Sadistic Personality Research Articles

Investigating the role of dark personality traits in how people appreciate, share, and censor black humour in online settings

ABSTRACT People find humour in the darkest and most tragic situations. However, there is remarkable interpersonal variability when it comes to setting the so-called limits of humour. We examine how the Dark Tetrad personality traits (DT4; Machiavellianism, narcissism, psychopathy, and sadism) relate to responses to black humour jokes in online settings. A community sample of 745 adults completed the Short Dark Triad and the Assessment of Sadistic Personality inventories before rating a set of ‘black’ and neutrally humourous jokes in terms of their (a) appreciation (fun/offence), (b) likelihood of sharing, and (c) censoring them on social networks (e.g. Twitter/Facebook). After controlling for common variance, everyday sadism emerged as the strongest DT4 predictor of black humour preferences. This type of dark personality was uniquely associated with higher fun and sharing, and lower offence and censorship of black humour jokes. Machiavellianism was related to negative levels of black humour censorship and offence, whereas the opposite associations were observed for narcissism. Yet, the DT4 only showed rather modest amounts of shared variance regarding responses to black humour jokes, suggesting that interpersonal callousness is insufficient to account for the complexity of black humour interposal variability. We discuss the findings with respect to earlier humour literature.

Contact sex offenders with adult and minor victims: Psychopathological and criminological differences

BackgroundEffective classification of individuals who commit sexual offences is important for their assessment, treatment, and risk management. Victim age has often been used as a distinguishing factor between perpetrators. ObjectiveThis study aimed to analyse the distinctive psychopathological and criminological characteristics of contact sexual offenders with adult and minor victims. Participants and settingThe study involved 97 adult males who were serving a prison sentence in Spain for at least one contact sexual offence against an adult or a minor. MethodsResearchers gathered data on criminological variables concerning the offender, victim, and modus operandi from prison records and interviews. Participants completed the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory-III (MCMI-III) in a second session, and between-group differences were analysed. ResultsSex offenders with minor victims (SOMV) had significantly lower scores than sex offenders with adult victims (SOAV) on the Antisocial (r = −0.283, p = .005) and Sadistic (r = −0.209, p = .04) personality subscales, and on the Alcohol (r = −0.426, p < .001) and Drug dependence (r = −0.332, p = .001) syndrome subscales. SOAV were also more likely to use violence and/or intimidation, use a weapon, offend against female victims, offend against an intimate partner, commit their offences in public places, serve other ongoing prison sentences, and report a history of alcohol and substance abuse. SOMV were older and more likely to offend against family members. ConclusionsThese results suggest that there are key differences between SOAV and SOMV that should be considered in tailored prevention programmes for each subgroup of offenders.

The Dark Tetrad: analysis of profiles and relationship with the Big Five personality factors

The Dark Tetrad (DT) is composed of the traits of Narcissism, Machiavellianism, Psychopathy, and Sadism. Most studies analyzing the DT have employed a variable-centered approach, analyzing the traits separately. In the present study, we treat DT as a whole, adopting a person-centered approach. We analyzed different homogeneous subgroups of individuals characterized by specific DT profiles, aiming to examine their relationship with Big Five personality factors. A sample of 1149 participants (50.1% women, 18–79 years) completed The Short Dark Triad and the Assessment of Sadistic Personality instrument to assess DT, while the Mini-IPIP was used to assess the Big Five personality factors. Cluster analysis yielded five groups: Narcissism, Machiavellianism, Mean DT, Low DT, and High DT group. The main results showed that the High DT group was distinguished by higher levels of extraversion and lower levels of agreeableness and conscientiousness (compared with the Low DT group). Moreover, the Narcissism group was characterized by higher scores on emotional stability, openness to experience, and extraversion. Finally, distribution according to gender varied across DT groups (more men than women in the High DT group and the opposite in the Low DT group). Limitations and future lines of research are discussed.

