The darker angels of our nature: Do social worldviews mediate the associations that dark personality features have with ideological attitudes?

Zeigler‐Hill, Virgil; Martínez, José Luis Cañas; Vrabel, Jennifer K.; Ezenwa, Michael; Oraetue, Henry; Nweze, Tochukwu; Andrews, David W.; Kenny, Brianna

doi:10.1016/j.paid.2020.109920

Cited by 22 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 52 publications

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“…For example, the “Dark Triad” of personality, which includes Machiavellianism, subclinical psychopathy, and narcissism (Jones & Paulhus, 2014; Paulhus & Williams, 2002), has been demonstrated to be associated with aversive psychosocial outcomes, such as academic dishonesty (Baughman, Jonason, Lyons & Vernon, 2014), dispositional greed (Sekhar, Uppal & Shukla, 2020), anti‐egalitarianism (Zeigler‐Hill et al ., 2020), aggression, violence, and the seven deadly sins (Goodboy & Martin, 2015; Jakobwitz & Egan, 2006; Jonason et al ., 2017; Jones & Neria, 2015; Pabian, De Backer & Vandebosch, 2015). Corresponding to the Dark Triad of personality, the Light Triad of personality, in contrast, describes a loving and beneficent orientation towards others, reflecting a positive or beneficent side of human beings (Kaufman et al ., 2019).…”

Section: Good and Evil Charactersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development and validation of the good and evil character traits (GECT) scale

Jiao

Yang

Guo

et al. 2020

Scandinavian J Psychology

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The present study describes the development and validation of the good and evil character traits (GECT) scale. A set of 3,614 good and evil moral character descriptors (i.e., moral and immoral character traits) was selected from a dictionary of contemporary Chinese language and daily life expressions and ultimately condensed into 55 items. Then, exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and parallel analysis (PA) were conducted to explore the structure and final items of the GECT with sample 1 (n = 350), resulting in 21 good items and 32 evil items. After that, in confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) with sample 2 (n = 350), the resulting factor structure was confirmed for the 53-item scale (Study 1). Additionally, evidence of validity based on correlations with Honesty-Humility and Dirty Dozen was demonstrated (Study 2). The implications of our findings for the assessment of good and evil characters and further theoretical exploration are discussed.

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Section: Good and Evil Charactersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development and validation of the good and evil character traits (GECT) scale

Jiao

Yang

Guo

et al. 2020

Scandinavian J Psychology

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“…The concept of D can be understood as an equivalent to G, the core factor of intelligence, explaining common variance between dark traits such as egoism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy (Moshagen et al., 2018 ). Individuals high in D embrace a relativist and cynical worldview, which enables them to bend moral values and to refrain from injunctive norms, whenever it suits their agenda (e.g., Ajzen, 1991 ; Jonason et al., 2015 ; Moshagen et al., 2018 , 2020 ; Zeigler‐Hill et al., 2020 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Beliefs about the nature of knowledge shape responses to the pandemic: Epistemic beliefs, the Dark Factor of Personality, and COVID‐19–related conspiracy ideation and behavior

Rudloff

Hutmacher

Appel

2022

Journal of Personality

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Objective Global challenges such as climate change or the COVID‐19 pandemic have drawn public attention to conspiracy theories and citizens' non‐compliance to science‐based behavioral guidelines. We focus on individuals' worldviews about how one can and should construct reality (epistemic beliefs) to explain the endorsement of conspiracy theories and behavior during the COVID‐19 pandemic and propose the Dark Factor of Personality (D) as an antecedent of post‐truth epistemic beliefs. Method and Results This model is tested in four pre‐registered studies. In Study 1 ( N = 321), we found first evidence for a positive association between D and post‐truth epistemic beliefs (Faith in Intuition for Facts, Need for Evidence, Truth is Political). In Study 2 ( N = 453), we tested the model proper by further showing that post‐truth epistemic beliefs predict the endorsement of COVID‐19 conspiracies and disregarding COVID‐19 behavioral guidelines. Study 3 ( N = 923) largely replicated these results at a later stage of the pandemic. Finally, in Study 4 ( N = 513), we replicated the results in a German sample, corroborating their cross‐cultural validity. Interactions with political orientation were observed. Conclusion Our research highlights that epistemic beliefs need to be taken into account when addressing major challenges to humankind.

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“…The reason for these somewhat low internal consistencies was not readily apparent but one potential explanation is that these instruments were not developed using Israeli samples. Consistent with this possibility, a recent study found particularly low internal consistency estimates for the dangerous social worldview (α = .47) and the competitive social worldview (α = .64) in a large sample of Nigerian prisoners (Zeigler-Hill et al, 2020). This suggests that it may be important for future researchers interested in examining social worldviews in cultures outside of those in which these measures have been primarily used (e.g., United States, New Zealand) may want to consider adapting these instruments for use in those particular cultures.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 89%

The social worldviews of Israelis and attitudes toward peace with the Palestinians: The mediating roles of ideological attitudes and perceptions of threat.

Zeigler‐Hill¹,

Besser²,

Andrews³

2021

Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology

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The purpose of the present study was to examine the connections that the dangerous and competitive social worldviews of Israelis had with their attitudes toward peace with the Palestinians. More specifically, the focus was on the possibility that the associations these social worldviews had with attitudes toward peace may be mediated by the ideological attitudes of right-wing authoritarianism and social dominance orientation as well as the perceived threat from the Palestinians in a large community sample of Israelis (N = 1,236). The results of a serial parallel multiple mediation analysis revealed partial support for our hypotheses. As expected, the association that the dangerous social worldview had with attitudes toward peace with the Palestinians was mediated by right-wing authoritarianism and perceived threat from the Palestinians. However, the association that the competitive social worldview had with attitudes toward peace with the Palestinians differed from our expectations. More specifically, the competitive social worldview had a negative indirect association with attitudes toward peace with the Palestinians through both right-wing authoritarianism and social dominance orientation but there was also an unexpected positive indirect association through perceived threat from the Palestinians. Discussion focuses on the implications of these results for understanding the roles that ideological attitudes and perceived threat may play in the connections between the social worldviews of Israelis and their attitudes toward peace with the Palestinians.

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The darker angels of our nature: Do social worldviews mediate the associations that dark personality features have with ideological attitudes?

Cited by 22 publications

References 52 publications

Development and validation of the good and evil character traits (GECT) scale

Development and validation of the good and evil character traits (GECT) scale

Beliefs about the nature of knowledge shape responses to the pandemic: Epistemic beliefs, the Dark Factor of Personality, and COVID‐19–related conspiracy ideation and behavior

The social worldviews of Israelis and attitudes toward peace with the Palestinians: The mediating roles of ideological attitudes and perceptions of threat.

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