Shifted: psychologists define the "dark core of personality" –

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 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 – accompanied by beliefs 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 involving more than 2,500 people, researchers asked how well people agreed or disagreed with statements such as "It's hard to progress without cutting corners here and the". my part 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. selfish and unethical behavior.

The cartography of researchers of the common factor D, which has just been published in the university 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 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 be manifested primarily by narcissism, psychopathy, or some other obscure trait, 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, as it is this D factor that affects different types of human behaviors and actions the media.

"We see it, for example, in cases of extreme violence, rule breaking, lying and deception in the private and public sectors. In this case, knowing a person's D-factor can be a useful tool, for example to assess the likelihood of the person re-offending or engaging in more harmful behavior, "he says.

Box of facts:

Dark personality traits studied in the research project:

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