An investigation of the relationship between female rape myths, child sexual abuse myths and personality disorders

ABSTRACT Given high prevalence rates internationally for female rape and CSA and a gap in the literature regarding personality characteristics of those more likely to endorse these myths, this research sought to examine female rape myths versus child sexual abuse (CSA) myth acceptances as a function of the participants’ maladaptive personality traits and sexual trauma history. 469 adults (61.4% female, 36.5% male, M age range 35–44 years old) participated, endorsing significantly higher rates of acceptance of female rape myths than CSA myths. Sexual trauma history was unrelated to either myth. Higher scores on Antisocial, Narcissistic and Sadistic Personality Disorder scales were significantly correlated with higher rates of acceptance of both myths. Multiple regression analyses determined that higher scores on Narcissistic and Sadistic personality scales uniquely predicted both higher CSA and female rape myth acceptance. The results offer implications for more effective communications to combat false beliefs about CSA and sexual assault. PRACTICE IMPACT STATEMENT The results may have implications for interventions targeting false beliefs about CSA and sexual assault. Our research focuses on personality disorder traits, leading to possible implications for individuals with these traits or disorders, as they are diagnoseable and therefore can be treatable. Interventions targeting these myths generally may not be as effective for someone with these personality disorders, so this research suggests perhaps modified protocols can be created to help destigmatise CSA and rape survivors in these populations.

Pathological narcissism and sadistic personality: The role of rivalry and malicious envy

Despite a tight link has been hypothesized between sadistic and grandiose narcissism, to date, little is known about the variables accounting for such relationship. The aim of this contribution is to bridge such gap by investigating the topic among a very large sample of Italian adults. In addition, we aimed to contribute to advancing the field through the validation of the Italian version of the benign and malignant envy scale (I-BeMaS). We administrated self-report questionnaires evaluating sadistic personality (Assessment of Sadistic Personality; ASP), pathological narcissism (Pathological Narcissism Inventory), envy (I-BeMaS), as well as admiration and rivalry (Narcissistic Admiration and Rivalry Questionnaire). Structural equation models were used to test the hypotheses. The I-BeMas showed the expected factorial structure, configural invariance across sex as well as scalar- and metric but not strict invariance. In addition, grandiose narcissism, narcissistic rivalry, and malicious envy positively and significantly predicted the ASP scores. Furthermore, rivalry and malicious envy both mediated the relationship between grandiose narcissism and sadism. Results are discussed in light of theoretical, empirical and clinical implications. The role of envy is stressed, underlying the need for further investigation of this variables, too overlooked in previous contributions.

Personality disorders as a predictor of counterproductive knowledge behavior: the application of the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory-IV

PurposeThis study investigates the role of personality disorders in the context of counterproductive knowledge behavior.Design/methodology/approachData were collected through a survey administered to 120 full-time employees recruited from Amazon’s Mechanical Turk. Personality disorders were measured by means of the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory-IV.FindingsPersonality disorders play an important role in the context of counterproductive knowledge behavior: employees suffering from various personality disorders are likely to hide knowledge from their fellow coworkers and engage in knowledge sabotage. Of particular importance are dependent, narcissistic and sadistic personality disorders as well as schizophrenic and delusional severe clinical syndromes. There is a need for a paradigm shift in terms of how the research community should portray those who engage in counterproductive knowledge behavior, reconsidering the underlying assumption that all of them act deliberately, consciously and rationally. Unexpectedly, most personality disorders do not facilitate knowledge hoarding.Practical implicationsOrganizations should provide insurance coverage for the treatment of personality disorders, assist those seeking treatment, inform employees about the existence of personality disorders in the workplace and their impact on interemployee relationships, facilitate a stress-free work environment, remove social stigma that may be associated with personality disorders and, as a last resort, reassign workers suffering from extreme forms of personality disorders to tasks that require less interemployee interaction (instead of terminating them).Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, this work represents one of the first attempts to empirically investigate the notion of personality disorders in the context of knowledge management.

Dark tetrad personality traits also play a role in bullying victimization.

