A narcissist’s lack of empathy is one of the major reasons it’s toxic to be around them. They don’t take into consideration the feelings and needs of the people around them; instead, they are more likely to use them for their own personal gain. They don’t pay attention to what other people want or need, making it essentially impossible to maintain a healthy relationship with a narcissist.

In a study published by The Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, it was shown that this lack of empathy is driven by narcissists’ entitlement, exploitativeness, and exhibitionism. In the study, narcissists were presented with a variety of scenarios in which the subject was distressed or had been victimized in some way. Researchers found many narcissists lacked empathy even when the scenario was relatively severe (i.e., the subject was overwhelmed with depression or had experienced domestic violence)