Dark Triad traits as predictors of adherence to traditional masculine norms in men

The present study examined whether Dark Triad traits explain variance in men’s adherence to traditional masculine norms (Playboy, Self-Reliance, Emotional Control, Winning, Violence, Heterosexual Self-Presentation, Risk-Taking, and Power over Women). Two-hundred and thirty-seven English speaking men (aged 18 to 62 years) completed online versions of the Self-Report Psychopathy Scale-III, the Narcissistic Personality Inventory, the Mach-IV, and the Conformity to Masculine Norms Inventory-29. Results from regression analyses showed that the psychopathic trait Callous Affect positively predicted men’s Need to Win, Emotional Control, Violence, and Power Over Women; Erratic Lifestyle was a positive predictor of Risk-Taking; and Antisocial Behaviour was a positive predictor of Playboy. Machiavellianism predicted only Violence. The Narcissistic sub-trait Leadership positively predicted Risk-Taking; Manipulativeness predicted Risk-Taking and Violence; Superiority predicted Risk-Taking and Power over Women; Vanity predicted Self-Reliance; and Exhibitionism predicted Emotional Control. We conclude that whilst Callous Affect appears to hold the highest predictive validity, the Dark Triad traits differentially predict adherence to specific masculine norms.

Elucidating the role of negative parenting in the genetic v. environmental influences on adult psychopathic traits

Background Psychopathic traits involve interpersonal manipulation, callous affect, erratic lifestyle, and antisocial behavior. Though adult psychopathic traits emerge from both genetic and environmental risk, no studies have examined etiologic associations between adult psychopathic traits and experiences of parenting in childhood, or the extent to which parenting practices may impact the heritability of adult psychopathic traits using a genetically-informed design. Methods In total, 1842 adult twins from the community reported their current psychopathic traits and experiences of negative parenting during childhood. We fit bivariate genetic models to the data, decomposing the variance within, and the covariance between, psychopathic traits and perceived negative parenting into their genetic and environmental components. We then fit a genotype × environment interaction model to evaluate whether negative parenting moderated the etiology of psychopathic traits. Results Psychopathic traits were moderately heritable with substantial non-shared environmental influences. There were significant associations between perceived negative parenting and three of four psychopathy facets (interpersonal manipulation, erratic lifestyle, antisocial tendencies, but not callous affect). These associations were attributable to a common non-shared environmental pathway and not to overlapping genetic effects. Additionally, we found that primarily shared environmental influences were stronger on psychopathic traits for individuals with a history of greater negative parenting. Conclusions Utilizing a genetically-informed design, we found that both genetic and non-shared environmental factors contribute to the emergence of psychopathic traits. Moreover, perceptions of negative parenting emerged as a clear environmental influence on the development of interpersonal, lifestyle, and antisocial features of psychopathy.

A comparison of the manifestation of psychopathic traits between women with and without Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS)

Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) impacts 5-10% of women of reproductive age and is characterized by increased testosterone, psychological distress, and dampened affect. However, little research exists into wider personality traits associated with increased testosterone, such as psychopathy. As such, psychopathic traits in a community sample of women with (n=82) and without (n=85) PCOS were compared using MANOVA. No group differences were found in any facet of psychopathy (interpersonal manipulation, callous affect, erratic lifestyle, anti-social behavior). The null results reported here increase our knowledge pertaining to personality in women with PCOS, particularly with relation to historically-deviant personalities, such as psychopathy.