Bullying refers to physical and/or psychological mistreatment or abuse by one individual or group toward another individual or group. Bullying is widespread in our society and carries considerable negative consequences. This phenomenon is caused by multiple factors, which include personality. Much more attention has been paid to the study of the perpetrators' negative personality traits than the victims. Several studies have examined the relationship between these traits—the Dark Triad or Dark Tetrad—and being a victim of bullying (or mobbing) in adults, especially in the workplace. However, only two studies have been located that have studied these relationships in adolescents. Therefore, this study aimed to analyze the relationship between being a victim of bullying and the ark Tetrad traits, delving into the specific contribution of Machiavellianism, narcissism, psychopathy, and sadism in victims of bullying in Spanish adolescents. A cross-sectional study was carried out by administering the Short Dark Triad, the Assessment of Sadistic Personality, and the Peer Bullying Questionnaire to 393 adolescents aged 12–18 years (M = 14.18; SD = 2.52; 53.7% male). The Dark Tetrad traits predicted the victimization variables in the seven models analyzed, with the verbal abuse model being the model with the largest contribution. Of the four dark traits, sadism stands out as the trait with the highest specific contribution. Our results indicate, despite not implying a causal relationship, that those people with high scores in the Dark Tetrad traits tend to be more victimized by bullying. Knowing the personality traits of the bullying perpetrators and their victims, practitioners will have a complete picture of the personality variables that play a role in preventing bullying and its associated victimization.

Sadistic responses to inciting nonsexual vs. sexual pain: Evidence for distinctions between everyday and sexual sadism

Everyday and sexual sadism presumably represent distinct forms of sadistic personality. We investigated the idea that everyday sadism involves the expression of sadistic responses across nonsexual and sexual contexts, and sexual sadism involves the expression of sadistic responses in exclusively sexual contexts. Participants (N = 321) completed measures of everyday and sexual sadism and indicated their feelings of hostility and dominance (jointly considered “hostility dominance”) and pleasure in response to scenarios that depicted either nonsexual or sexually sadistic behavior. Unique effects of everyday sadism on hostility dominance and pleasure were generally present (and similar in size) regardless of context, and unique effects of sexual sadism were present across contexts but stronger in the sexual (vs. nonsexual) context. The present findings provide novel support for potential distinctions between everyday and sexual sadism at the subclinical level and demonstrate that both constructs can uniquely account for variance in sadistic responses.

Structural relationships of Big Five personality factors with symptoms of Sadistic personality due to the role of Schadenfreude in students

Structural relationships of Big Five personality factors with symptoms of Sadistic personality due to the role of Schadenfreude in students

The Revised Assessment of Sadistic Personality (ASP-8): Evidence for Validity across Four Countries

Subclinical sadism, characterized by infliction of cruelty, aggression, or humiliation on another for subjugation or pleasure, provides important information in the prediction of aversive behaviors that have implications for individuals’ and society’s well-being worldwide. Given sadism’s universal relevance, it is imperative that researchers ensure valid and reliable trait measurement not only among English-speaking individuals, but also cross-nationally among countries in which sadism remains relatively understudied. The objective of the current research was to validate the revised version of the Assessment of Sadistic Personality (ASP-8) (Plouffe et al., 2017) across samples of Russian (n = 1087, M age = 37.36, SD = 10.36), Greek (n = 1195, M age = 35.64, SD age = 13.08), Serbian (n = 443, M age = 28.10, SD age = 6.60), and British (n = 511, M age = 28.50, SD age = 11.62) adults. Overall, results supported the reliability, dimensionality, and scalar/partial scalar measurement invariance of the ASP-8 across cross-national samples. Convergent and discriminant validity were mostly supported through correlations with general personality traits, the Dark Triad, emotional intelligence, mental toughness, depression, anxiety, stress, satisfaction with life, aggression, and attitudes toward social groups. Based on our findings, we recommend the use of the ASP-8 in future investigations of aversive traits.

