, 281 older adults, aged between 65 and 92, were interviewed about their social life, wellbeing, and background.  Then, over the next 5 to 6 days, they received a device that recorded excerpts of their daily language.  Finally, to measure grandiose narcissism, participants completed the Narcissism Personality Inventory-16.

To analyse the speech, the researchers subjected transcribed excerpts of these recordings to software that analyses text: the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count 2015 (for the latest version of this software, see this website).  Specifically, this software assesses the degree to which individuals used 91 categories of features, including

• first-person singular pronouns, such as I, me, or my,
• words that highlight a discrepancy with a goal, such as should, would, or could
• words that relate to money, such as cash, payment, and dollar,
• positive emotions, like love, happy, and good,
• negative emotions, like sad, hate, and anger, and
• insight, such as think, know, and consider.

The software calculates the percentage of words in a transcript that correspond to each of the categories (for discussions about the development of this tool, see Pennebaker, Francis, et al., 2001; Pennebaker, Mehl, et al., 2003; Tausczik & Pennebaker, 2010). A series of analyses revealed that narcissistic individuals, compared to other individuals, are more likely to utilise

• first-person plural pronouns, such we and us,
• words that correspond to achievement, such as win and success,
• words that correspond to work, such as job, hiring, office, and manager,
• words that correspond to sex, such as erotic or condom
• words that signal desire, such as want and need (Zhang, Fingerman, et al., 2023).

Interpretation of these linguistic patterns

Some of these findings are unsurprising.  For example,

• to boost their status, narcissistic people often refer to their achievements (Buss & Chiodo, 1991) especially their work accomplishments,
• to be perceived as attractive, a motivation that often coincides with narcissism, older narcissistic people often refer to sex,
• narcissistic people may often refer to desires because they frequently experience a discrepancy between these goals or hopes and their reality.

In contrast, the finding that older narcissists tend to us first-person plural pronouns, such “we”, might seem unusual at first glance. After all, these terms might demonstrate affiliation. However, people often include these words in commands (Pennebaker & Lay, 2002); a phrase like “We need to complete the work by tomorrow” could be a command, directing another person to complete the work alone.

Variations across age

The study that Zhang et al. (2023) conducted was confined to older adults. Some, but not all, these findings may generalise to other age categories as well.  To illustrate,

• similar to the older narcissistic individuals in this study, younger narcissistic individuals in other studies also often refer to sexual words (Holtzman et al., 2010; Holtzman et al., 2019),
• however, in contrast to the older narcissistic individuals in this study, younger narcissistic individuals in other studies often use first-person singular pronouns, such as I and me (Raskin & Shaw, 1988), rather than first-person plural pronouns, such as we and us.

Limitations of this paradigm

Although useful, Zhang et al. (2023) outlined several limitations of this procedure, in which large excerpts of words are subjected to linguistic software. For example

• the procedure disregards the person to whom the participant was speaking; this information is relevant because, in public settings, narcissistic people may seem respectful and agreeable when they first meet someone (Back et al., 2010),
• the procedure disregards the surrounding words; thus, if individuals utilise the phrase, “I don’t like you”, the word “like” is categorised as positive,
• most categories of words did not significantly differ between narcissistic individuals and other participants; thus, the observed differences may be hard to discern in everyday conservation,
• this study did not examine whether other facets of narcissism, such as vulnerable narcissism, also coincide with specific linguistic patterns.