Narcissists – those self-centered and manipulative people will do anything to be the center of attention. They’re the kind of people you’d certainly like to stay away from.
The feeling of being in a narcissist’s company is extremely difficult and unbearable. Narcissists show high levels of self-absorption, overestimation, and arrogance. They think highly of them and believe they’re more important and better than other people. Their need for constant admiration and lack of empathy for others enables them to disregard other people’s feelings and opinions and make themselves the center of all conversations and relationships.
If you get into a conversation with a narcissist, you’ll end up feeling irritated and confused. They’ll trick you into believing that you don’t possess any importance. By using manipulation, they can easily manage to make you feel irresponsible and even guilty.
Being the center of attention is what they put their focus on. This compulsion to be the center of attention all the time is also known as “narcissistic supply” in the language of psychology. This means that narcissists feel a constant need for a reconfirmation of their worthiness which they attribute to themselves.
It isn’t surprising that it can be difficult to detect a narcissist. The reason for this is that they use manipulative tactics. Yet, you must know that it’ s very usual for narcissists to do some things which can help them become the center of attention. If you become aware of those things, you can avoid being hurt and underestimated.
The following is a list of 4 behaviors narcissists display to be the center of attention:
1. They always play the victim.
Narcissists enjoy playing the victim. They manage to do this successfully by making themselves objects of pity. Narcissists make other people believe that they’re the ones who are worthy of pity.
Narcissists are aware that empathy can be a very effective and powerful tool with which they can keep their self-perceived high status. For this reason, they are ready to employ different manipulation tactics so as to make others feel empathy towards them. For example, they can say things to you which will make you feel unworthy and less important and smart than them.
2. They interrupt conversations.
Narcissists like being the center of attention and conversations play a big role here. If they aren’t involved in the topic of discussion, they’ll interrupt the conversation and redirect it to them. In their view, it’s them and their achievements that deserve to be talked about. And if someone prevents them from achieving this, they’ll try to silence them, change the topic again, and shift the focus onto them.
3. They reverse roles.
Narcissists are extremely good at reversing roles. The thing is that before we become aware that the other person is a narcissist we behave towards them with respect and kindness. In these situations, having mutual trust is a normal thing. Yet, when this trust is abused, narcissists don’t risk losing the chance to accuse you and make you feel guilty about something it’s their own fault. The sad thing is that this affects you negatively and hurts your feelings.
4. They don’t stop blaming you.
Narcissists don’t take responsibility for the things they do, more precisely the bad ones. They’ll change the topics they don’t want to talk about so as to make you defend yourself. They’ll look for different things, some of which could be implausible, and hold you responsible for them. By putting the blame on you, they successfully manage to shift responsibility away from them.
Image: Aleksandr Sereda