The Dark Factor of Personality | The Science of Morality

This entry is part of a series on multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary scientific perspectives on morality. Articles will focus on the latest studies, data, theories, models in the literature, and their relevance for moral apologetics.

In this entry, we define dark factor theory, what role the known “dark traits” play in it, how it relates to personality psychology more broadly, the behavior it predicts in individuals, and what it means for theology and philosophy within moral apologetics.

• What is the Dark Factor?

• What are the Dark Traits?

• How Does it Relate to Personality?

• What Behavior Does it Predict?

• Theological & Philosophical Implications

What is the Dark Factor?

The “dark factor” is the basic disposition to (i) maximize one’s individual utility while (ii) disregarding, accepting, or malevolently provoking disutility for others and (iii) adopting justifying beliefs. In the social sciences, this fits in the field of “ethically, morally, and socially questionable behavior.” The theory posits a common source behind “dark traits” (listed below) and behavior beyond what any individual dark trait would predict.

Important to this theory is the conjunction of the disutility to others. One can engage in activities of self-interest while benefiting others. The dark factor disposition is the willingness to endure and accept individual costs in order to inflict greater costs on others. Just as important is the adoption of justifying beliefs to engage in the dark activity. These include belief in one’s superiority, adoption of cynical worldviews and relativism, endorsing ideologies that favor individual or group dominance, and rejecting universal moral values.

What are the Dark Traits?

1. Egoism

   • Definition: excessive concern with self-pleasure and advantage to the detriment of one’s community.

   • Example: getting ahead by cutting corners.

   • Measure: Egoism Scale

2. Machiavellianism

   • Definition: manipulativeness, callousness, and strategic calculativeness.

   • Example: use of cleverness to get your way ahead of others’ way.

   • Measure: Short Dark Triad

3. Moral Disengagement

   • Definition: general cognitive orientation to differentiate one’s ethical thinking from others’.

   • Example: believing others can be treated roughly because they lack feelings that can be hurt.

   • Measure: Propensity to Morally Disengage Scale

4. Narcissism

   • Definition: primary motivation to reinforce the ego.

   • Example: eliciting reactions the imply one being special.

   • Measure: Short Dark Triad

5. Psychological Entitlement

   • Definition: stable and pervasive mentality that one deserves more than others.

   • Example: feeling that one should be first in line to receive community benefits and be given the most benefits.

   • Measure: Psychological Entitlement Scale

6. Psychopathy

   • Definition: deficiency in affect and self-control.

   • Example: being willing to do anything—without guilt, embarrassment, or shame—to obtain goals.

   • Measure: Short Dark Triad

7. Sadism

   • Definition: a longstanding pattern of demeaning and inflicting pain on others for dominance and self-pleasure.

   • Example: getting excited when hurting someone.

   • Measure: Short Sadistic Impulse Scale

8. Self-Interest

   • Definition: the pursuit of social goods, such as status, achievement, and happiness.

   • Example: signaling to others one’s success.

   • Measure: Self- and Other- Interest Inventory

9. Spitefulness

   • Definition: preference to harm others socially, financially, and physically even when it would harm oneself.

   • Example: breaking a neighbor’s car windshield in front of the community.

   • Measure: Spitefulness Scale

How Does It Relate to Personality?

There have been more than 18,000 terms identified that describe personality, behaviors, and traits. Personality psychologists recognized that the importance of these concepts is encoded in our language (lexical theory). The convergence of these terms has led to the labeling of specific personality traits. Such traits are capable of predicting behavioral patterns when tested and experimented upon. Two leading theories that have emerged include the Five-Factor Model (FFM; or “Big Five” OCEAN) and the HEXACO model. The correlations of the dark factor to these traits are shown as follows. (Put another way, the typical person with a dark disposition would likely have the following personality traits.)

Five-Factor Model

• Openness = Low (weakly but significantly related)

• Conscientiousness = Low

• Extraversion = Low

• Agreeableness = Low

• Neuroticism = Significant

HEXACO Model

• Honesty-Humility = High (negatively related)

• Emotionality = Low (weakly associated due to lack of inclusion of anger, hostility, and irritability)

• Extraversion = Low

• Agreeableness = Low

• Conscientiousness = Low

• Openness to Experience = Low (weakly but significantly related)

What Characteristics Does It Predict?

The dark factor predicted cheating, even when cheating was underdetermined by any of the dark traits when using regression analysis. It also strongly predicted selfish behavior, confounded only plausibly by psychological entitlement. Thus, one could theoretically measure the efficacy of interventions by tracking performance on cheating and dictator game tests. Other characteristics correlated with both the dark factor and dark traits are as follows.

• Self-Centeredness (correlates egoism on the Self-Centeredness Scale)

• Lack of Nurturance (correlates Machiavellianism and psychopathy on the International Personality Item Pool—Interpersonal Circumplex: Nurtance Scale)

• Lack of Internalized Moral Identity (correlates: moral disengagement on the Moral Identity: Internalization Scale)

• Dominance (correlates narcissism on the International Personality Item Pool—Interpersonal Circumplex: Dominance Scale)

• Lack of Perspective-Taking (correlates psychological entitlement on the Interpersonal Reactivity Index: Perspective Taking Scale)

• Impulsivity (correlates psychopathy on the Dysfunctional Impulsivity Scale)

• Insensitivity (correlates sadism on the Empathy Quotient: Insensitivity measure)

• Power (correlates Self-Interest on the Schwartz Value Survey: Power measure)

• Aggression (correlates spitefulness on the Forms and Functions of Aggression Scale)

Theological & Philosophical Implications

So what does this mean for Christian philosophy and theology? Philosophically, the likelihood of the proposition “Christianity is true” is raised by its ability to explain the dark factor, both in the biblical narrative and in our lives. When reading biblical narratives, we can recognize when the dark factor played a role in the characters’ actions and intentions (though we must be careful not to be anachronistic in our analysis). In theology, we see how the dark factor is one of the results of sin’s effect on the image of God and how reducing the dark factor’s influence will be a sanctifying process in our life.

What does this mean for moral apologetics in particular? For us as believers, it helps us use more nuanced terms in describing how sin and evil are affecting our dispositions and actions. It should also increase our faith when we reflect on how our historic beliefs have captured aspects of reality—how sin and evil have manifested in our dispositions and actions—from the beginning. Ameliorating the dark traits by focusing on interventions that mitigate the dark factor can be edifying for the church body and can be built into church policy, ministries, and counseling. The expansive complexities and textures of the dark factor’s role within sin and evil naturally fit in views that hold to moral realism and it is not so simply explained by antirealism.

Source

Morten Moshagen, Benjamin E. Hilbig, and Ingo Zettler. "The Dark Core of Personality," Psychological Review, Vol. 125 Iss. 5, (October) 2018. 656-688.