32 Weird Things Narcissists Do
What Does Narcissist Mean?
Narcissism is an extreme case of self-centeredness that causes a person to disregard the needs of those around them.
Even if everyone occasionally engages in narcissistic behavior, people usually display one or more narcissistic traits or characteristics once in while.
But real narcissists routinely neglect other people or their emotions. They are also unaware of the impact of their actions on other people.
It’s critical and important to keep this in the back of your mind. While narcissism is a trait or characteristic that people display every now and then, it can also be a component of a more serious personality disorder.
Due to the fact that narcissism is a spectrum or degree, not all narcissists have Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD).
People with NPDs are those who fall on the highest end of the scale and display a lot of narcissistic traits. However, other individuals with narcissistic features may be found on the lower end of the spectrum.
Narcissistic individuals are frequently charming and captivating, so you can be easily lured to think of them as prince charming or the princess of your heart especially when it comes to relationships. It is so because they frequently delay displaying bad conduct.
Narcissistic people frequently prefer to surround themselves with others who nourish and feed their egos. Even though these partnerships are fleeting, they help children to solidify their self-perceptions.
Even if we have a good understanding of narcissists’ mannerisms and the behaviors that reveal their toxic traits, there are still a number of weird things that narcissists do that you may not be aware of.
There are some peculiar behaviors I’ve observed narcissists engaging in that aren’t typically listed as symptoms of their condition but seem to be frequent enough to warrant attention as extra NPD diagnostic criteria.
Weird Things Narcissists Do
If you know someone who exhibits several of these behaviors on a regular basis and also seems to meet the more widely accepted criteria for NPD, it doesn’t necessarily indicate they are a narc. These things may be warning signs to look out for.
1. They Don’t Want To Hear What You Have To Say.
A narcissist may be so self-absorbed that they are barely interested in listening to you and prefer to talk exclusively about themselves. They may frequently interrupt you when you talk and change the subject to something they find interesting.
2. They Are Resentful Losers.
A narcissist cannot afford to lose. When they lose, they mope about it. They blame others for their loss or offer flimsy reasons to cover up their flaws. Their superiority complex makes it difficult for them to accept defeat or failure.
3. They Dismiss Your Request For Assistance.
They’ll be angry with you for bothering them unnecessarily when you need their assistance. They won’t think twice about rejecting your cry for assistance because they don’t care about anyone but themselves.
4. They Move Ahead of You.
A narcissist enjoys making other people unhappy. They might purposefully move more quickly and in front of you while you are out in public with them. They might also take pleasure in your distress from afar when you fear losing them. When they find you again, they can accuse you of strolling slowly, which caused the mistake.
5. They Idolize Dictators.
A narcissist has a tough time empathizing with other people’s issues because they feel superior to them. They idolize dictators who abuse their power and put innocent people through difficulty because of their inflated sense of self-worth. They have a sense of grandeur and identify with such rulers.
6. They Hold You Responsible for Their Errors.
Because they are certain they are always right, narcissists blame others for everything that goes wrong in their lives. For instance, you will be held responsible for scheduling the incorrect time slot to view the movie if you and your date are both late for a movie because they arrived at the cinema after the planned time. They won’t even acknowledge their mistakes, let alone accept responsibility for them.
7. For Their Own Gain, They Tarnish Your Name.
A narcissist yearns for respect and affirmation. They will first sabotage your relationships with other people by spreading untrue rumors about you in order to make sure that you follow them.
They will then make sure that people stop believing in you, and finally, they will leave you alone. Once you run out of options, you will be forced to make friends with the narcissist, who will make sure you remain under their control.
8. They Lack Direct Answers To Any Questions.
A narcissist will respond to questions with a counter-question. It’s because they dislike answering questions, especially ones that reveal a bad quality. They vehemently avoid questioning and become defensive without cause.
9. They Employ Silent Treatment To Abuse.
If a narcissist is aware of your emphatic or compassionate character, they will take advantage of it by forcing you to submit to their demands. They employ silent treatment to do this. They won’t talk to you and will make you feel unwelcome until you give in and submit to them.