"Attention please!": The dark side of dancers’ personality

The present study aims to investigate the dark side of dancers’ personality. In recent literature, dark personality traits were conceptualized as the Dark Tetrad which includes Machiavellianism, narcissism, psychopathy and sadism. The participants in this study were 98 dancers, aged between 18 and 57 (M = 34.71, SD = 11.21; 86.7% women), who practiced different dance types (classical ballet, modern dance, flamenco, oriental dance, hip-hop, salsa, tango, merengue, bachata and Latin dances-samba, rumba) both professionally and non-professionally. They answered 13 questions from the pilot version of the list of Indicators of the meaning of dance for dancers, the Short Dark Triad (SD3) and the Assessment of Sadistic Personality (ASP). The results have shown that dancers had higher scores narcissism and lower scores on Machiavellianism and sadism compared to participants from the reference community sample from previous study (Dinić et al., 2018, 2020). Professional dancers had higher scores on narcissism, compared to those who practice dance as recreation meaning that they tend to seek prestige or status and have a need for admiration and attention from other people more than recreationists. Furthermore, a series of regression analyses showed that psychopathy is negatively related to dancers’ evaluation of the dance as an enjoyable and pleasant activity. It is concluded that dark personality traits are a component of dancers’ personality and one of the factors that affect dancers’ evaluation of the meaning of dance. Moreover, practical implications of the obtained results related to the pedagogical dance practice are discussed, as well as the dark traits of creative personality.

Effect of the Dark Tetrad on Emotional Intelligence

The main aim of this study was to investigate the relationships between Dark Tetrad traits (Machiavellianism, narcissism, psychopathy and sadism) and ability emotional intelligence dimensions – self-emotion appraisal, others’ emotion appraisal, use of emotion and regulation of emotion. The Wong and Law Emotional Intelligence Scale, Short Dark Triad and Assessment of Sadistic Personality were applied to a sample of 322 participants from the general population (63% women) of Croatia. Results showed that both psychopathy and sadism had negative relations with emotional intelligence. Sadism showed significant effects on self-emotion appraisal, others’ emotion appraisal, and use of emotion dimensions, while psychopathy showed significant effect on regulation of emotion. Machiavellianism negatively correlated to a weaker degree with self-emotion appraisal and others’ emotion appraisal, but it showed no significant effects on emotional intelligence dimensions in regression analysis. Narcissism showed positive effects on EI as a whole, use of emotion and self-emotion appraisal. The results highlighted the importance of the dark traits in the explanation of emotional intelligence and showed that the dark traits are differently associated with emotional intelligence dimensions.

The Dark Constellation of Personality, Moral Disengagement and Emotional Intelligence in Incarcerated Offenders. What’s Behind the Psychopathic Personality?

ABSTRACT The study of dysfunctional personality traits and psychological mechanisms related to antisocial behavior is increasingly gaining importance. In this paper we focus on the so-called Dark Constellation of the personality, analyzing Machiavellian, narcissistic, sadistic and psychopathic traits, and their relationship with moral disengagement mechanisms and with emotional intelligence. We specifically focused on the psychopathic personality to examine which studied variables can explain this personality pattern. Participants were 63 prisoners (44 men and 19 women) from three different prisons in Catalonia, Spain. Overall, correlational results indicate that dark constellation personalities are positively associated with moral disengagement and inversely associated with emotional intelligence. Dehumanization is one of the mechanisms most closely related with dark personalities. The study variables explaining psychopathic personality are the sadistic personality pattern and conversely the socio-cognitive mechanism of diffusion of responsibility and the ability to perceive emotions. Finally, the variables that appear as discriminating in extreme cases of psychopathic personality are the sadistic personality trait, and the mechanisms of dehumanization and advantageous comparisons.

Your pain, my gain: The relationship between self-report and behavioral measures of everyday sadism and COVID-19 vaccination intention.

