How Individuals With Dark Personality Traits are Reacting to COVID-19

Authored by psychiatryadvisor.com and submitted by mvea

Dark personality traits predict individual responses to global crises, according to results of a study recently published in Personality and Individual Differences.

Though studies have shown certain personality traits to predict behavior during the coronavirus-19 (COVID-19) pandemic, the impact of dark personality traits on affect and cognition in response to the COVID-19 pandemic has not yet been determined.

To investigate the relationship between dark personality traits and responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, data from 402 individuals (50.2% women) in the United States were analyzed. The average age of included individuals was 45.38±16.29 years of age. Individuals filled out a series of questionnaires regarding their personalities and thoughts, feelings, and behaviors in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Dark personality traits, including narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy, were measured using the Dirty Dozen questionnaire. Sadism was measured using the Assessment of Sadistic Personality questionnaire.

Narcissism and Machiavellianism were associated with negative affect while sadism was associated with positive affect and psychopathy was negatively associated with positive affect in response to the COVID-19 pandemic (P ≤.05). Individuals higher in Machiavellianism tended to be more fearful of contracting COVID-19 and individuals higher in Machiavellianism and narcissism perceived greater instability during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Individuals high in narcissism and psychopathy were less likely to engage in cleaning behaviors in response to the pandemic, whereas individuals high in sadism were more likely to engage in cleaning behaviors (P <.05). Individuals with high narcissism had greater odds in reporting that they engaged in prosocial behaviors (P <.05). No dark personality traits were associated with hoarding behaviors.

This study showed that dark personality traits significantly predicted affect, thoughts, and behaviors in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The negative emotional response to the pandemic by individuals with narcissism may be due to the lack of social feedback they are able to get during lockdowns, which they rely on to support their self-image.

Individuals with narcissism may similarly have a negative response to the pandemic as it restricts their ability to exploit others within the social system. The positive emotional response of individuals with sadism reflects their enjoyment of the suffering of others. This information sheds light on how individuals with dark personality traits respond to times of uncertainty.

Limitations to this study include its reliance on self-reporting data, which may bias individuals’ answers regarding their dark traits and prosocial behavior. Some measures have not been previously validated. Future research to replicate current findings with additional assessment measures is warranted.

Hardin BS, Smith CV, Jordan LN. Is the COVID-19 pandemic even darker for some? Examining dark personality and affective, cognitive, and behavioral responses to the COVID-19 pandemic [published online November 7, 2020]. Pers Individ Dif. doi: 10.1016/j.paid.2020.110504

alaxolotl on January 2nd, 2021 at 16:28 UTC »

Is 412 a large enough sample size to actually learn anything? How many people out of that group would actually have traits from the tetrad?

INFP2020Love on January 2nd, 2021 at 15:52 UTC »

cleaning behaviors? Like cleaning your home or washing your hair etc?

Nerodia_ on January 2nd, 2021 at 14:24 UTC »

More accurately, this article predicts how politicians in general and other powerful individuals, not just republicans, have acted during the pandemic

Edit: I did, in fact, read the article. My post was more a response to other people commenting that only republicans exhibit dark traits. I do agree the republicans are woefully corrupt. However, if you think that only republicans are capable of bad things, you are disregarding facts, which is about as anti-science as it gets. Science is the consideration of all facts to form a logical un-biased conclusion.