A Narcissism Test??

Have you ever watched how contagious a yawn is? If one person in a group yawns, the entire group joins in. This can be explained by empathy. Lack of empathy is the key characteristic that distinguishes a true, pathological, dangerous narcissist, from someone that is just really, really, arrogant.

The same area of the brain is activated in yawn contagion as is activated by empathy. Autistic children, for instance, do not show yawn contagion.  Is it possible, that narcissists do not shown yawn contagion either?

I need your help with this. This is what I would like you to do.

1. In a group of average people, friends, co-workers or in line at the store, fake a deep long yawn and then pay attention to how many people yawn as well. This is the control, the first step. It is important to know that your fake yawn works with normal people.

2. If the step above does not result in other people yawning, work on your yawn until it is contagious reliably.

3. Yawn, in a way that you know elicits others to yawn with someone that you know is a narcissist. Observe their response.

4. Report back here, yes or no, whether or not known narcissists have yawn contagion.

One final appeal. This would be an incredibly useful and handy tool if it is accurate. What we don’t know right now is if it is accurate, so I would like you to try it. I know that many of you know narcissists! Please try this. If we had a simple, socially acceptable tool for pre-screening people for narcissism, think of how much simpler our lives would be.

Happy Yawning…

Does Lack of Yawn Contagion Predict Narcissism?

My Book, “The Narcissist Survival Guide” is now available.