What Do Narcissists Know About Themselves? Exploring the Bright Spots and Blind Spots of Narcissists’ Self-Knowledge

Knowing yourself requires knowing not only what you are like in general (trait self-knowledge) but also how your personality fluctuates from moment to moment (state self-knowledge). We examined this latter form of self-knowledge. Participants (248 people; 2,938 observations) wore the Electronically Activated Recorder (EAR), an unobtrusive audio recorder, and completed experience-sampling self-reports of their personality states four times each day for 1 week. We estimated state self-knowledge by comparing self-reported personality states with consensual observer ratings of personality states coded from the EAR files, which formed the criterion for what participants were “actually” like in the moment. People had self-insight into their momentary extraversion, conscientiousness, and likely neuroticism, suggesting that people can accurately detect fluctuations in some aspects of their personality. However, the evidence for self-insight was weaker for agreeableness. This apparent self-ignorance may be partly responsible for interpersonal problems and for blind spots in trait self-knowledge.

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Do People Know What They’re Like in the Moment?

10.31234/osf.io/sg5aw ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Jessie Sun ◽

Simine Vazire

Keyword(s):

Experience Sampling ◽

Interpersonal Problems ◽

Self Reports ◽

Observer Ratings ◽

Self Knowledge ◽

The Moment ◽

Audio Recorder ◽

Insight Into ◽

Moment State ◽

Blind Spots

Knowing yourself requires knowing not just what you are like in general (trait self-knowledge), but also how your personality fluctuates from moment to moment (state self-knowledge). We examined this latter form of self-knowledge. Participants (248 people; 2,938 observations) wore the Electronically Activated Recorder (EAR), an unobtrusive audio recorder, and completed experience sampling (ESM) self-reports of their personality states four times each day for one week. We estimated state self-knowledge by comparing self-reported personality states to consensual observer ratings of personality states coded from the EAR files, which formed the criterion for what participants were “actually” like in the moment. People had self-insight into their momentary extraversion, conscientiousness, and likely neuroticism, suggesting that people can accurately detect fluctuations in some aspects of their personality. However, the evidence for self-insight was weaker for agreeableness. This apparent self-ignorance may be partly responsible for interpersonal problems and for blind spots in trait self-knowledge.

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Analysis of Dark-Field Images of Disordered Materials

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s0424820100096059 ◽

1972 ◽

Vol 30 ◽

pp. 560-561

Author(s):

J. M. Cowley

Keyword(s):

Amorphous Materials ◽

Careful Analysis ◽

Dark Field ◽

Minimum Diameter ◽

Statistical Fluctuations ◽

Bright Spots ◽

Sufficient Detail ◽

Random Arrangement ◽

Diffraction Patterns ◽

Imaging Conditions

Recently a number of authors have reported detail in dark-field images obtained from diffuse-scattering regions of electron diffraction patterns. Bright spots in images from short-range order diffuse peaks of disordered binary alloys have been interpreted as evidence for the existence of microdomains of ordered lattice or of segragated clusters of one component. Spotty contrast in dark field images of near-amorphous materials has been interpreted as evidence for the existense of microcrystals. Without a careful analysis of the imaging conditions such conclusions may be invalid. Usually the conditions of the experiment have not been specified in sufficient detail to allow evaluation of the conclusions.Elementary considerations show that even for a completely random arrangement of atoms the statistical fluctuations of density will give a spotty contrast with spots of minimum diameter determined by the dark field aperture size and other factors influencing the minimum resolvable distance under darkfield imaging conditions, including fluctuations and drift over long exposure times (resolution usually 10Å or more).

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