Relationship between the Dark Triad and depressive symptoms

The Dark Triad (DT) is composed of three closely related personality traits: psychopathy, Machiavellianism and narcissism. These traits have been linked to emotional deficits. The aim of the present study was to analyze the relationship between the DT traits, including sub-dimensions, and depressive symptoms in order to identify those factors most strongly associated with the development of depression in individuals scoring high on DT. For these purposes, a total of 791 adults (M = 35.76 years; 24.91% males) completed a questionnaire battery including DT traits and depression measures. A positive significant correlation was found between psychopathy and Machiavellianism traits (total score and all sub-dimensions) and depressive symptoms. For narcissism, the direction of the correlation was dependent on the sub-dimension assessed. A model explaining 26.2% of the depressive symptoms scores was composed of the callous affect and criminal tendencies sub-dimensions of psychopathy, cynical view of human nature, which is a sub-dimension of Machiavellianism, and entitlement and self-sufficiency, which are sub-dimensions of narcissism. In addition, some of the relationships found between DT sub-dimensions and depressive symptoms appeared to depend on gender. Our results could have implications for detection and intervention programs aimed at decreasing the negative emotional consequences suffered by individuals with high DT scores. Limitations and future lines of research are discussed.

The "Core" of the Dark Triad: A test of competing hypotheses

As research on the Dark Triad (DT; the interrelated constructs of Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy) has accumulated, a subset of this research has focused on explicating what traits may account for the overlap among the DT members. Various candidate traits have been investigated, with evidence supporting several of them including Antagonism (vs. Agreeableness), Honesty-Humility, and Callousness and Interpersonal Manipulation (the latter two as a set). The present study sought to test the leading candidates against one another in their ability to account for the shared variance among the DT members. Using a pre-registered analytical plan, we found that Agreeableness (as measured by the IPIP-NEO-120), Honesty-Humility from the HEXACO, and the SRP-III subscales of Callous Affect and Interpersonal Manipulation accounted for all or nearly all of the shared variance among the DT members. BFI-based measures of Agreeableness (BFI and BFI-2) accounted for notably less variance in most cases. The results were consistent across two large samples (Ns of 627 and 628), and across various DT measurement approaches. We argue that the most parsimonious explanation for findings on the core of the DT is that such traits all fall under the umbrella of Antagonism.

The "Core" of the Dark Triad: A test of competing hypotheses

As research on the Dark Triad (DT; the interrelated constructs of Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy) has accumulated, a subset of this research has focused on explicating what traits may account for the overlap among the DT members. Various candidate traits have been investigated, with evidence supporting several of them including Antagonism (vs. Agreeableness), Honesty-Humility, and Callousness and Interpersonal Manipulation (the latter two as a set). The present study sought to test the leading candidates against one another in their ability to account for the shared variance among the DT members. Using a pre-registered analytical plan, we found that Agreeableness (as measured by the IPIP-NEO-120), Honesty-Humility from the HEXACO, and the SRP-III subscales of Callous Affect and Interpersonal Manipulation accounted for all or nearly all of the shared variance among the DT members. BFI-based measures of Agreeableness (BFI and BFI-2) accounted for notably less variance in most cases. The results were consistent across two large samples (Ns of 627 and 628), and across various DT measurement approaches. We argue that the most parsimonious explanation for findings on the core of the DT is that such traits all fall under the umbrella of Antagonism.

A comparison of the manifestation of psychopathic traits between women with and without Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS)

One popular school of thought posits that the development of both psychopathicpersonality and polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) may be underpinned, at least in part, byin utero elevations of testosterone. Although there is a large body of literature delineatingthe relationship between increased testosterone and the presence of psychopathic traits,psychopathic traits in women with PCOS has not been previously explored. In the currentstudy, we compared self-reported psychopathic traits between 82 women with PCOS and 85women without PCOS. Results showed that women with and without PCOS did not differ onmeasures of interpersonal manipulation, callous affect, erratic lifestyle, or anti-socialbehaviour. Our findings offer opposing evidence to the proposed relationship betweentestosterone and psychopathy, and are interpreted in the context of measurementlimitations in PCOS as well as the absence of accurate indices of hormone levels. Results ofthis study will likely inform research into psychopathy in the general population and conveymeaningful knowledge and impact for patients living with, and practitioners working withPCOS. The data file and pre-print of this paper is available here:https://osf.io/54g9n/?view_only=be718f9a551d4a2fbb75a554e4108268

