Psychologists define the "dark core of the personality"

Selfishness, Machiavellianism, narcissism, psychopathy, sadism, wickedness and others are among the characteristic features of the malevolent side of the human personality. As the results of a recently published German-Danish research project show, these features share a common "black core". People with any of these tendencies are also likely to have one or more of the others.

The history of the world and everyday life are filled with examples of people acting ruthlessly, maliciously or selfishly. In psychology and everyday language, such human tendencies are called psychopathy (lack of empathy), narcissism (excessive self-absorption), and Machiavellianism (the belief that ends justify the means), the black triad, many Others such as egoism, sadism or wickedness.

Although at first glance, there seem to be significant differences between these traits – and it may seem more "acceptable" to be selfish than a psychopath – new research shows that all dark aspects of the human personality are closely related 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 dark traits, the D factor, can be defined as the general tendency to maximize individual utility – to ignore, accept, or maliciously induce disutility for others

In other words, all the dark traits can be attributed to the general tendency to place one's own goals and interests on those of others, to the point of even taking pleasure in hurting others, with a whole series of beliefs that justify preventing feelings of guilt, shame or regret. 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 the case of narcissism. ). of 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 progress and enhance one's 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 whether or not people agreed with statements such as "It's hard to make progress without cutting corners here and there". to see others receive the punishment they deserve "or" I know 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 examination, can be compared to Charles Spearman's research that showed about 100 years ago that people who score high in one type of intelligence test also have 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 that – just like the intelligence – we can say that they are all an expression of the same dispositional tendency", explains Ingo Zettler .

"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, one can simply make sure that the person has a high D factor, because the D factor indicates the likelihood that a person will behave in a way associated with one or more of these dark features, In practice, this means that a person with a particular malicious behavior (such as taking pleasure in humiliating others) will have more chances to engage in other malicious activities such as cheating, lying or fly.

The nine dark features are by no means the same and each one can lead to specific behaviors. However, basically, dark features usually have much more in common. And knowledge of this "black core" can play a crucial role for researchers or therapists working with people with obscure personality traits, as this factor D affects different types of reckless and malicious human behavior. .

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

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More information:
Morten Moshagen et al, The dark core of the personality., Psychological examination (2018). DOI: 10.1037 / rev0000111