Primary Psychopathy Research Articles

Relationships Between Intimate Partner Cyberviolence and Dark Tetrad Traits: A Moderation Effect of Gender

ABSTRACT While previous studies have shown significant effects of dark traits on intimate partner violence, little is known about their effect on intimate partner cyberviolence (IPCV), and findings are rather mixed. The aim of this research was to explore the relationships between the Dark Tetrad traits and forms of IPCV, using a multidimensional approach, as well as examining the moderation effect of gender on these associations. The sample included 293 heterosexual adults from Serbia. The results showed that all Dark Tetrad traits had significant correlations with threatening behaviors as a direct form of IPCV. Furthermore, primary psychopathy explained the use of devices to monitor partners and threatening (or actual) posting of embarrassing photos of a partner, which are combinations of indirect, invasive, and direct forms of IPCV. Secondary psychopathy explained all other forms of IPCV that were more intrusive and excessive. Narcissistic admiration contributed to explaining threatening behaviors, and narcissistic rivalry explained checking behaviors. Moreover, the results showed that sadism and Machiavellianism in men, and sadism and narcissistic rivalry in women, were associated with certain IPCV forms. These results contribute to a better understanding of the complex relationships between dispositional factors of antisocial behaviors (dark traits) and various forms of IPCV.

Testosterone, cortisol, and psychopathy: Further evidence with the Levenson self-report psychopathy scale and the inventory of callous unemotional traits

ABSTRACT The current study explored associations between testosterone, cortisol, and both the Levenson Self-Report Psychopathy Scale (LSRPS) and the Inventory of Callous Unemotional (ICU) traits. Data were gathered from a relatively large sample of university students (n = 522) and analyses considered direct and interactive associations between hormones and psychopathic traits, as well as interactions between these associations and the time of day at which samples were gathered and the sex of participants. Baseline cortisol had a negative association with LSRPS primary psychopathy scores. In addition, baseline cortisol interacted with the time of day in association with LSRPS total scores. Simple slopes analyses indicated cortisol had a negative association with LSRPS total scores in the morning but not the afternoon. Interactions among hormone measures were not statistically significant. There was also no evidence for the moderation of associations between hormones and psychopathic traits by sex.

Antisocial Personality Disorder as a Form of Adaptive Strategy

Background: in contemporary domestic psychiatry the evolutionary explanations of antisocial personality disorder are practically lacking. The aim of study: the analysis of the significant concepts of the evolutionary approach to understanding the origins and typology of antisocial, or dissocial, personality disorder. Material and methods: a narrative review of contemporary English-language psychiatric and psychological literature using all available search engines using the keywords “antisocial psychopathy” and “evolutionary psychiatry and psychology”. Discussion and conclusion: in English-language psychiatric and psychological literature the affective component of antisocial traits, emphasized only in ICD-10, is called “primary psychopathy,” while the behavioral component of antisocial traits, associated with “sensation seeking” and “hyperactivation,” is called “secondary” psychopathy. Evolutionary and ecological approaches emphasize the adaptive role of aggressive and antisocial behavior, viewing such behavior as a “high-risk strategy” in social and sexual competition, as “costly” but potentially adaptive (rather than as “behavioral dysfunctions”). The understanding of persistent antisocial behavior as a social “trickster” strategy exploiting the trust and cooperative behavior of others is based on the R. Axelrod-W. Hamilton “iterated” prisoner’s dilemma. In the Prisoner’s Dilemma evolutionary model, the player’s payoff is determined by the effects on “fitness”: survival and fertility. Participating in several interactions with individuals, an antisocial “deceiver” with high mobility is able to exist, manifesting itself with a fairly low frequency in the population. Non-cooperative behavior in both animals and humans reduces the fitness of others and includes aggressive behavior, deception, betrayal, predation and social parasitism. From the point of view of the concept of “economic games,” people with subclinically expressed primary psychopathic traits (emotional coldness, manipulativeness, Machiavellianism) are represented as “strategists” with cooperation partners: they give with reciprocity to those partners whom they consider “highly valuable” (with the potential for great benefits in future), and only “take”, manipulating and deceiving, from those of “low value”. In a broad sense, evolutionary psychologists and psychiatrists find in the characteristics of antisocial individuals a predominance of a set of properties of “fast” life strategies, while the concept of “fast strategies” is also used to explain geographical differences in the prevalence of aggressive behavior.

