2w ago

TIL of the Narcissist Smirk.

The Narcissist Smirk.

Paraphrased:

The narcissist’s smirk is a subtle but telling expression that occurs when a narcissist experiences pleasure from manipulating or deceiving someone.

For narcissists, the smirk usually reflects contempt, which is a deep-seated disdain or lack of respect towards others. For narcissists contempt is tied to their belief in their own superiority. They view others who do not serve their needs as worthless or beneath them, showing a complete disregard for how their actions impact those around them.

60 comments

Article goes on to say the same smirk is also a non-narcissist's sign of satisfaction at seeing justice served.
So will you be the Psych 101 student who is suddenly a psychoanalyst and labels people because they smirk, or will you understand that something you saw on lemmy doesn't equip you to judge anyone?
- A smirk is not the same as, what we'll call here, the narcissist smirk. So no, not the same.
  
  Found the Psych 101 student.
  I would defy anyone to distinguish between the smirk the article describes - "a half-smile where one side of the lip lifts slightly" from the google definition of smirk - "a facial expression characterized by a subtle, often one-sided, upward curving of the mouth, often without showing teeth."
- Always funny to see the narcissists come out to muddy up their detection cues when they get leaked
  
  Nah. They're reminding people that nuance exists and that reading the actions of others in absolutes can lead to severe mistakes in the way we engage with the world. There is always more that we dont know than there is that we do, and, when it comes to people, forgetting that can make it easy to mistreat others over simple and preventable (with the appropriate amount of communication ofc) misunderstandings. It's a valid and important point to remember imo
  
  "Anyone who disagrees with an article about X group must be in X group"
  Too many people
The thing about narcissists is they are never as clever or subtle as they think they are. They get away with everything because their behaviors dysregulate decent people and make it easier to manipulate them. And while it’s obvious, in these little pleased gestures and exaggerated emotions, it still hurts to be manipulated and used. We seek closure to these events, they use that motivation to string the victims along. Terrible disorder.
- And yet, for some reason, in our system it seems that narcissism is almost a prerequisite to becoming the leader of large publicly traded companies or indeed an entire nation.
This goes right up there with stock chart technical analysis. "It's definitely this. Though it can also be this. Or that. And it depends on the person. And the context. And...
It's so messy/noisy with variables, stuff like this just gives people false confidence that they know who/what someone is or what something represents. Psuedoscience
- And micro expression analysis to prove deceit.
  
  "expression analysis" - 2025 phrenology
I literally just learned this in a Ted talk that youtube fed me yesterday or the day before. Here's a fantastic example of that smirk.
- Ted talks used to be amazing. Also, bringing up "post truth society" 13 years ago, before knowing how bad it would eventually get.
  
  Used to be amazing. Then they asked everyone to replicate.
seen this with jesse watters, he always make that sneering or smirk when he does his segment. and it was same with some low-level right wingers on yotube.
Here is what it looks like, in case you were wondering
nah this is bullshit. i actually recently watched a sarah z video essay about exactly why this is bad and it’s a pretty compelling case.
can find it here
in short, humans are shit and the basis on which most people are called a narcissist is more biased and tenuous than most would ever admit which is problematic if we’re going to ruin people’s lives over their perceived faults.
- You are very lucky not to have experienced this firsthand. I'm not so lucky, and I can tell you it is real. They get off on deception and power over others, but that's also their weakness - it's a compulsion. While they imagine themselves to be masters of manipulation and control, the urge to gaslight and fuck with people is so great that they typically change jobs, locations and social groups pretty often, depending on how sophisticated (or lucky) they are. They get caught because they can't help themselves. If they see an opportunity to manipulate someone, they will take it - they overestimate their ability to fool people.
Ah fuck I think I'm a narcissist.
- ;\
Oh no. I smile all the time. I guess I'll die
I learned this one a few year ago, the hard way.

60 comments