In the vast sea of social media content, memes, and viral posts,
few topics intrigue people as much as quick, eye-catching “personality tests.”
You might have scrolled through your feed, stumbled upon an image with concentric circles,
and read a bold claim: “The Number of Circles You See Determines If You’re a Narcissist.”
Perhaps you paused and tried to count the circles, or maybe you shared it with friends,
curious about their reactions. Whatever the case, this particular meme taps into a powerful
and enduring human desire: the wish to understand ourselves, and perhaps to understand others as well.
Why do we give so much credence to a simple image that purports to measure something as complex as narcissism?
In a world where personality quizzes, from the “What Kind of Pizza Are You?”
variety to the more established Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, are endlessly shared, this question is worth asking.