The Mask of Sanity? Leader Primary Psychopathy and the Effects of Leader Emotion Regulation Strategies on Followers

Individuals with psychopathic tendencies are sometimes quite capable of acquiring and maintaining leadership positions. One explanation could be that leaders with psychopathic personality profiles “hide behind the mask of sanity” by managing the public display of their emotions so that it positively affects other people's perceptions. We conducted a multisource team study (N = 306 teams) to investigate how leader primary psychopathy and emotion regulation strategies are related to follower perceptions of leader authenticity and follower trust in the leader. We found that leaders with stronger primary psychopathic tendencies would do better to adhere to a strategy of surface acting and refrain from deep acting in order to affect follower trust positively. Perceived authenticity explains the interactive effect of leader emotion regulation and psychopathy on follower trust. We also found that for leaders with higher levels of primary psychopathy deep acting is a less fruitful strategy because they lack the necessary empathic concern, and that the display of naturally felt emotions is a good strategy because it is positively associated with follower trust. We discuss whether the differential use of emotion regulation strategies might explain primary psychopaths’ upward mobility and how their use of emotion regulation strategies could help them to be perceived positively.

Psychopathy, Emotional Recognition, and Moral Judgment in Female Inmates

Despite the lower levels of psychopathy in women than in men, the scientific interest in studying psychopathy in female participants is increasing. Nevertheless, the number of studies investigating psychopathy in women and associated phenomena remains low. The influence of psychopathy in women inmates on experimental tasks of emotional recognition and moral judgment was evaluated, aiming to contribute to this field of research. Utilitarian moral judgment was predicted by psychopathy, specifically by primary and secondary psychopathy, while primary psychopathy predicted a worse performance on the emotional recognition task. There was no significant influence of general intellectual abilities on either task. Contrarily to what was expected, emotional recognition did not prove to be a significant mediator of the relationship between psychopathy and utilitarian moral judgment. These results emphasize that the tendency to utilitarian moral judgment and worse recognition of facial expressions of emotion are associated to higher psychopathy scores in female inmates (especially primary psychopathy), but more studies are necessary to address the role of the emotional component in the process of moral judgment.

Social exclusion evokes different psychophysiological responses in individuals high on the psychopathy facets fearless dominance and self-centered impulsivity.

Individuals with psychopathic personality traits are generally thought to have difficulties in processing and experiencing emotions. These difficulties could also translate to emotionally charged social situations such as social exclusion. Being socially excluded is often experienced as stressful and unpleasant, potentially even leading to selfish or aggressive behavior-both of which are linked to certain aspects of psychopathy. The current study investigated self-report and physiological responses to social exclusion in the cyberball paradigm in a carefully selected community sample of individuals either scoring high on primary (N = 24) or secondary psychopathy traits (N = 17). Across the sample, the cyberball paradigm decreased experiences of joy and approach motivation, increased subjective anger reports, and induced changes in heart rate. In contrast, individuals scoring high on secondary psychopathy traits (Self-Centered Impulsivity group) displayed stronger physiological reactivity during a habituation phase of prolonged social exclusion than individuals scoring high on primary psychopathy traits (Fearless Dominance group), indexed by changes in skin conductance level. Moreover, a potential mismatch between self-reported and physiological arousal seemed to be only observable in individuals with high secondary psychopathy traits. Overall, the current results suggest diverging patterns of emotional processing and regulation in a social exclusion situation when comparing well-functioning individuals with varying psychopathy traits. It seemed as if individuals high on primary psychopathy traits were insensitive to contextual social cues, while individuals high on secondary psychopathy traits were more affected by the potentially threatening social situation. Cautiously transferring the current findings to forensic samples, they support the idea of moving from a behavioral understanding of the psychopathy construct to a more clinical picture with distinct cognitive and emotional processing patterns in individuals high on either primary or secondary psychopathy traits.