10. They Retain Resentment And Grudges.
You should be aware that narcissists will keep a grudge against you for the rest of their lives if you correct them. They never forget even the smallest slights and only feel satisfied with themselves after getting back at you.
11. They Use Emotional Blackmail As A Tactic.
A narcissist will exploit your weaknesses and emotional weak spots against you if they become aware of them. For instance, they might accuse you of something and make you feel so bad about it that you toe their line unopposed the next time.
12. They Apologize Insincerely But Only For Their Own Benefit.
A narcissist obviously hates saying sorry. They are rarely sincere, and their apologies are frequently made exclusively with ulterior motives. For instance, when you express regret about anything they did, they apologize and berate themselves for treating you poorly. In contrast, this will make you regret asking for an apology in the first place.
13. They Are Hypocrites.
Rules that apply to you do not apply to narcissists. For instance, when you make a minor error, they will criticize and yell at you, but when they make the same error, it is not a huge problem. You actually regret calling them out at all because they will explode when you confront them about it.
They criticize others for the actions they take themselves. They may chatter to feel superior to others, for instance, and then judge others who gossip to feel even more superior.
Alternately, they may condemn individuals who brag while acting like themselves. The intent behind superiority still stands. The only thing that varies is the tactics.
14. They Are Different With Different People.
Like a chameleon, a narcissist adapts their demeanor to the person they are interacting with. To one person, they will be incredibly kind and compassionate, while to another, they will be cruel and uncaring. In fact, they will be charming with their pals one second and yelling at you for a trivial cause the very next.
Being different around different individuals is a surefire indicator of a shaky sense of self. You’re left wondering how covert narcissists act differently with various people to win their favor.
15. They Abandon You Only To Come Back.
A narcissist uses mental tricks to get cheap thrills because they feed off of your suffering. For instance, they can abruptly stop speaking to you and vanish without warning, leaving you distraught and brokenhearted. They’ll come back to you after a few days, acting as if nothing ever happened.
16. They Engage In Passive Aggression.
Overt aggression is a common trait in narcissists. They’ll openly and shamelessly criticize you. The aggressive behavior of covert narcissists is more submissive. They’ll knock you down so gently that you’ll be left wondering how cruel they could be.
Or they’ll make a cruel joke about you and claim, “I was just kidding.” Why do you think it’s important?”
They won’t explicitly state that you are inferior to them and have no value. They’ll use other methods to express their disregard for you.
For instance, they’ll be late for meetings or reply to your texts, showing that they don’t value you or your time.
17. They Intentionally Forget.
Another cunning passive-aggressive tactic is this. A narcissist will “forget” to do anything you ask them to do for you.
They aren’t truly interested in helping you because they are self-centered and just think about themselves. But they are aware that they can’t just turn you down. So, by purposefully forgetting, they disobey you in a passive way.
18. Their Reputation Their Obsession.
Two things drive their obsession with appearance:
- They gain other people’s respect as a result of it.
- They are able to conceal their true selves.
They are drawn to careers in medicine, the priesthood, and education because they will help them get the respect and admiration of others. They parade around their substantial charitable donations.
19. They Don’t Really Care About Anyone.
Narcissists are incapable of showing genuine interest in others because they are so focused on themselves. The people they do appear to be interested in are merely their sources of praise and admiration, which feeds their narcissistic tendencies.
20. They Resent Giving.
Instead of trying to get to know you, they’ll ask you questions about yourself in order to learn more about you and subsequently use that knowledge against you.
Because they only perceive the conversation in terms of superiority and inferiority, they will ask you questions about yourself but won’t actually pay attention to your responses. They constantly interrupt you to promote themselves, which disrupts the flow of the talk.
21. They Are Extremely Competitive.
They seek to demonstrate their superiority over everyone else, both to themselves and the rest of the world. Due to their intense competitiveness, they are sensitive to failure and defeat.
They are unable to set aside their rivalry even briefly in order to feel compassion for those who are in need.
If they lose a game, they’ll behave like little kids. I once witnessed a grown man in his 40s become so furious after losing a game of Monopoly that he took up the game board and threw it across the room while everyone gasped in shock.
They will destroy the game for everyone else if they are unable to win.
