Scientists reveal surprising characteristic that could indicate you're a narcissist

New research into the effects of gossiping could actually indicate that you or someone you know is actually a raging narcissist.

In February, a study called ‘Openness to being gossiped about: understanding gossip from the target’s perspective’ was published in the Self & Identity journal.

The scientific paper, spearheaded by researcher Andrew H. Hales, wanted to discover whether people genuinely just enjoyed being talked about—even if the subject of the chat was overwhelmingly negative.

To explore their hypothesis, the team began by conducting five separate studies.

In each of the rounds, specialists propositioned college-age participants with hypothetical scenarios where they were being talked about by others.

In some of these scenarios, the gossip was positive, fairly neutral or not mentioned at all in conversation.

A new paper studying how some people enjoy being gossiped about has been published - and the findings are alarming (Getty Stock Image)

But in other scenarios, the subject experienced negative conversations about them.

After the situation, each person was asked to indicate their preferences on a scale ranging from ‘strong opposition’ to ‘strong preference’ for being discussed in a favorable or negative light, compared to how they feel about being ignored.

The first three studies established overarching feelings towards gossip, while identifying differences based on demographics and personality traits, Psypost reports.

Meanwhile studies four and five were deployed to understand whether people accurately perceive others’ openness to gossip with participants estimating how much others would want to be discussed.

Study five, however, was pretty juicy—with participants experiencing experimental manipulation in the form of social inclusion or exclusion in an online ball-tossing game before completing the gossip scenarios.

Apparently, this was used to test whether temporarily being left would increase peoples’ willingness to be talked about by others.

Following all five study’s being completed, researchers collated the results and found that men reportedly showed more openness to being gossiped about than women, especially when the gossip was neutral or negative.

Interestingly, both men and women who exhibited narcissistic traits also had a significantly higher preference for being discussed.

So, if you or your partner generally just love to be the centre of conversations, then this could actually indicate that you’re a narcissist.

Another common narcissistic trait is feeling uncommonly ostracized (Getty Stock Image)

What are some other narcissistic traits?

The new study has revealed that if you like being talked about, it could mean you’re a narcissist - but that isn’t the only common trait linked to this personality disorder.

Other symptoms include having an unreasonably high sense of self-importance and require constant, excessive admiration, according to the Mayo Clinic.

Narcissists may also believe they deserve privileges or special treatment by others, expecting to be recognized as superior without any achievements.

In a study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, researchers also found that some narcissists experience higher levels of exclusion.

Lead author Christiane Büttner, from the University of Basel explained the findings of the study, she said: “Feeling ostracized is a subjective experience based on the perception of social cues by the individual.

“Some may be intentionally ostracized, while others may merely believe they are being excluded when that’s not the case.

“Our findings suggest that individuals with higher levels of narcissism are more sensitive to exclusion cues, leading them to perceive ostracism more frequently.”