Relationships between Dark Tetrad traits and beliefs in conspiracy theories: Mediation effects of cognitive styles

The aim of this study was to investigate the direct effects of the Dark Tetrad traits on beliefs in conspiracy theories as well as the indirect effects via rational and experiential cognitive styles. The study included 259 participants from the community population in Serbia. The results showed direct positive effects of Machiavellianism, primary psychopathy, and secondary psychopathy on conspiracy beliefs. Furthermore, only the rational cognitive style showed a significant mediation role, but the direction of its effect depends on the specific dark trait. Machiavellianism, primary psychopathy, secondary psychopathy, and narcissistic rivalry had an indirect effect on belief in conspiracy theories through a lower tendency toward rational style, while narcissistic admiration had an indirect effect through a higher tendency toward rational style. Surprisingly, the experiential cognitive style did not emerge as a significant mediator.

Brain structural correlates of psychopathic traits in elite female combat-sports athletes.

Psychopathy is characterized by glibness and superficial charm, as well as a lack of empathy, guilt and remorse, and is often accompanied by antisocial behaviour. The cerebral bases of this syndrome have been mostly studied in violent subjects or those with a criminal history. However, the antisocial component of psychopathy is not central to its conceptualization, and in fact, psychopathic traits are present in well-adjusted, non-criminal individuals within the general population. Interestingly, certain psychopathy characteristics appear to be particularly pronounced in some groups or professions. Importantly, as these so-called adaptive or successful psychopaths do not show antisocial tendencies or have significant psychiatric comorbidities, they may represent an ideal population to study this trait. Here, we investigated such a group, specifically elite female judo athletes, and compared them with matched non-athletes. Participants completed psychopathy, anger, perspective-taking and empathic concern questionnaires and underwent structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Grey matter volume (GMV) was computed using voxel-based morphometry from the T1-weighted images. Athletes scored significantly higher in primary psychopathy and anger and lower in empathy and perspective taking. They also exhibited smaller GMV in the right temporal pole, left occipital cortex and left amygdala/hippocampus. GMV values for the latter cluster significantly correlated with primary psychopathy scores across both groups. These results confirm and extend previous findings to a little-studied population and provide support for the conceptualization of psychopathy as a dimensional personality trait which not only is not necessarily associated with antisocial behaviour but may potentially have adaptive value.

A network analysis on psychopathy and theoretically relevant personality traits

Psychopathy can be divided into primary and secondary psychopathy. However, these variants of psychopathy can be found in other forms of personality and disorders such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Regardless of the substantial overlap, studies have typically investigated bivariate relationships between psychopathy and other personality traits, leaving it an open question how these traits are uniquely associated with each other. Therefore, we investigated the relationship between psychopathy and other theoretically relevant personality and disorders which cover autism, ADHD, alexithymia, Machiavellianism, and trait anxiety. A Japanese-speaking community sample (N = 1000, M = 41.3 ± 11.5 years, and 500 women) completed an online survey. A partial correlation network with regularization was estimated. Results showed that secondary psychopathy (measured by the Levenson Self-Report Psychopathy scale) has unique positive associations with autism, ADHD symptoms, alexithymia, and trait anxiety. On the other hand, primary psychopathy has positive associations with Machiavellianism and alexithymia but negative associations with autism and trait anxiety. These findings suggest that secondary psychopathy is a common feature (or can be seen as a general behavioral problem) shared by other personality traits and symptoms, whereas primary psychopathy may be a more unique variant of psychopathy, albeit significantly overlapping with Machiavellianism and alexithymia.

