Prychological Reports, 1979,45. 590.

@ Psychological Reports 1979

A NARCISSISTIC PERSONALITY INVENTORY

ROBERT N. RASKlN A N D CALVIN S. HALL

Santa Cruz, California

The immediate stimulus for developing a test of narcissism was the inclusion o f a
new category, the narcissistic personality disorder, in the diagnostic manual (DSM-111)
being prepared by the American Psychiatric Association. The narcissistic personality dis-
order is defined by the following characteristics: ( 1 ) grandiose sense of one's self-irn-
portance; ( 2 ) preoccupation with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty,
o r ideal love; ( 3 ) exhibitionism; ( 4 ) responds to criticism, indifference, or defeat either
with cool indifference or with marked feelungs of rage, inferiority, shame, humiliation, o r
emptiness; ( 5 ) entitlement, expecting spec~alfavors without assuming reciprocal respon-
sibilities; ( 6 ) exploitativeness; ( 7 ) relationships vacillate between the extremes of over-
idealization and devaluation; and ( 8 ) lack of empathy.
W e made up 223 items which sampled the domain of the narcissistic personality as
defined by the foregoing characteristics. Each item is a pair of statements, one narcis-
sistic and the other nonnarcissistic. Subjects are required to check one of rhe two state-
ments. This is an example.
A. I really like to be the center of attention.
B. It makes me uncomfortable to be the center of attention.
T h e inventory was administered to 71 students at the University of California, Santa
Cruz. They ranged in age from 1 8 to 38 yr.. with a mean age of 24.
Item analysis was performed on each item by comparing the 20 highest over-all
scoring students who chose the narcissistic alternative with the 20 lowest scoring students
who chose the narcissistic alternative. Eighty items met the criterion of significance at
o r below the .05 level. Split-half reliability for these 8 0 items was .80. The 8 0 items
were divided into two forms. Form A and Form B.
T h e inventory is not necessarily a measure of a personality disorder, although future
research may show that persons diagnosed as having a narcissistic personalicy disorder
score high o n the inventory. For the present, it should be regarded as a measure of the
degree to which individuals differ in a trait we have labeled "narcissism."
W e are publishing this note before validity studies underway have been completed
in the expectation that other investigators may wish to use the inventory.'

Accepted October 11,1979.

'Copies of the inventory will be sent without charge to anyone who desires to use it for
research purposes. Requests should be addressed to Robert N. Raskin, 1310 West Cliff
Drive, Santa Cruz, CA 95060.