- Narcissists tend to use gaslight and manipulation tactics during discussion
- Researchers have tried to discourage bad behavior by using “vaccination” messaging
- They found that narcissists usually respond to threats to their reputation
If you’ve ever discussed with a narcissist, you already know that it’s almost impossible.
They usually resort to gaslights and manipulation when they don’t step on the road.
But psychologists say this may not be the case anymore.
And the solution may be in the message you are giving them.
According to research published in Breaking news on personality and social psychologynarcissists care deeply about how they are perceived by others, even if they are prone to dishonest.
This study examined the use of “vaccination” techniques with narcissists.
Essentially, this means convincing someone to do something by persuading someone not to do something.
They wanted to test this by reading the ethics code with participants and then conducting a test, and then seeing how they would act.
Narcissists usually use gas lights and manipulation (stock image)
Instead of a code of ethics that explain why people should be honest with one group, it was characterized by information about what would happen to people when they manipulate, lie, or cheat.
This “vaccination” version of the Code of Ethics warned students that people engaged in bad behavior would often end up with a damaged reputation.
The tests they subsequently conducted in these participants included measures of both intentional and actual fraudulent behavior.
The assessment of intention was based on Machiavellianism and mental disorders.
Individuals who were found to “get a higher score with narcissism” were found to have more ethical intentions after reading the “vaccination” message.
Also, from a real-world behavioral perspective, researchers used coin flipping tests to see if participants would cheat.
Ultimately, those identified as narcissists were less likely to cheate during testing if they read the code of ethics that they were initially “inoculated”;
Interestingly, those who did not score high in narcissism did not produce any major results after being exposed to the “vaccination” message.
Dissuade bad behavior and explain their outcomes is more effective than simply encouraging good behavior (stock image)
In fact, it made them more aware of the potential justification for bad behavior.
So, what does this really mean in terms of communication with a narcissist?
It is better to accept that this is not their strong suit, rather than trying to appeal to their morality.
Instead, you may be better off getting involved with them by talking about something that they are likely to be affected: their reputation.
If others are engaged in a particular behavior, you may stop them from doing so by letting them know how others perceive them.