Psychopathy and proclivity to accept rape myths as predictors of negative attitudes towards victims of rape: the moderating role of narcissism

BackgroundRape myths may harm those who have been sexually assaulted, according to the past literature. This study looked at the associations between grandiose narcissism, psychopathic characteristics, and rape myth acceptance and attitudes towards rape victims in Pakistan. The issue of sexual violence against women and how specific personality characteristics, such as psychopathy, grandiose narcissism, and rape-supporting ideas, may lead to unfavourable views towards sexual assault victims are still being debated. In affluent nations, there has been substantial study on the psychological aspects that influence attitudes towards rape victims, but information on developing nations like Pakistan is lacking.MethodThe study used a cross-sectional methodology with a purposive sample of 430 individuals, ranging in age from 18 to 68. The appropriate sample size was determined using a G*Power analysis. In order to analyse the data, SPSS 21.0 was used. Stepwise regression, MANOVA, and moderated mediation analysis were all used.ResultsAll variables showed acceptable levels of Cronbach’s alpha reliability. Rape myth acceptance was significantly associated with attitudes towards rape, primary and secondary psychopathy, and grandiose narcissism. Rape myth acceptance, primary psychopathy, and grandiose narcissism significantly predicted attitudes towards rape victims. Moreover, grandiose narcissism showed a conditional indirect effect through primary psychopathy on the relationship between rape myth acceptance and attitudes towards rape victims, according to the results, which showed that rape myth acceptance, primary psychopathy, and those attitudes all had significant effects on attitudes towards rape victims.ConclusionsIn conclusion, it has been assessed that unfavourable views towards victims of sexual assault in Pakistan were substantially correlated with high levels of rape myth acceptance, primary psychopathy, and grandiose narcissism. Furthermore, the study discovered that these variables strongly impacted views towards rape victims. Additionally, rape myth acceptance, levels of primary psychopathy, and attitudes towards rape victims all showed significant gender differences. Moreover, grandiose narcissism had a significant conditional effect on the association between rape myth acceptance and attitudes towards rape victims via the mediation of primary psychopathy. Secondary psychopathy did not play a role in this predictive relationship.Clinical impact statementThe study’s findings highlighted the widespread prevalence of rape myths, the importance of primary psychopathy and grandiose narcissism, and their predictive value in highlighting peoples’ attitudes and beliefs regarding sexual assault victims. The study also emphasizes the influence that grandiose narcissism and psychopathic qualities have on the predicted relationship between rape myths and attitudes towards sexual assault victims. The findings have significant policy implications since rape victims in Pakistan frequently bear a great deal of responsibility and receive little legal assistance. This study can assist in guiding initiatives to solve these problems and enhance the assistance provided to rape victims.

Primary Psychopathy in Formal Leaders and Job Satisfaction Levels of Employees Working in Family and Non-Family Firms

This paper aims to explore differences in personality traits, focusing on the levels of primary psychopathy, between formal leaders of family and non-family companies as well as assessing differences in the job satisfaction levels of their employees. Moreover, we assess the relationship between the employees’ perception of their formal leader’s primary psychopathy levels and their job satisfaction levels in family firms. The empirical evidence is provided by a sample of 95 Portuguese employees, who responded to a questionnaire that included their perceptions of their formal leader’s primary psychopathy level and job satisfaction measures. All respondents work in small and medium-sized private companies with no management responsibilities and under formal hieratical supervision. The initial idea that family firms’ employees perceive lower levels of primary psychopathy in their formal leaders than non-family firms’ employees was confirmed. However, employees of family and non-family firms did not differ in their job satisfaction levels. The results also support the notion that perceived levels of primary psychopathy in formal leaders are negatively associated with the employees’ job satisfaction levels. These findings contribute to the research literature by addressing two aspects under-addressed in the comparison between family and non-family firms, while offering insights on the relationship between primary psychopathy in formal leaders and job satisfaction levels of employees working in family firms.

