Prosocial and antisocial aspects of personality

Abstract

Physical risk taking activities can be classified along a continuum ranging from prosociality to antisociality, the risky sports being in an intermediate point of that hypothetical dimension. The present study was aimed at identifying the personality variables common to those who engage in physical risky activities, and those that differentiate among the groups along the continuum. The sample consisted of 77 antisocial risk takers incarcerated for having committed armed robbery, 332 risky sportsmen, 170 prosocial risk takers, and 54 subjects not engaged in any risky activity. Subjects were administered the Sensation Seeking scale, the EPQ, the Impulsiveness scale of the IVE, the Socialization scale of the CPI, and the Susceptibility to Punishment and Reward scales. Discriminant analysis identified three functions. The antisocials were located in an Impulsive Unsocialized Sensation Seeking dimension characterized by poor socialization, neuroticism, disinhibition, and impulsivity. The three risk taking groups had high scores on a Venturesomeness function characterized by high thrill and adventure seeking and extraversion. The prosocials were characterized by low scores on experience seeking and psychoticism, representing the search for experience by a conforming life style.