Did You Ever Suppose the Narcissist Is Simply Overly Delicate?

If you consider individuals excessive in narcissism, it’s doubtless you think about them as viewing themselves on such a excessive pedestal that no private assaults on them would ever attain their consciousness. Maybe you might have occasional interactions with simply such a person, who parades round with an air of self-confidence and superiority, seeming to rise above different individuals’s opinions. All of this bluster would recommend this particular person wouldn’t detect the sneers that this conduct provokes. However what if this snootiness was merely a façade?

Narcissism is conceived in character idea as consisting of each the grandiose selection (as this particular person appears to have) and the weak (which this particular person appears to not have). One other, three-part view of narcissism doesn’t make this distinction however as an alternative divides this high quality into agentic (grandiose), neurotic (weak), and antagonistic. But a 3rd strategy redefines weak narcissism as consisting of a mix of hypersensitivity and self-centeredness. Sure, the weak narcissist is nervous about what others assume however nonetheless stays “grandiose” sufficient to wish to seize all of the consideration in any given scenario.

How Is Hypersensitive Narcissism Measured?

Courting again to 1997, the Hypersensitive Narcissism Scale (HSNS) is meant to faucet into each hypersensitivity and self-centeredness (Hendin & Cheek, 1997). Nevertheless, as famous in a brand new examine FernUniversität in Hagen’s Sabrina Schneider and colleagues (2025), although the size is used extensively, information are missing on the HSNS, significantly because it pertains to character theories rising within the greater than 25 years since its introduction. On the identical time, when the HSNS is run, it tends to be scored as a unitary high quality, a observe that will not maintain as much as statistical scrutiny. Different information are lacking, too, together with the HSNS’s generalizability throughout completely different teams and languages. Schneider and her coauthors determined to rectify this case by deconstructing the HSNS whereas additionally testing its validity with a German-speaking pattern.

One necessary consideration the authors be aware is the truth that the HSNS was developed previous to the latest view of character problems referred to as the Alternate Mannequin of Character Problems, which views narcissism not as a categorical high quality however as a variation in maladaptive traits. The HSNS additionally took place earlier than the six-factor HEXACO character mannequin and earlier than the refinement of the 5-Issue Mannequin. Each of those suggest a set of character trait dimensions that would mixed to assist refine the understanding of narcissism.

Placing scales collectively after which testing how they relate is necessary to the work of character psychologists to offer theoretical readability in addition to to scale back measurement messiness. What good is it to give you an intriguing idea when you can’t correctly measure it? Schneider and her coauthors suggest that, via the refinement of the HSNS, they will help advance the understanding of narcissism, each for scientific and theoretical functions.

The ten-Merchandise Hypersensitive Narcissism Scale

By now, you would possibly wish to find out how you possibly can take the HSNS and use it to gauge both your self or maybe somebody . Though the HSNS was administered in German, the authors summarized its 10 objects of their supplemental materials. Every merchandise is rated from 1 (very uncharacteristic) to five (very attribute):

1. I can change into solely absorbed in fascinated with my private affairs, my well being, my cares, or my relations to others.
2. My emotions are simply damage by ridicule or the slighting remarks of others.
3. Once I enter a room, I typically change into self-conscious and really feel that the eyes of others are upon me.
4. I dislike sharing the credit score of an achievement with others.
5. I really feel that I’ve sufficient on my arms with out worrying about different individuals’s troubles.
6. I really feel that I’m temperamentally completely different from most individuals.
7. I typically interpret the remarks of others in a private manner.
8. I simply change into wrapped up in my very own pursuits and neglect the existence of others.
9. I dislike being with a bunch until I do know that I’m appreciated by a minimum of a type of current.
10. I’m secretly “put out” or aggravated when different individuals come to me with their troubles, asking me for my time and sympathy.

Their statistical evaluation was primarily based on the responses of a complete on-line pattern of three,655 German adults, averaging of their mid-20s and early 30s. Along with the HSNS, the authors additionally administered a collection of character inventories, together with measures of psychological problems in step with the AMPD.

After testing alternate statistical fashions, objects 1, 2, 3, 7, and 9 fell into the identical issue, which the authors label as Oversensitive-Neurotic. The rest represented the Ecocentric-Antagonistic. Nevertheless, merchandise 9 was associated to egocentrism in addition to oversensitivity.

Other than this slight overlap, the majority of the findings help the two-factor strategy to the HSNS, whereas additionally displaying its usefulness in relation to different character measures and psychopathology. With respect to the maladaptive options of narcissism, the authors relate the 2 dimensions, respectively, to externalizing and other-oriented character issues and self-oriented issues. The opposite excellent news in regards to the HSNS is that it’s brief and appears to slot in with present conceptualizations of associated character traits.

Can You Ever Sympathize With the Hypersensitive Narcissist?

Studying these HSNS objects once more, you may readily see that individuals who ascribe to the Selfish-Antagonistic scale might be fairly troublesome to narrate to. That particular person prancing round with an air of superiority will not be one you’d wish to confront. Nevertheless, what you may not be as prone to spot is the narcissistic particular person suffering from emotions of inadequacy. Even the time period “hypersensitivity” implies the advantages of treating such an individual with child gloves. Ridiculing them would solely make them extra depressing.

Nevertheless, the 2 scales of the HSNS, although statistically distinct, additionally bore slight relationships to one another, particularly merchandise 9. Possibly some child gloves, or a minimum of empathy, could be warranted for the one who appears so overtly selfish however harbors a level of hypersensitivity.

To sum up, getting together with an individual excessive on narcissism generally is a problem. Nevertheless, this extra nuanced understanding of narcissism offered by the HSNS will help you discover a minimum of some pathways to empathy.