[Architekt]

From The Scientific American

An article I thought many of you might find interesting in regards to the often discussed "dark triad" of personality traits, which extends the theory, and adds some interesting caveats

Quote:

Over 100 years ago, Charles Spearman made two monumental discoveries about human intelligence. First, a general factor of intelligence (g) exists: people who score high on one test of intelligence also tend to score high on other tests of intelligence. Second, Spearman found that the g-factor conforms to the principle of the "indifference of the indicator": It doesn't matter what test of intelligence you administer; as long as the intelligence test is sufficiently cognitively complex and has enough items, you can reliably and validly measure a person's general cognitive ability.

Fast forward to 2018, and a hot off the press paper suggests that the very same principle may not only apply to human cognitive abilities, but also to human malevolence. New research conducted by a team from Germany and Denmark suggest that a General Dark Factor of Personality (D-factor) exists among the human population, and that this factor conforms to the principle of indifference of the indicator. This is big news, so let's take a look.

[...]

Even though psychologists have studied various dark traits, it has become increasingly clear that these dark traits are related to each other. This raises the question: Is there a unifying theme among dark traits?

They begin by suggesting that "dark" personality traits may be generalised across the board - if you possess one, you're more likely to possess many

Quote:

Morten Moshagen and his colleagues proposed that a D-factor exists, which they define as the basic tendency to maximize one's own utility at the expense of others, accompanied by beliefs that serve as justifications for one's malevolent behaviors. In their definition, utility refers to goal achievement. or those scoring high on the D-factor, utility maximization is sought despite running contrary to the interests of others or even for the sake of bringing about negative outcomes in others.

[...]

Utility in this definition does not refer to utility maximization that is irrelevant of the effect on others-- such engaging in sports to improve one's health, engaging in consensual sex, or recreational activities. Also, it should be noted that those scoring high on the D-factor aren't always uncooperative, as they can be very strategic in choosing when to cooperate. Their key prediction is that those scoring high on the D-factor will not be motivated to increase the utility of others (helping others in need) without benefiting themselves, and will not derive utility for themselves from the utility of others (e.g., being happy for the success of others).

This section here is particularly interesting to me - they suggest the idea that "self improvement" or pursuing your own goals - such as chasing pussy or getting swole - does not necessarily depend on your D-factor, but that the D-factor score is a way to determine whether, and to what degree, you will use and/or throw others under the bus specifically to achieve those ends

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he researchers acknowledge that the D-factor can be manifested in a large number of ethically, morally, and socially questionable attitudes and behaviors. However, they propose that any single dark trait will boil down to at least one of the defining features of the D-factor. For instance, those scoring high on narcissism might be particularly justifying of the belief that they are superior, whereas those scoring high in sadism may place a stronger emphasis on deriving utility from actively provoking disutilities for others. Nevertheless, they argue that any single dark trait will be related to at least one (and typically several) of the defining aspects of the D-factor; i.e., there is a substantial common core underlying individual differences on all measures of dark traits.

This is the key idea the article posits:

Any single dark trait will be related to at least one (and typically several) of the defining aspects of the D-factor

And here they define the key traits that they considered "dark"

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To capture a reasonable D-factor, they administered nine different tests measuring a particular dark trait that has been well studied in the psychological literature. These are the nine traits that comprised their D-factor:

Egoism. The excessive concern with one's own pleasure or advantage at the expense of community well-being.

Machiavellianism. Manipulativeness, callous affect, and strategic-calculating orientation.

Moral Disengagement. A generalized cognitive orientation to the world that differentiates individuals' thinking in a way that powerfully affects unethical behavior.

Narcissism. An all-consuming motive for ego-reinforcement.

Psychological Entitlement. A stable and pervasive sense that one deserves more and is entitled to more than others.

Psychopathy: Deficits in affect, callousness, self-control, and impulsivity.

Sadism. Intentionally inflicting physical, sexual, or psychological pain or suffering on others in order to assert power and dominance or for pleasure and enjoyment.

Self-Interest. The pursuit of gains in socially valued domains, including material goods, social status, recognition, academic or occupational achievement, and happiness.

Spitefulness. A preference that would harm another but that would also entail harm to oneself. This harm could be social, financial, physical, or an inconvenience.

Recognise any of those?

Here is a summary of their main findings, with some points I found interesting

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First, they found that all of the dark traits were substantially positively related to each other (what Spearman referred to as a "positive manifold")-- although some traits were more strongly correlated with each other than others. The strongest correlations were found among measures of Egoism, Machiavellianism, Moral Disengagement, Psychopathy, Sadism, and Spitefulness.

~Dark triad types are also likely to possess a degree of sadism, spitefulness, and general moral disengagement (which I would generally consider a degree of psychopathy anyway, but these are the researchers ideas)

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Second, the pattern of items that were most strongly related to the D-factor related to aspects of their theoretical model: utility maximization ("I'll say anything to get what I want"), inflicting disutility on others ("There have been times when I was willing to suffer some small harm so that I could punish someone else who deserved it"), and justifying malevolent beliefs ("I honestly feel I'm just more deserving than others").

~High D-factor scores are strongly correlated with using of/causing suffering to others

**Relevant note: Snowflake syndrome is likely to indicate your girl will make a terrible mother

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Third, they found that those scoring high on the D-factor were more likely to keep money for themselves when given the opportunity, and were more likely to display unethical behavior (cheating to maximize one's gain).

~Self explanatory

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Fourth, the D-factor was related to a number of outcomes you would expect, including positive associations with self-centeredness, dominance, impulsivity, insensitivity, power, aggression, and negative associations with nurturance, internalized moral identity, perspective taking, sincerity, fairness, greed avoidance, and modesty.

~I find the point regarding identity interesting - all of the other factors are correlated with caring what others think of you

**See note above

Quote:

Fifth, they found support for Spearman's principle of the indifference of the indicator. The D-factor captured the dark core of many different dark traits without crucially relying on any one measure. In fact, they found that even after omitting 50% of the items at random, and repeating this process 1,000 times, still resulted in extremely high correlations among all of the D-factors (> r=.93).

~Their findings seem to hold across all of the factors they considered "dark"

TL;DR: Their findings are that scoring high in any quality on their enhanced version of the dark-triad test indicates that you're likely to score higher in any others. Additionally, their test comes with the caveat that most of these qualities should only be considered "dark" if they either cause harm to others, or prevent others from making gains

Or, in the words of the authors, the D-factor is:

Quote:

The general tendency to maximize one's individual utility — disregarding, accepting, or malevolently provoking disutility for others —, accompanied by beliefs that serve as justifications.

I thought this article would provoke some interesting discussion, and I wanted to hear your thoughts on their ideas/findings

If you're curious about your own D-factor score, there is a 9 question test at the bottom of the article, or you can visit the researchers website for more info

[RoastBeefCurtains4Me]

I would say that most young children have a high D factor. Proper socialization and moral education is necessary to create adults with a low D factor.

[Architekt]

(08-07-2018 12:30 AM)RoastBeefCurtains4Me Wrote:  

I would say that most young children have a high D factor. Proper socialization and moral education is necessary to create adults with a low D factor.

It's an interesting question, whether we're "naturally" dark triad types, but I'm not certain all young children see it as necessary for others to fail for them to succeed - which this article seems to imply is a requisite for "dark" personality types