Theoretical and empirical dissociations between the Dark Factor of Personality and low Honesty-Humility

Horsten, Luisa K.; Moshagen, Morten; Zettler, Ingo; Hilbig, Benjamin E.

doi:10.1016/j.jrp.2021.104154

Cited by 19 publications

(22 citation statements)

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“…Also, the stronger relation of the primarily behavioral antagonistic traits, and thus behavior related to exploitation of others, with HH over BF‐AG is in agreement with studies revealing HH as a stronger predictor of prosociality and (non‐)exploitation than BF‐AG (for a recent meta‐analysis, see Thielmann et al., 2020). Furthermore, the present results indicating D to be most strongly related to the cognitive traits aligns with recent findings showing that D is a superior predictor (over and above BF‐AG or HH) of justifying beliefs for socially aversive behavior (Hilbig, Moshagen, Thielmann, et al., 2022; Horsten et al., 2021; Moshagen, Zettler, Horsten, et al., 2020). Finally, the incremental effects of D over and above BF‐AG in deceitfulness and manipulation (i.e., dishonesty and cheating) and the incremental effects of D over and above HH in hostility and callousness (i.e., aggression and insensitivity) are in line with prior findings (Moshagen et al., 2018).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

“…By comparison, BF‐AG only peripherally reflects modesty (vs. grandiosity) and trust (vs. suspiciousness), and HH only captures beliefs of superiority or entitlement (grandiosity), without any direct reference to trust versus suspiciousness. Correspondingly, it has been shown that D is strongly associated with several (classes of) justifying beliefs and predicts incremental variance over and above BF‐AG and HH (and even the entire HEXACO space) in distrust and hierarchy‐related beliefs in particular (Hilbig, Moshagen, Thielmann, et al., 2022; Horsten et al., 2021; Moshagen et al., 2018, 2020). Moreover, D predicted incremental variance beyond the HEXACO space in instances of aversive psychopathology that are primarily related to beliefs, especially narcissism (for which believing in one's superiority is integral) and paranoia (for which suspicion toward others is integral; Hilbig, Thielmann, et al., 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Beyond (low) Agreeableness: Toward a more comprehensive understanding of antagonistic psychopathology

Scholz

Hilbig

Thielmann

et al. 2022

Journal of Personality

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Recent years have seen notable shifts within clinical psychology toward the constructs and frameworks more traditionally studied in personality science. Specifically, there has been a shift from categorical to dimensional models of (personality) disorders (Hopwood et al., 2018;Kotov et al., 2017;Widiger et al., 2019). The underlying idea is that clinically relevant tendencies represent maladaptive variants or levels of more general traits, such as those defined in models of basic personality structure, especially the Five-Factor Model (Samuel & Widiger, 2008).In the realm of socially and/or ethically aversive psychopathology, seven clinically relevant traits have been

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Beyond (low) Agreeableness: Toward a more comprehensive understanding of antagonistic psychopathology

Scholz

Hilbig

Thielmann

et al. 2022

Journal of Personality

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“…Specifically, although some of these basic personality dimensions are codefined by adjectives referring to certain beliefs, these cover a rather limited range of possible beliefs that may be used to justify aversive behavior, most prominently a sense of self-importance (e.g., the modesty facets in the NEO-PI-R or the HEXACO-PI-R, Costa & McCrae, 1992; Lee & Ashton, 2006) or certain forms of distrust (e.g., the trust facet in the NEO-PI-R and the forgivingness facet in the HEXACO-PI-R). As such, theoretical conceptualizations of basic personality dimensions do not involve the generic statement that any potentially justifying belief may accompany the trait which, in turn, explains why D has been successfully dissociated from its closest proxies within the five-factor model and the HEXACO model—Agreeableness and Honesty-Humility, respectively—based on certain justifying beliefs (Horsten et al, 2021; Moshagen, Zettler, Horsten et al, 2020). Generally speaking, one may expect that and strictly test whether D is uniquely related to a diverse range of justifying beliefs above and beyond basic personality, as implied by its conceptualization.…”

Section: The Role Of Justifying Beliefs In Aversive Personalitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Making rights from wrongs: The crucial role of beliefs and justifications for the expression of aversive personality.