Vaccination plays a crucial role in containing the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, a significant fraction of the global population is reluctant to take a coronavirus vaccine. A burgeoning literature has considered mainly adaptive personality traits as antecedents of vaccine hesitancy (i.e., Big Five and HEXACO), while maladaptive personality traits (i.e., “Dark Tetrad” of personality) are often a comparatively neglected area. In this research, we examined the relationship between everyday sadism and intention to get vaccinated against COVID-19. We theorized that driven by antisocial tendencies and social indifference, individuals with higher sadism may be less willing to obtain a vaccine. Employing a bug-killing paradigm to capture everyday sadism, we tested this prediction in a Chinese sample of non-student adults (N = 188). Support for this proposition was found in the lab task, which demonstrates that sadism was associated with more vaccine refusal spanning the self-report and behavioral domains. In addition, we showed that the sadistic behavioral choices can be predicted with self-report measure of sadistic personality. These findings highlight the important role of maladaptive personality traits in predicting vaccination attitudes and intentions.

Mračna tetrada i domeni self-koncepta

The aim of this research was to examine the relations between the Dark Tetrad traits (narcissism, psychopathy, Machiavellianism, and sadism) and six domains of self-concept (social, competence, affect, academic, family, and physical self-concept). Using a sample comprised of 210 participants (69.5% women), aged between 18 and 78, the Serbian adaptations of the following instruments were applied: the Short Dark Triad (SD3), the Assessment of Sadistic Personality (ASP), and the Multidimensional Self-Concept Scale (MSCS). The results indicate that narcissism was positively related to all domains of Self-Concept, especially to social and physical self, while psychopathy was negatively related to Self-Concept domains, especially to social self. Machiavellianism was negatively related to social Self-Concept and competence, while sadism was negatively related to competence and academic self-concept. Although narcissism is considered as the "brightest" dark trait, results could indicate biased evaluations of the self in narcissism, which is in line with its grandiose and superior self-view.

The Dark Tetrad in the prediction of self-reported and behavioural risk-taking

ABSTRACT Objective The explanatory power of the Dark Tetrad of personality (i.e., sub-clinical traits of sadism, psychopathy, narcissism and Machiavellianism) in the prediction of risk-taking behaviours is yet to be determined. This study aimed to predict both self-reported and behavioural risk-taking from the four dark trait variables. Method Participants (N = 216) completed an online survey using the Short Dark Triad, the Assessment of Sadistic Personality, the Domain-Specific Risk-Taking Scale and the automatic Balloon Analogue Risk Task. It was hypothesised that psychopathy would positively predict risk-taking, and sadism would uniquely positively predict risk-taking. Results Both hypotheses were partially supported as psychopathy and sadism positively uniquely predicted self-reported risk-taking, but this was not significant for psychopathy after a Bonferroni correction. Furthermore, psychopathy and sadism were not significant predictors of behavioural risk-taking. Conclusions Detection of factors that motivate individuals to engage in risk-taking behaviours could be valuable in clinical interventions.

Everyday sadism: psychometric properties of three Spanish versions for assessing the construct

Everyday sadism refers to the non-clinical personality trait of sadism, someone who obtains pleasure from inflicting pain or from the suffer of other people. This construct, in the recent years, has attracted more attention to researches, conducting to the development of different measures to assess it. With a sample of N = 2160 we studied the psychometric properties of three everyday sadism scales, the Short Sadistic Impulse Scale (SISS), the Comprehensive Assessment of Sadistic Tendencies (CAST), and the Assessment of Sadistic Personality (ASP). For the three scales we found (1) good reliability coefficients, (2) adequate fit for the factor structure theorized for each of the measures, (3) significant gender differences in the trait, where males obtain higher scores than females in all the instruments, and (4) negative correlations with the HEXACO super traits excluding openness and positive with the Dark Triad traits. We concluded that the psychometric properties of the Spanish versions of the SISS, CAST and ASP present good psychometric values in line with the original measures and previous translations.

Gender Differences or Gender Bias?