23. They Discredit Themselves.
You might be thinking, “Wait! “If they have such an inflated sense of their own significance, why would they ever degrade themselves?”
They do it to fish for compliments. When you undervalue yourself, sympathetic individuals will probably compliment you to reassure you.
They’ll excel in one area while being inept in another. They will downplay their virtues. When they perform mediocrely at what they are apparently awful at, their phony humility makes them look amazing.
25. They Can’t Take Jokes And Criticism.
Even though they are truly feeling feeble, they will act tough. Though criticism bothers them a lot, they’ll act as if they’re above it.
As long as the joke is not on them, they are fine with making jokes. Furthermore, it bothers them when someone else makes a joke since it diverts their focus.
26. They Have A Messiah Complex.
They frequently believe they are humanity’s saviors. They will identify with a cause that is important to them even though it appears pointless to others.
They could fabricate a crisis where none exists in order to act as saviors and save people from unfounded distress.
27. They Refuse To Do Things You Request.
When you ask them to do something for you, narcissists respond with obstinacy. They willfully overlooked the obligations you gave them.
One explanation is that your behavior or words may have offended someone, even if it was unintended on your part or was too insignificant for most people to find offensive. Another explanation is that they feel like slaves to you when they comply with your requests.
They claim not to be angry at all when you inquire as to what is keeping them from ignoring your wishes. They provide numerous justifications for not starting the work you assigned them, both believable and implausible.
They are takers who are constantly searching for things they can take from other people. They are adamantly against giving people large gifts because they always think about what they will get in return.
28. They Systematically Gaslight You.
They skew how you perceive yourself. Additionally, they skew how other people perceive you. They frequently disseminate unflattering rumors about you behind your back so that people you don’t even know view you suspiciously.
They make it a point to bring out that you are going against a previous stance you took.
A narcissist will constantly try to put the blame on you. They can claim that they missed a crucial appointment because they had to phone you and you were so busy.
They will vehemently reject it and claim you are delusional if you accuse them of cheating. If you catch them cheating, they’ll accuse you of being the reason they cheated on you.
They would even go farther and claim that since you had always suspected them, this had come to pass as a sort of self-fulfilling prophecy.
29. They Won’t Let You Finish.
They frequently cut off conversations and interrupt.
When the two of you are speaking, they will interrupt you and divert the conversation to address their problems.
They think that interrupting you is what keeps the conversation lively and entertaining. It serves as a reminder of their exaggerated self-importance.
They typically avoid making an effort in a group setting out of fear of being exposed as narcissists.
30. They Look At You Without Blinking.
The eyes of some narcissists can be frightening. If a person of the opposing gender is staring at you in this way, you could assume that they are interested in you sexually (and they very well might be), but pay close attention if they don’t blink because that could indicate that they are viewing you as potential prey. If their gaze makes you uneasy, getaway, whether or not they blink. Keep an ear out for your gut.
31. They Experience Abrupt, Uncomfortable, And Dramatic Mood Swings.
Narcissistic mood swings can be so abrupt and puzzling that you might mistake them for signs of dissociative identity disorder (DID).
For instance, a narcissistic mother may appear to be playing joyfully with her child before abruptly beginning to yell at or strike the youngster.
32. They enjoy dark or uncomfortable things, or they have gloomy interests.
Narcissists, especially those who are high on the autism spectrum, walk on the dark side, and this comes through in their fixation with topics like the occult, mass killers, the Holocaust, or firearms. They might watch slasher flicks or listen to dark music like death metal.
Many people have an interest in these topics, but a malignant narcissist or psychopath typically has a secret interest in anything terrible or wicked, even if they seem to be upright moral citizens. They may not discuss it in public, but they do have one.
These are just 32 of the weird things narcissists do, so take caution. Share this article with your friends, and feel free to leave me a comment with your ideas.
See Also;
12 CLEAR SIGNS YOU ARE A NARCISSIST – NARCISSIST TRAITS
15 THINGS NARCISSISTS COMMONLY SAY AND REAL MEANING
16 THINGS NARCISSISTS HATE ALOT
10 GLARING SIGNS YOU ARE DATING A NARCISSIST
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