Psychopaths Online: The Linguistic Traces of Psychopathy in Email, Text Messaging and Facebook

Individuals high in psychopathy are interpersonally manipulative, exhibit callous affect, and have criminal tendencies. The present study examines whether these attributes of psychopathy are correlated with linguistic patterns present in everyday online communication. Participants’ emails, SMS messages, and Facebook messages were collected and analyzed in relation to their scores on the Self-Report Psychopathy Test III. The findings suggest that psychopathic tendencies leave a trace in online discourse, and that different forms of online media sometimes moderate the association between a linguistic dimension and psychopathy scores. Consistent with previous studies and the emotional and interpersonal deficits central to psychopathy, participants higher in psychopathy showed more evidence of psychological distancing, wrote less comprehensible discourse, and produced more interpersonally hostile language. The results reveal that linguistic traces of psychopathy can be detected in online communication, and that those with higher traits of psychopathy fail to modify their language use across media types.

Examining the Caring-Uncaring Emotional (CUE) Inventory as a Measure of Affective, Callous-Unemotional Psychopathy Traits in a Community Sample of Adults

Affective-interpersonal features such as callousness, meanness, or interpersonal antagonism, are regarded as essential to psychopathy. It has been proposed that assessment of the affective dimension of psychopathy may be relevant for risk assessment purposes and for intervention and treatment purposes. It may be constructive to have available brief measures of the affective dimension of psychopathy in both youth and adult populations. The current study represents a second validation study of a new, brief, self-report measure of the affective dimension of psychopathy in adults and potentially in adolescents. A study of the Caring-Uncaring Emotional (CUE) Inventory was conducted with 121 men and women recruited from a community sample. The CUE was found to have high internal consistency reliability (α = .93), and was found to have high correlations with multiple subscale measures of callous affect from established psychopathy measures developed for adults and for youths. The CUE was found to have a high, inverse association with a measure of empathy. The CUE also was found to have a moderate, positive association with a measure of Antisocial Intent. An Exploratory Factor Analysis suggested a three-factor solution, with the first factor accounting for 36.3% of the variance in scores, with high to very high loadings on 15 items. The first factor appeared to represent a robust measure of callousness in adults in a community sample. The second and third factors may tap into lack of close attachment and indifference/emotional detachment as conceptualized in other psychopathy measures. Further study of the CUE is needed to better clarify the latent structure of this scale. The CUE should be further studied for its relationships with other psychopathy measures and personality and behavioral variables. The strong associations between the CUE and two youth psychopathy measures in the current study which included young adults warrants its study in youth samples, including juvenile offenders.

Psychopathy Traits and Violent Assault Among Men With and Without History of Arrest

Although research suggests that the antisocial behavior (ASB) facet of psychopathy generally carries the greatest predictive power for future violence, these findings are drawn primarily from forensic samples and may reflect criterion contamination between historical violence and future violence perpetration. Likewise, these findings do not negate the association of other psychopathy facets to violence or their role in the development of violence, nor do they offer practical utility in the primary prevention of violence. There are a number of empirical and theoretical reasons to suspect that the callous affect (CA) facet of psychopathy may demonstrate stronger statistical association to violence in nonforensic populations. We tested the association of CA to severe acts of violence (e.g., assault with intent to harm, injure, rape, or kill) among men with and without history of arrest ( N = 600) using both the three- and four-facet models of psychopathy. CA was robustly associated with violence outcomes across the two groups in the three-facet model. When testing the four-facet model, CA was strongly associated with violence outcomes among men with no history of arrest, but only moderately associated with assaults causing injury among men with history of arrest. These results are consistent with data from youth populations that implicate early emotional deficits in later aggressive behavior and suggest CA may help to identify individuals at risk for violence before they become violent. Implications for the public health system and the primary prevention of violence are discussed.