Abstract. Sadism, defined by the infliction of pain and suffering on others for pleasure or subjugation, has recently garnered substantial attention in the psychological research literature. The Assessment of Sadistic Personality (ASP) was developed to measure levels of everyday sadism and has been shown to possess excellent reliability and validity using classical test theory methods. However, it is not known how well ASP items discriminate between respondents of different trait levels, or which Likert categories are endorsed by persons of various trait levels. Additionally, individual items should be evaluated to ensure that men and women of similar levels of sadism have an equal probability of response endorsement. The purpose of this research was to apply item response theory (IRT) and differential item functioning (DIF) to investigate item properties of the ASP across its three translations: English, Polish, and Italian. Overall, the results of the IRT analysis showed that with the exception of Item 9, the ASP demonstrated sound item properties. The DIF rate analyses identified two items from each questionnaire that were of practical significance across gender. Implications of these results are discussed.

Proportion of Psychiatry Outpatients with Borderline Personality and Associated Clinical Syndromes using the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory-III: A Retrospective Study

Introduction: Personality disorders are a group of behavioural patterns associated with significant personal and socio-occupational disturbances. Numerous studies have demonstrated borderline personality to be one of the most common personality disorders. It’s less often diagnosed with just a clinical assessment. Aim: To examine the proportion of patients with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), and its associated personality types and clinical syndromes, using the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory version-III (MCMI-III). Materials and Methods: A retrospective observational study was carried out on 450 adult patients who attended the psychiatry outpatient department of an urban tertiary care hospital. They had been administered the MCMI-III, a self-rating questionnaire commonly used to provide information on personality types and associated clinical syndromes. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (IBM SPSS, Windows) version 20.0 was used for statistical analyses. Data was expressed in terms of actual number, mean and percentages. Chi-Square or Fisher’s-exact test, as appropriate, was used for categorical data to test for associations. Odds ratio was estimated to measure strength of the association. Results: Borderline was the most common personality type comprising nearly half (46.63%) of the study population. 25.5% had borderline traits while 21.1% had Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). BPD was significantly higher in females (p&lt;0.001), younger age group below the age of 40 years (p&lt;0.001) and unmarried persons (p&lt;0.001). It was comorbid most with Anxiety (90.91%; OR=4.05; p&lt;0.001), Major Depression (85.23%; OR=18.39; p&lt;0.001), Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) (46.59%; OR=6.30; p&lt;0.001) and Thought disorders (56.82%; OR=18.15; p&lt;0.001). Alcohol (22.73%; OR=3.54; p&lt;0.001) and Drug dependence (13.64%; OR=11.52; p&lt;0.001) were also seen significantly higher in patients with BPD. Personality types significantly comorbid with BPD were Sadistic, Depressive, Masochistic, Negativistic, Schizotypal, Avoidant, Dependent, Antisocial and Paranoid types, with odds being most for Sadistic personality (OR=9.44). Conclusion: It is recommended that mental health professionals and clinicians should start to look for underlying symptoms of BPD in patients of anxiety and mood syndromes. If found these patients should be directed for psychotherapy as early as possible. The MCMI psychological test would be an important contribution to this area, given the need for systematic, quick, and objective testing methods that facilitate the diagnosis.

PERSONALITY DISORDERAS SEEN IN THE JOKER MOVIE BY TODD PHILLIP

This research discusses personality disorder as seen in main character in the movie Joker. Personality disorder can be recognized in adolescence because the structure of disfunctional characteristics at that stage is similar to the structure of personality disorder in adulthood (Westen et al. 2003). Biological and psychological considerations, personality disorder develop in a socio structural context and appear to be socially sensitive. Through this movie, it can be concluded that there are five kinds of personality disorder reflected to the Joker as the main character in Joker movie by Todd phillips, they are borderline personality disorder, depressive personality disorder, sadistic personality disorder, antisocial personality disorder, and negativistic personality disorder. There are two causes of personality disorder that influence Joker as the main character they are psychological factors and environmental factors.