How Narcissism Affects Collegiate Women's Soccer Using Face-Reading Software

Many studies have supported the "epidemic" of increasing narcissism with the current generation. However, the importance of accurately measuring narcissism has never been greater. Studies have measured the reliability and feasibility of the narcissistic personality inventory (NPI) at reporting narcissism and the Noldus FaceReader technology at detecting basic emotions, but the validity of these two measurement tools working together needs to be further researched. This study investigated how reliable the Noldus FaceReader technology was at detecting basic emotions of participants while they performed the NPI personality quiz and if the emotions generated from the facial analysis software can accurately represent an individual's narcissistic characteristics. Specifically, the study explored how the narcissistic personality quiz and the newest version of Noldus FaceReader can be used to detect narcissistic individuals within a team environment. An intervention was conducted in which participants, 16 female collegiate soccer players, engaged in the fall soccer season. Narcissism scores were measured before and after the intervention and then analyzed in correlation with the emotions through the facial analysis software. Results from the study showed that the 40-question narcissistic personality quiz could be condensed into a 14-question quiz in order to truly detect narcissism by generating corresponding emotions. Results also showed that narcissism is most significantly and consistently correlated to the emotions of scared, angry, and disgusted.