自恋的人貌似自信其实自卑

Narcissists may seem to love themselves, but a new study finds that narcissistic* self-aggrandizement* may hide deep feelings of inferiority*.

According to the new research, people who are narcissistic are likely to tell psychologists that they feel good about themselves. But when the psychologists trick these narcissists into thinking they're hooked up to a working lie-detector* test, the truth comes out and the narcissists admit to lower self-esteem*.

"This suggests that individuals with high levels of narcissism may be inflating their self-esteem," study researcher Erin Myers, a psychologist at Western Carolina University, said. "In other words, narcissistic individuals may not really believe they are as great as they claim to be."

The results revealed an interesting schism*: For women who scored low in narcissism, being "monitored" by the lie detector made no difference in their reported self-esteem. But women with high narcissism reported more love of themselves when they thought the lie-detecting machine was off. When they believed that the researchers knew if they were telling the truth, their self-esteem responses were significantly lower.

Although narcissism is possibly best known as narcissistic personality disorder, an extreme, life-disrupting form of self-love, the trait* appears in varying degrees in psychologically healthy people.

narcissistic 自恋的

self-aggrandizement 自大

inferiority 自卑

lie-detector 测谎仪

self-esteem 自尊

schism 分裂

trait 特征