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“I honestly feel I'm just more deserving than others.” Surely it’s common for people to avoid admitting to agreeing with statements like this whether or not th

“I honestly feel I'm just more deserving than others.” Surely it’s common for people to avoid admitting to agreeing with statements like this whether or not they really do, because they don’t want people to think they’re an asshole. Can with more knowledge of this field tell me how psychologists address this kind of problem when designing diagnostic Q&A tests?

chadcmulligan 6y ago
Well, apparently not, narcissists for example quite happily agree that they are narcissists - any other way to be seems dumb to them: https://psychcentral.com/news/2014/08/06/it-takes-just-one-question-to-identify-narcissism/73260.html https://psychcentral.com/news/2014/08/06/it-takes-just-one-q...
- playpause 6y ago
  I’m sure that phenomenon exists but I doubt it’s universal. It seems obvious that many narcissists, in wanting to be loved, have learned to avoid making statements that make a majority of people dislike them.
  - chadcmulligan 6y ago
    You'd think so, and no doubt there are some, but the study says otherwise: In a series of 11 experiments involving more than 2,200 people of all ages, the researchers found they could reliably identify narcissistic people by asking them this exact question (including the note): To what extent do you agree with this statement: “I am a narcissist.” (Note: The word “narcissist” means egotistical, self-focused, and vain.)
    - jack_pp 6y ago
      What does reliably identify mean? 10% false negative rate? 30%? You don't have to be very smart to fool these kinds of self reported tests if you wish to go under the radar.
  - username90 6y ago
    Psychologists only looks at how you act and not how you feel. So if a narcissist can suppress his narcissistic traits to get love then he isn't a narcissist. I don't really agree with that though, we call persons racists even though they say that whites aren't the superior race etc, the same should apply to narcisists.
    - watwut 6y ago
      this is not true.
    - grugagag 6y ago
      They only suppress it in the courting phase also known as love bombing. Once they have their subjects invested they show their unmasked face. Narcissists also suppres or wear a maks to the outside world and oftentimes they project an image of dependable and likeable people. Think of policians and what they say or the image they build to garner votes vis a vis of what they actially do, their actions, which don’t correspond with their projected image.
  - watwut 6y ago
    The narcissist I knew was not too good at seeing things from other peoples perspective. Meaning, would say thinfa like that assuming others agree. Lifetime of bullying dissent leaves you with people who wonr object. Narcissists can love bomb and can bully. They are not limiting themselves to be likable
- rukuu001 6y ago
  Check out 'covert maladaptive narcissism' (googling yields many articles on this), which is not at all like what people usually think of when they think 'narcissism'
codeulike 6y ago
In some personality tests they try to build Validity Scales into the questions and make it part of the scoring algorithm https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Validity_scale https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Validity_scale https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesota_Multiphasic_Personality_Inventory#Validity_scales https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesota_Multiphasic_Personal... I think the basic technique is to ask similar but different questions in several different ways and then apply stats
082349872349872 6y ago
I'm also interested in knowledgable information, but my speculation (having read how the Confederates viewed themselves how the Nazis viewed themselves, how the Juntas viewed themselves, etc.) is that people agree with the statement because they see it as intuitively obvious for specific others, who come readily to mind, and whether yet other others will think they're an asshole doesn't really cross their minds (unless they're very high on Machiavellianism?) Some traditional others We are more deserving than: - They who are sinful - They who are from somewhere else - They who are genotypically XX or, for the HN context: - They who have poor english skills - They who have poor technical skills - They who have an industry ripe for disruption

chadcmulligan 6y ago

Well, apparently not, narcissists for example quite happily agree that they are narcissists - any other way to be seems dumb to them: https://psychcentral.com/news/2014/08/06/it-takes-just-one-question-to-identify-narcissism/73260.html https://psychcentral.com/news/2014/08/06/it-takes-just-one-q...

playpause 6y ago
I’m sure that phenomenon exists but I doubt it’s universal. It seems obvious that many narcissists, in wanting to be loved, have learned to avoid making statements that make a majority of people dislike them.
- chadcmulligan 6y ago
  You'd think so, and no doubt there are some, but the study says otherwise: In a series of 11 experiments involving more than 2,200 people of all ages, the researchers found they could reliably identify narcissistic people by asking them this exact question (including the note): To what extent do you agree with this statement: “I am a narcissist.” (Note: The word “narcissist” means egotistical, self-focused, and vain.)
  - jack_pp 6y ago
    What does reliably identify mean? 10% false negative rate? 30%? You don't have to be very smart to fool these kinds of self reported tests if you wish to go under the radar.
- username90 6y ago
  Psychologists only looks at how you act and not how you feel. So if a narcissist can suppress his narcissistic traits to get love then he isn't a narcissist. I don't really agree with that though, we call persons racists even though they say that whites aren't the superior race etc, the same should apply to narcisists.
  - watwut 6y ago
    this is not true.
  - grugagag 6y ago
    They only suppress it in the courting phase also known as love bombing. Once they have their subjects invested they show their unmasked face. Narcissists also suppres or wear a maks to the outside world and oftentimes they project an image of dependable and likeable people. Think of policians and what they say or the image they build to garner votes vis a vis of what they actially do, their actions, which don’t correspond with their projected image.
- watwut 6y ago
  The narcissist I knew was not too good at seeing things from other peoples perspective. Meaning, would say thinfa like that assuming others agree. Lifetime of bullying dissent leaves you with people who wonr object. Narcissists can love bomb and can bully. They are not limiting themselves to be likable
rukuu001 6y ago
Check out 'covert maladaptive narcissism' (googling yields many articles on this), which is not at all like what people usually think of when they think 'narcissism'

codeulike 6y ago

In some personality tests they try to build Validity Scales into the questions and make it part of the scoring algorithm https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Validity_scale https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Validity_scale https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesota_Multiphasic_Personality_Inventory#Validity_scales https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesota_Multiphasic_Personal... I think the basic technique is to ask similar but different questions in several different ways and then apply stats

082349872349872 6y ago

I'm also interested in knowledgable information, but my speculation (having read how the Confederates viewed themselves how the Nazis viewed themselves, how the Juntas viewed themselves, etc.) is that people agree with the statement because they see it as intuitively obvious for specific others, who come readily to mind, and whether yet other others will think they're an asshole doesn't really cross their minds (unless they're very high on Machiavellianism?) Some traditional others We are more deserving than: - They who are sinful - They who are from somewhere else - They who are genotypically XX or, for the HN context: - They who have poor english skills - They who have poor technical skills - They who have an industry ripe for disruption