Psychologists define the "dark core of the personality"

Egoism, Machiavellianism, narcissism, psychopathy, sadism, wickedness and others are some of the hallmarks of the evil dark sides of the human personality. As the results of a recently published German-Danish research project show, these features share a common "dark core". So, if you have one of these trends, you are also likely to have one or more of the others.

The history of the world and everyday life are full of examples of people acting ruthlessly, maliciously or selfishly. In psychology as in everyday language, we have various names for the various dark tendencies that the human can have, especially psychopathy (lack of empathy), narcissism (excessive self-absorption) and Machiavellianism (the belief that purposes justify the means). ), the so-called "black triad", with many others such as egoism, sadism or wickedness.

Although at first glance, there seem to be noticeable differences between these traits – and it may seem more "acceptable" to be selfish than a psychopath – new research shows that all the dark aspects of the human personality are closely linked and are based on the same trend. That is to say, most dark features can be understood as flavored manifestations of a single common underlying provision: the dark core of the personality. In practice, this implies that if you tend to show one of these obscure personality traits, you also tend to display one or more of the others.

As the new research reveals, the common denominator of all obscure characteristics, factor D, can be defined as the general tendency to maximize individual utility – to ignore, accept or maliciously provoke disutility for others – accompanied by beliefs serve as justifications.

In other words, all the dark features can be attributed to the general tendency to place one's own goals and interests on those of others, even to the point of taking pleasure in hurting others, with a whole series of beliefs that justify and prevent feelings of guilt, shame, etc. Research shows that black traits in general can be understood as examples of this common kernel – although they may differ in the predominant aspects (for example, the justification aspect is very strong in narcissism whereas the main feature is the sadism).

Ingo Zettler, professor of psychology at the University of Copenhagen and two German colleagues, Morten Moshagen of Ulm University and Benjamin E. Hilbig of the University of Koblenz-Landau, showed how this common denominator is present in nine of the most commonly studied. dark personality traits:

• Selfishness: an excessive preoccupation for one's own advantage at the expense of others and the community
• Machiavellianism: a manipulative and insensitive attitude and the conviction that the ends justify the means
• Moral disengagement: a style of cognitive treatment that allows one to behave unethically without experiencing distress
• Narcissism: excessive self-absorption, feeling of superiority and extreme attention of others
• Psychological law: a recurring belief that one is better than others and deserves a better treatment
• Psychopathy: lack of empathy and self-control, associated with impulsive behavior
• Sadism: the desire to inflict mental or physical harm on others for their own pleasure or for their benefit
• Personal interest: desire to pursue and enhance social and financial status
• Benevolence: destructiveness and the will to harm others, even if we do harm

In a series of studies with more than 2,500 people, researchers asked how much people agreed or disagreed with statements such as "It is difficult for me to see others receive punishment. that they deserve. ", or" I know that I'm special because everyone always tells me. "In addition, they studied other self-reported trends and behaviors, such as aggression or impulsivity, as well as objective measures of selfish and unethical behavior.

The mapping of common D factor researchers, which has just been published in the academic journal Psychological examinationcan be compared to the way that Charles Spearman showed, about 100 years ago, that people who score high in one type of intelligence test also get a high score in other types of intelligence tests.

"In the same way, the dark aspects of the human personality also have a common denominator, which means – just like intelligence – we can say that they are all an expression of the same dispositional tendency," Ingo Zettler explains.

"For example, in a given person, factor D can manifest itself primarily in the form of a narcissism, a psychopathy or one of the other dark traits, or a combination of these. But with our mapping of the common denominator of various dark personality traits, one can simply verify that the person has a high D factor. This is because the D factor indicates the likelihood that a person will engage in behavior associated with one or more of these dark traits, "he says. In practice, this means that a person with a particular malicious behavior (eg, likes to humiliate others) will also have more chances to engage in other malicious activities (such as cheating, lying or stealing). .

The nine dark features are by no means the same and each one can lead to specific behaviors. However, at the base, dark features usually have much more in common that really sets them apart. And knowledge of this "dark core" can play a crucial role for researchers or therapists who work with people with obscure personality traits because it is this D factor that affects different types of behavior and behavior. Unwise and malicious human actions. the media.

"We see it, for example, in cases of extreme violence, rule breaking, lying and deception in the private and public sectors. Here, knowing a person's D-factor can be a useful tool, for example to assess the likelihood that the person will reoffend or engage in more harmful behavior, "he says.

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Box: The dark factor

• Researchers have found significant links between all the dark features, so that if a person gets a high score in narcissism, for example, she will also have a high score on psychopathy, sadism or any other dark personality trait.
• This is because these traits have a common denominator, which researchers define as:
  The general tendency to maximize individual utility – to ignore, accept, or maliciously provoke disutility for others – accompanied by beliefs as justifications
• The article of research was published in the journal Psychological examination,
  http: // psycnet.apa.org /record/2018-32574-001

Dark personality traits studied in the research project:

• Selfishness
• Machiavellianism
• Moral disengagement
• Narcissism
• Psychological right
• psychopathy
• Sadism
• Personal interest
• Wickedness

Learn more about the research project site.

http: // www.black factor.org

How researchers have studied the D factor of people

• The researchers conducted three different online surveys of more than 2,500 people.
• Participants were recruited via German online panels
• The investigations lasted approximately 25 minutes.
• In some surveys, researchers also assessed behaviors that were ethically, morally, and socially questionable, including, for example, the tendency of participants to cheat during a test.