Latent profiles of personality traits related to decision making about social distancing (in Russia and Azerbaijan)

Abstract

In a previous study, we showed that personality traits related to self-regulation such as risk readiness and subjective rationality, as well as the Dark Triad traits (psychopathy, Machiavellianism, and narcissism) predicted decisions about social distancing in different ways in Russian and Azerbaijani samples, whereas cognitive empathy was a shared positive predictor. Using a battery of assessments, we investigated the presence of latent profiles of personality traits in these two samples. We expected this analysis to shed further light onto the interplay between cultural factors and individual differences in decision making. Two samples consisting of individually matched (by age and sex) participants from Russia and Azerbaijan, N = 299 each, participated in the study. We utilized the following questionnaires: Questionnaire of Cognitive and Affective Empathy (QCAE), Personality Factors of Decision Making (LFR), Dirty Dozen. Latent profile analysis was performed separately for Russian and Azerbaijan samples in the VarSelLCM package for R. The results revealed two near-identical latent profiles in both samples. The two latent profiles differed primarily on the Dark Triad traits. Empathy did not act as a universal discriminating variable. Cultural specificity was found not for class composition but rather the discriminating power of individual variables.