Hilbig¹,

Moshagen²,

Thielmann³

et al. 2022

Journal of Experimental Psychology: General

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Whereas research focusing on stable dispositions has long attributed ethically and socially aversive behavior to an array of aversive (or "dark") traits, other approaches from social-cognitive psychology and behavioral economics have emphasized the crucial role of social norms and situational justifications that allow individuals to uphold a positive self-image despite their harmful actions. We bridge these research traditions by focusing on the common core of aversive traits (the dark factor of personality [D]) and its defining aspect of involving diverse beliefs that serve to construct justifications. In particular, we theoretically specify the processes by which D is expressed in aversive behavior-namely, through diverse beliefs and the justifications they serve. In six studies (total N . 25,000) we demonstrate (a) that D involves higher subjective justifiability of those aversive behaviors that individuals high in D are more likely to engage in, (b) that D uniquely relates to diverse descriptive and injunctive beliefs-related to distrust (e.g., cynicism), hierarchy (e.g., authoritarianism), and relativism (e.g., normlessness)-that serve to justify aversive behavior, and (c) a theoretically derived pattern of moderations and mediations supporting the view that D accounts for aversive behavior because it fosters subjective justifiability thereof-at least in part owing to certain beliefs and the justifications they afford. More generally, our findings highlight the role of (social) cognitions within the conceptual definitions of personality traits and processes through which they are expressed in behavior.

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“…A second line of thought is that the two constructs, in fact, have maximal overlap (Hodson et al, 2018, p. 128). The most recent argument is that the two constructs are, in fact, functionally distinct, while still bearing a great degree of overlap (Horsten et al, 2021). Hence, it is important to continue investigating where exactly the Dark Triad is located in HEXACO space, and our use of Smallest Space Analysis (see below) will comprise an important contribution here.…”

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confidence: 99%

Locating the Dark Triad in a Multidimensional Personality Space

2022

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The Dark Triad traits of Psychopathy, Machiavellianism, and Narcissism should be clearly recognizable within a multidimensional personality space. Two such personality spaces were investigated in this study: HEXACO (Honesty-Humility, Emotionality, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and Openness to Experience); and the Zuckerman-Kuhlman-Aluja Personality Questionnaire (ZKA-PQ) space (Extraversion, Neuroticism, Activity, Sensation Seeking, and Aggressiveness). Our sample comprised 289 participants (137 males, 145 females, 7 unspecified) who completed these three questionnaires: HEXACO–60, ZKA-PQ/SF, and the SD3, assessing the Dark Triad. We reduced the dimensionality of each space to that of a 2D representation using Smallest Space Analysis (SSA). Three research questions guided the data analysis: (a) Do the HEXACO and ZKA-PQ SSA spaces conform to the structure of a radex? (b) Will these spaces remain invariant following the entry of the Dark Triad traits into the analyses? (c) Where will the Dark Triad traits be located in each SSA space? For ZKA-PQ space, the structure was clearly indicative of a radex, both prior to entering the Dark Triad traits into the analysis, and subsequent to this. Psychopathy and Machiavellianism were in close proximity in the Aggressiveness region; Narcissism was positioned at the common origin. In contrast, HEXACO space did not conform to a radex; furthermore, the presence of the Dark Triad traits distorts this 2D SSA space.

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Theoretical and empirical dissociations between the Dark Factor of Personality and low Honesty-Humility

Cited by 19 publications

References 58 publications

Beyond (low) Agreeableness: Toward a more comprehensive understanding of antagonistic psychopathology

Beyond (low) Agreeableness: Toward a more comprehensive understanding of antagonistic psychopathology

Making rights from wrongs: The crucial role of beliefs and justifications for the expression of aversive personality.

Locating the Dark Triad in a Multidimensional Personality Space

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