Criminal psychologist reveals the personality trait that can give away a narcissist

A criminal psychologist has revealed how one particular aspect of a narcissist's personality can make them easy to spot.

Dr Julia Shaw believes all it takes to unmask one is asking a simple question - but keeping an eye out for certain behaviours can help you too.

She revealed that she carved out her career in criminal psychology as she is 'interested in the darkest sides of humanity' and 'understanding the criminal mind'.

Along the way, the German-Canadian expert - who also specialises in research on false memory and investigative interviewing - has picked up on a few common traits that narcissists display.

For those who don't know, Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) is a mental health condition which causes an increased sense of self-importance, a need for admiration and often a lack of empathy for others.

According to Dr Shaw, if you suspect a person might be narcissistic, you should simply 'ask them'.

(LADbible)

During an episode of Honesty Box, she told LADbible: "A narcissist would probably answer this question, 'Are you a narcissist?’ — ‘Uh, yeah, but like I am better than most people. It's a realistic appraisal of myself'.

"Because that's what narcissism is, right? It's that overconfidence, it's that thinking you're great and thinking you're better than you actually are."

So, if you ask and get an arrogant answer, you've got a narcissist on your hands according to Dr Shaw's playbook.

Dr Shaw said that this is 'one of her favourite findings' in psychology and it is known as the 'single item narcissism scale'.

Instead of using a lengthy diagnostic test, researchers found that narcissists can often be identified by the single question.

"Psychologists tried with 20 questions and they’re like, well, you know, let’s see if this works," Dr Shaw explained.

"And then they tried actually, why don’t we try one question? And they developed what’s called the single item narcissism scale, which is literally just the question, ‘Are you a narcissist?’"

Although she's keen to help people notice narcissists when needed, the criminal psychologist believes the term is being seriously overused these days.

Dr Shaw reckons we shouldn't be throwing around 'therapeutic language in everyday contexts', as people typically use it incorrectly.

"I think we need to be incredibly careful with that," she continued. "Partly because it devalues the terms like narcissist in contexts that matter, like in a criminal context."

That's why we shouldn't brand someone a narcissist - or use any other therapy jargon, really - just because 'you're angry at somebody in everyday life'.

"I think we need to be incredibly careful not to use this therapeutic language in this really casual, overly confident, inaccurate way because it takes away from context where it really matters," she added.