Narcissists report high emotional intelligence but perform worse on objective tests, suggests a new study.

Narcissists report high emotional intelligence but perform worse on objective tests

Researchers found that narcissists and psychopaths score lower on emotional intelligence—if measured with objective tasks. But when asked to self-rate their emotional skills, narcissists gave themselves higher marks. The findings highlight key differences in how personality shapes self-perception.

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A new Spanish study of 222 university students used both a performance‐based test (MSCEIT) and a self‐report scale (TMMS-24) to see how Dark Triad traits—narcissism, Machiavellianism and psychopathy—relate to emotional intelligence. Results showed that higher narcissism and psychopathy were linked to poorer performance on the MSCEIT, but narcissists actually rated themselves as more emotionally intelligent on the TMMS-24. Men scored higher on all three Dark Triad traits, while women outperformed them on the objective EI test (no gender gap appeared on the self-report).

The researchers conclude that the way you measure emotional intelligence really matters: self‐reports can be inflated by narcissists’ grandiose self‐views, whereas objective tasks reveal genuine ability. They suggest that strong performance‐based EI might even help curb the typical Dark Triad behaviors—like manipulation, impulsivity and deceit. The paper, by Denogent et al., appears in Personality and Individual Differences.