A new study reveals that people mentally picture two distinct types of narcissistic faces, one based on selfishness and another on vanity. Published in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, the research found that while both faces were viewed negatively, the “vain” version was seen as more competent and attractive, especially by people with higher levels of narcissistic traits themselves.
The topic of narcissism has become a fixture in public conversation, from bestselling self-help books to viral social media trends. Despite this widespread interest, scientists have had a limited understanding of how people visually imagine a narcissistic individual. Previous studies often asked participants to rate pre-written descriptions or characters labeled as narcissistic. This approach has a drawback: the negative label itself might influence how people respond, rather than tapping into their genuine mental image.
To overcome this, a team of researchers led by Sarah Smith at Cardiff University wanted to explore these mental images in a more direct, participant-driven way. They were interested in what people think a narcissist looks like at a facial level and how these visual representations affect social judgments, such as trustworthiness or leadership potential. The researchers focused on two common themes in popular definitions of narcissism: selfishness and vanity.
The scientists employed an innovative technique called reverse correlation to generate facial images directly from participants’ minds. In this method, a participant is shown a neutral base face that has been overlaid with a random pattern of visual noise.
On each trial, they see two versions of this face, one with the noise pattern and one with its inverse. They are asked to select the image that better represents a certain category, for example, a “narcissist.” By repeating this process hundreds of times and averaging all the noise patterns a participant chooses, researchers can create a composite image that reflects that individual’s mental representation of the category.
In the first experiment, one group of participants was given a definition of a narcissist that emphasized selfishness. They then completed the reverse correlation task, which produced two composite images: a “selfish-narcissistic” face and its opposite, a “non-selfish” face, which was created by averaging the noise patterns from the images that were rejected.
A separate, independent group of participants, who were unaware of how the faces were created, was then asked to rate these two images on a wide range of characteristics. The results showed a clear negative perception of the selfish-narcissistic face. It was judged to be less warm, kind, likable, competent, and moral than the non-selfish face.
Raters also perceived the selfish-narcissistic face as more politically conservative and more masculine, but having lower self-esteem. They were less likely to vote for this person as a leader or trust them with a loved one. When the raters’ own levels of narcissism were measured, there was no connection between their scores and a more positive evaluation of the selfish-narcissistic face.
The second experiment followed the same procedure, but with a key difference. The researchers gave the image-generating participants a new definition of narcissism, this time one that highlighted vanity. This process resulted in a “vain-narcissistic” face and its counterpart, a “non-vain” face. Another group of independent raters then evaluated these new images.
The findings for the vain-narcissistic face were more complex. Like the selfish version, it was seen as less warm, kind, and moral than its non-narcissistic opposite. However, unlike the selfish face, the vain-narcissistic face was perceived as more competent, successful, extraverted, and having higher self-esteem. It was also viewed as more suitable for a career in corporate management. This suggests that emphasizing vanity in the concept of narcissism creates a mental image of someone who, while not particularly friendly, is seen as capable and assertive.
A significant discovery emerged when researchers looked at the raters’ own narcissistic traits. Individuals who scored higher on measures of narcissism tended to view the vain-narcissistic face more favorably. The study found that this connection was explained by perceived similarity. In other words, narcissistic participants felt they had more in common with the vain-narcissistic face, and this feeling of similarity led them to judge the face more positively on traits like warmth and competence. This effect did not appear for the selfish-narcissistic face.
A third experiment was designed to directly compare all four faces and investigate perceptions related to romantic attraction. A new group of participants rated the selfish-narcissistic, vain-narcissistic, non-selfish, and non-vain faces on their attractiveness and suitability as a friend or a short-term or long-term partner.
Overall, both narcissistic faces were viewed as less desirable for friendship and relationships compared to the non-narcissistic faces. They were also seen as more likely to engage in toxic relationship behaviors. However, when comparing the two narcissistic faces, the vain-narcissistic face was rated as more physically attractive and more desirable for a short-term relationship than the selfish-narcissistic face. Once again, raters with higher narcissism scores reported feeling more similarity and familiarity with the vain-narcissistic face, which in turn predicted finding that face more romantically appealing.
This series of studies provides a novel window into the public’s mental imagery of narcissism. The findings show that people’s visual representations are not monolithic. Instead, they differ based on whether selfishness or vanity is brought to mind. The image associated with vanity appears to carry some socially valued traits related to agency and competence, which are absent from the image associated with selfishness. This may help explain why some narcissistic individuals can be initially popular or seem appealing.
The research also advances our understanding of what scientists call “narcissistic tolerance,” the tendency for narcissistic people to view other narcissists more positively. The results show that this phenomenon can occur based on facial appearance alone, without any explicit information. Vanity appears to be a key ingredient that triggers this effect, likely by activating a sense of similarity between the observer and the person being judged.
The authors acknowledge some limitations to their work. The research focused on selfishness and vanity, but other aspects of narcissism, such as vulnerability, could generate different facial representations. Because the studies were conducted at a single point in time, they cannot definitively establish that perceived similarity causes positive judgments. It is also noted that the participants who generated the faces were university students and the samples were drawn from a Western country, so future research could explore these perceptions in more diverse and cross-cultural populations to see if these mental images are universal.
The study, “What Narcissists Look Like and Why It’s Important,” was authored by Sarah Smith, Travis Proulx, and Geoffrey Haddock.
