Average-Range
Within the broad middle of the norm sample.
Your HSNS score sits in the broad middle band, ±1 SD from the mean. Some hypersensitivity to ridicule, some self-consciousness in groups, some interpretation of remarks in personal terms, all in the normal range, what the literature describes as the everyday human portion of the construct rather than the pathological one.
What it looks like from the inside
You sometimes leave a social interaction running it back, sometimes feel the slight cut deeper than it deserved, sometimes notice a small reservoir of envy when a peer succeeds. This is not covert narcissism, it's being a person with a normally-organised ego in a culture that hasn't given any of us a particularly good script for handling threat to it.
What other people see
People around you would not describe you as covert anything. The hypersensitivity, when it surfaces, is contextual rather than constitutional, and people who know you read it as a state, not a trait.
Blind spots
- Average-range HSNS scores produce more genuine self-reflection than either the low or high tiers. The middle is where the worry lives, and it is, mostly, useful worry.
- If your NPI score (on /quiz/narcissist) was also in the middle range, you're statistically the most common configuration on the dark-psychology axis, not narcissistic, capable of healthy ego, capable of normal-range reactivity to slights, and therefore not the protagonist of any of the dramatic profiles. This is a feature.
- If your NPI score was high and your HSNS is average, you're probably reading these tier profiles for the high tier and recognising yourself in them. The recognition is the data.
What to do with it
Nothing specific to this construct. If you took this test because of a relationship pattern or a worry about yourself, the better next call is probably the Dark Mirror Assessment for the wide map, or the partner-detection chapters of the book if the worry is about someone else.
The other tiers
Frequently asked questions
What does "Average-Range" mean on The Covert Narcissist Test?
Your HSNS score sits in the broad middle band, ±1 SD from the mean. Some hypersensitivity to ridicule, some self-consciousness in groups, some interpretation of remarks in personal terms, all in the normal range, what the literature describes as the everyday human portion of the construct rather than the pathological one.
Is "Average-Range" a diagnosis?
No. It describes a pattern of answers on a self-report instrument. Only a clinician can diagnose, and only with a proper assessment; the result is a reading aid for recognition.
What should someone with this result do next?
Nothing specific to this construct. If you took this test because of a relationship pattern or a worry about yourself, the better next call is probably the Dark Mirror Assessment for the wide map, or the partner-detection chapters of the book if the worry is about someone else.
Nothing on this page is a diagnosis. It describes a pattern of answers on a self-report instrument; only a clinician can diagnose, and only with a proper assessment.