What are the characteristics of an individual?

since my ex husband is a narcissist, I can easily answer this:\

Someone that is selfish, egotistical, and very conceited. They have no empathy for others around them regardless of who they are or their relationship to them. Everything is always about them. Everything and everyone must revolve around this person. They think of themselves and only themselves and really have no regard to others.

AnswerThe question seems to be asking what the essential nature of humanity is. The above answer matches Christian, Judaic, Hindu, Buddhist, and Muslim doctrine rather closely. According to these, we are essentially evil but there is a process by which we can be improved, with all but Christianity saying that we improve ourselves.

Secularism requires that our nature developed entirely by evolution; therefore, it can only conclude that we are what we had to be to survive which might include both kindness and meanness. The genetic template of any given personality is further augmented by life experiences.

Finally, Humanism posits that we are essentially good, and some within the New Age movement even add that a part of each of us is in fact God or a god. We are supposed to find this part and bring it to the forefront of our personality.