Love is a losing game: Capacity for love mediates the relationship between the vulnerable dark triad and love styles

Although loving relationships form part of everyday life, the contribution of personality to the dynamics of these relationships remains relatively unexamined. Research has yet to demonstrate how individuals high in vulnerable Dark Triad (DT) traits behave in such relationships. Across three studies, we compare capacity for love and love styles in vulnerable DT individuals and those high in primary psychopathy and grandiose narcissism. In study 1 (N = 128), reduced capacity for love explained relationships between primary psychopathy, and love styles of agape (selfless), eros (passionate), pragma (logical) and storge (friendship), although no effects were found for secondary psychopathy or vulnerable narcissism. In study 2 (N = 274), contrasting findings emerged in that reduced capacity for love partially mediated relationships between borderline personality disorder traits, agape and eros, only, yet indrirect effects were not observed for primary psychopathy, secondary psychopathy and associated love styles. In study 3 (N = 197), reduced capacity for love partially explained the relationship between vulnerable narcissism and agape, eros, ludus and storge, but not those between grandiose narcissism and related love styles. Findings demonstrate how vulnerable DT traits differ across psychological and behavioural domains compared to primary psychopathy and grandiose narcissism.

Dissociating cognitive and affective empathy across psychopathy dimensions: The role of interoception and alexithymia.

This study examined the associations between psychopathy dimensions (triarchic phenotypes and classical factors), empathy domains (cognitive and affective), and interoception (interoceptive attention and accuracy) while accounting for the putative role of alexithymia. A community sample (n = 515) completed an online survey encompassing: Triarchic Psychopathy Measure (boldness, meanness, disinhibition); Levenson Self-Report Psychopathy Scale (primary and secondary psychopathy); Body Perception Questionnaire (interoceptive attention); Interoceptive Accuracy Scale; Toronto Alexithymia Scale. Hierarchical linear regression models were implemented for hypothesis-driven analyses examining the associations between psychopathy, empathy, and interoception while controlling for sex, age, and alexithymia. Exploratory path models were employed to investigate alexithymia and/or cognitive empathy as mediators between interoception and psychopathy. Our results largely confirmed the postulated empathy profiles across psychopathy dimensions, as meanness and primary psychopathy displayed a broad empathy impairment, while disinhibition and secondary psychopathy were only associated with diminished cognitive empathy. Importantly, boldness displayed a unique pattern (enhanced cognitive empathy and reduced affective empathy), further reinforcing its importance within the constellation of psychopathy traits. Contrary to our hypotheses, self-perceived interoceptive attention and accuracy were not associated with either psychopathy dimension after controlling for alexithymia. However, interoceptive accuracy and alexithymia were associated with cognitive empathy, while alexithymia was also positively related to all psychopathy dimensions (as expected), despite the unexpected strong and negative association with boldness. Exploratory analyses suggested significant indirect effects (mediation) between interoceptive accuracy and psychopathy via alexithymia and/or cognitive empathy. These mediating effects must be interpreted with caution and future studies should be designed to formally test this model.

“It’s All in Your Head”: Personality Traits and Gaslighting Tactics in Intimate Relationships

Abstract Background Gaslighting is a form of psychological/emotional abuse inflicted upon an intimate partner that includes manipulative tactics such as misdirection, denial, lying, and contradiction – all to destabilize the victim/survivor. Compared to other forms of intimate partner abuse, gaslighting remains underexplored in the literature. Aims/Purpose In this preregistered study, we aimed to explore correlates between the Dark Tetrad traits (i.e., grandiose narcissism, vulnerable narcissism, Machiavellian tactics, Machiavellian views, primary psychopathy, secondary psychopathy, and sadism) and acceptance of gaslighting tactics in intimate relationships. Method Participants (N = 315; Mage = 42.39; 62.2% women) were recruited online and completed an online questionnaire. We developed and internally validated the Gaslighting Questionnaire, a 10-item self-report measure of acceptance of gaslighting tactics in intimate relationships. Results All the Dark Tetrad traits were associated with more acceptance of gaslighting tactics in intimate relationships, with primary psychopathy, Machiavellian tactics, and sadism emerging as significant predictors in the regression. We also examined sex differences. Compared to women, men found deploying gaslighting tactics more acceptable, and this was largely driven by sex differences in primary psychopathy. Further, men high in vulnerable narcissism demonstrated the greatest acceptance of gaslighting tactics. Conclusions These findings provide foundational information for understanding gaslighting tactics in intimate partner abuse and may have practical implications for relationship counsellors and clinicians practicing in this space. For example, the present findings indicate that personality assessment can be a valuable tool for estimating a client’s propensity to gaslight.

Invariance Violations and the CNI Model of Moral Judgments.

A number of papers have applied the CNI model of moral judgments to investigate deontological and consequentialist response tendencies. A controversy has emerged concerning the methodological assumptions of the CNI model. In this article, we contribute to this debate by extending the CNI paradigm with a skip option. This allows us to test an invariance assumption that the CNI model shares with prominent process-dissociation models in cognitive and social psychology. Like for these models, the present experiments found violations of the invariance assumption for the CNI model. In Experiment 2, we replicate these results and selectively influence the new parameter for the skip option. In addition, structural equation modeling reveals that previous findings for the relationship between gender and the CNI parameters are completely mediated by the association of gender with primary psychopathy.

How to Neutralize Primary Psychopathic Leaders’ Damaging Impact: Rules, Sanctions, and Transparency

AbstractPrimary psychopathy in leaders, also referred to as successful psychopathy or corporate psychopathy, has been put forward as a key determinant of corporate misconduct. In contrast to the general notion that primary psychopaths’ destructiveness cannot be controlled, we posit that psychopathic leaders’ display of self-serving and abusive behavior can be restrained by organizational contextual factors. Specifically, we hypothesize that the positive relationship between leader primary psychopathy on the one hand and self-serving behavior and abusive supervision on the other will be weaker to the extent that the organizational context (clear rules and policies, sanctionability of misconduct, and transparency of behavior) is stronger. Three studies (one experiment, one survey of leader–subordinate dyads, and one survey of teams) showed that clear rules in particular weakened the positive association between leader primary psychopathic traits and their self-serving and abusive behavior. Explanations for why clear rules rein in primary psychopathic leaders’ destructive behavior more than sanctionability of misconduct and transparency of behavior will be discussed.

Dangerously Intelligent: A Call for Re-Evaluating Psychopathy Using Perceptions of Intelligence.

Primary psychopathy (i.e., unemotional and callous predisposition) is associated with career, educational, and general life success, whereas secondary psychopathy (i.e., impulsivity and risk-taking) relates to criminality, hedonistic lifestyles, and detrimental behaviours. Although psychopathy sub-types have differential relationships to career and life success, how these traits are perceived by others relating to intelligence has not previously been researched. It is also unclear what role an individual's own psychopathy score plays in perceptions of intelligence. In an online experiment (n = 458), we investigated perceptions of intelligence (via a combined proxy of whether the rater thought the character in the vignettes had a high IQ and had attended university), using 12 vignettes of high and low primary and secondary psychopathic individuals. High-secondary-psychopathy vignettes were perceived as least intelligent (in agreement with the literature which states people high in secondary psychopathy traits are usually involved in petty crimes, risk taking, and substance abuse, and therefore perceived as socially undesirable). Low-secondary-psychopathy vignettes were perceived significantly more intelligent than high-primary-psychopathy vignettes (in-line with the literature suggesting the placidity and kindness which comes with being low in psychopathic traits is an amenable quality in our society). There was evidence for assortative intelligence perceptions: those high-primary psychopathy self-scorers perceived primary psychopathy vignettes as intelligent (which could be evidence of a 'likes attract' phenomenon, whereby those high in primary psychopathy admire others who are similarly high in primary psychopathy). The results suggest individuals demonstrating risk-taking behaviours are perceived as least intelligent, supporting previous research associating secondary psychopathy with poor academic or career success.

Acquiring Psychopathy and Callousness Traits: Examining the Influence of Childhood Betrayal Trauma and Adult Dissociative Experiences in a Community Sample

ABSTRACT The study of psychopathy has largely centered on samples of incarcerated offenders with a focus on primary psychopathy traits. Less is known, however, about how experiences of childhood betrayal trauma and dissociation influence the development of these traits in non-institutionalized individuals. In the present study, we utilized structural equation modeling to investigate the relationships among childhood betrayal trauma, adult dissociation, and adult psychopathy traits and callous affect traits in a community sample (N = 746). Childhood betrayal trauma was associated with psychopathy and callous affect traits, and mediated by dissociative experiences. These results are consistent with theory and prior empirical findings associating childhood betrayal trauma with dissociation, psychopathy, and callous affect traits. The results will help influence the design of future studies that can further inform the developmental course of psychopathy.

Relacije crta Mračne tetrade i subjektivnih pokazatelja karijernog uspeha

This research aimed to examine the relations between the Dark Tetrad traits (Machiavellianism, narcissism, psychopathy, and sadism) and the subjective indicators of career success (job and career satisfaction), considering their multidimensionality. The sample consisted of 227 employees (27% male) who completed the following instruments: the Serbian adaptations of the Job Satisfaction Survey, the Career Satisfaction Scale, the Mach-IV, the Narcissistic Admiration and Rivalry Questionnaire, the Levenson Self-Report Psychopathy Scale, and the Short Scale of Sadistic Impulses. A hierarchical regression analysis was applied, with the demographic characteristics (gender, level of education, work tenure) introduced in the first block of predictors to control for their effects, and the Dark Tetrad traits introduced in the second block, while the criteria included various aspects of job and career satisfaction. The results showed that Machiavellianism was the dominant negative predictor of the subjective indicators of career success, especially the nature of work and communication within the organization, while secondary psychopathy had a significant negative effect on communication satisfaction. Narcissistic admiration was related to the dissatisfaction with the working conditions and relationships with co-workers. Primary psychopathy, narcissistic rivalry, and sadism did not show a significant contribution to subjective career success, although they showed negative correlations with the satisfaction with co-workers.

COVID-19 prevention behaviour is differentially motivated by primary psychopathy, grandiose narcissism and vulnerable Dark Triad traits

Dark Triad traits (psychopathy, narcissism) are associated with nonadherence to COVID-19 prevention measures such as social distancing and wearing face masks, although the psychological mechanisms underpinning this relationship remain unclear. In contrast, high threat-sensitivity may motivate compliance, and maybe seen in relation to vulnerable dark traits (secondary psychopathy, vulnerable narcissism and borderline personality disorder). The relationship between vulnerable dark traits and COVID-19 prevention behaviour has not been examined. During April 2021, participants (n = 263) completed an online psychometric study assessing engagement with COVID-19 prevention behaviour, traditional DT traits (primary psychopathy; grandiose narcissism) and vulnerable DT traits. Potential indirect effects were fear of COVID-19, perceived coronavirus severity, belief in COVID-19 conspiracy theories and altruism. Model of path analysis identified predictors of engagement in disease prevention behaviour. Primary psychopathy, grandiose narcissism, secondary psychopathy and BPD were associated with less COVID-19 prevention behaviour, with an indirect effect of reduced coronavirus severity. Grandiose narcissism and BPD were also motivated by COVID-19 conspiracy theories, and increased prevention behaviour when fear of COVID-19 was higher. No direct or indirect effects were observed for vulnerable narcissism. The current study is the first to elucidate psychological mechanisms linking vulnerable dark traits with COVID-19 prevention behaviour.