PS201 - T1W6 - The Dark Side of Psychology

Slides 7–9: Personality Disorder Framework (DSM-5)

Key claims / arguments

  • Definition of Psychopathology → “…The study of psychological and behavioural dysfunction occurring in mental disorder or in social disorganisation (or such dysfunction per se).”

  • Extreme individual differences can impair functioning across relationships, work, and self-regulation

  • Personality pathology reflects enduring maladaptive patterns

  • Dysfunctional traits can undermine conventional definitions of success

Key theories / models

  • DSM-5 personality disorder framework

    • Personality disorders represents a last pattern of behaviour i the individual → this is separated from an individuals culture as cultural differences can play a role in the contextualisation of lasting patterns of behaviour. Also factoring in the internal experience of the individual.

    • They impact on:

      • Affect

      • Cognition

      • Impulse control

      • Interpersonal Relationships

  • The 4 Ds (diagnostic for Personality Disorders):

    • Duration → Pattern of behaviour needs to be lasting (onset is seen in adolescence/early adulthood)

    • Diffuse contexts → exppect to see the impact of PD (Personality Disorder) in a variation of contexts.

    • Distress/disability → Some form of impairment from PD

    • Differential diagnosis → Should be no differential diagnosis meaning no other potential reason why the individual is exhibiting such behaviour aside from the PD. All avenues should be examined before diagnosing PD

  • Cluster model (A, B, C) - (Done in the format of DSM 4 Revised, with clusters. DSM 5 has a format that does not include clusters)

    • Cluster A:

      • Withdrawn/emotionally cold/Suspicious of thos around you/Irrational behaviour and thoughts

    • Cluster B:

      • Theatrical/ emotional/ attention-seeking/ shallow

    • Cluster C:

      • Anxious/ tense/ over-controlled

Key studies

  • American Psychiatric Association (2013)
    Defined personality disorders as enduring, maladaptive patterns affecting cognition, affect, impulse control, and relationships.

One-line essay use

  • Useful for defining limits of success, showing when individual differences become maladaptive rather than advantageous.

Slides 10–12: Personality Disorder Clusters & Functioning

Key claims / arguments

  • Different clusters impair success in different domains

  • Interpersonal dysfunction is a central feature of many disorders

  • Rigid personality styles reduce adaptability

Key theories / models

  • Cluster A: social withdrawal, suspicion

  • Cluster B: impulsivity, emotional instability, manipulation

  • Cluster C: anxiety, perfectionism, dependency

Key studies

  • DSM-5 (APA, 2013)
    Cluster-based classification of personality disorders.

One-line essay use

  • Can be used to argue that extreme individual differences often undermine long-term success, especially relational and occupational stability.

Slides 14–20: Personality Types – The Authoritarian Personality

Key claims / arguments

  • Some personality types are linked to rigid cognition and dominance-based behaviour

  • Authoritarian traits may promote control and leadership, but impair empathy and flexibility

  • Personality types reflect socio-historical influences

Key theories / models

  • Authoritarian Personality Type

    • Psychoanalytic roots (strict superego, weak ego)

    • Social learning reinterpretations

    • Adordno et al., (1950) - Are some individuals more susceptible to extremist ideology? How does this then explain subsequent poor/abhorrent/socially unacceptable behaviour?

    • Components

      • Obedience to authority

      • Belief in own authority - believing oneself has authority to those below them

      • Rigid oppressive treatment to subordinates

      • Strict adherence to rules

      • Hostility/aggression towards the ‘different other’ (different from them)

        • favoured conventionalism and conventional norms - everyone should act in the same way as the majority

      • Cynical view of human nature

      • Opposition to subjective/intraceptive tendencies → opposition to anything that is seen as softer

      • Incredible levels of superstition

      • Exaggerated moral stance → “do as i say not as i do”, informs and rigidly regulates the behaviours of other people to standards they themselves do not follow.

Key studies

  • Adorno et al. (1950) - Identified authoritarianism as a personality type associated with obedience, aggression, and rigidity.

    • Four self-report questionnaire measures

    • Followed with follow up interviews - in depth

      • Self-report questionnaires themselves involved questions regarding anti-semitism - AS (Anti-Semitism) Scale e.g. It’s wrong for Jews and Gentiles to intermarry.”

      • Ethnocentric Scale - included questions regarding favouring one ethnic group over others

      • PEC (Politico-Economic Conservatism) Scale - the idea that those who work hard will always achieve what they deserve, regardless of any other factors

      • F-scale (Potential for Fascism scale) - “No insult to our honour should ever go unpunished.”

  • Fromm (1941, 1942, 1944) - Highlighted role of early socialisation.

    • Role of early experience

      • Parent-child relationship

      • Parent attitudes directed towards the child

      • If the attitude of the parent towards the child is poor, resentment may build in the child

    • Psychoanalytic roots

      • strict superego and weak ego → because of the poor parental attitudes towards the child, the superego has now developed to be more overbearing than the Id and imposes itself on the ego, meaning that the superego often punishes the ego more than normal. Leading to insecurity

      • Protection from the desires of the Id

      • Insecurity arises from the conflict between the ego and superego

      • Can lead to projective defence mechanism - saying that something is about someone else/punishing someone harshly for something when really it is about oneself.

      • Central Neurotic Trait - idea that the individual does not feel control in ones own world so then feeling the need to control other people

  • Rokeach (1960) - Reframed authoritarianism as dogmatism (cognitive rigidity).

    • Changed the potential for Fascism → Dogmatism

    • Rejected the idea that it came from a psychoanalytic intrapersonal approach, and instead reflected what he called a cognitive style - the way in which we interact with the information that comes to us from the outside world.

    • Idea behind his work was that once you have a set of information that sets your mindset, it will be very difficult to intergrate any new, contradictory information, and will likely reject it

  • Altemeyer (1981) - Viewed that the orginal proposed idea of authoritarianism was too broad, and instead adopted a social learning theory approach. Reduced authoritarianism to three factors:

    • Authoritarian Submission → submit to those who are perceived to have more power

    • Authoritarian Aggression → imposing aggressive behaviour on those perceived below you in hierarchy.

    • Authoritarian Conventionalism → standard views. The idea of what is viewed as the most average set of behaviour within a country, and that all people should follow that.

One-line essay use

  • Useful for evaluating whether rigid personality types can succeed in hierarchical environments (e.g. authority, leadership) while failing socially.

Slides 22–25: Introduction to the Dark Triad

Key claims / arguments

  • Some socially aversive traits may confer competitive advantages

  • “Dark” traits can be adaptive in certain contexts - represents social malevolence, putting themselves first, and emotional coldness.

    • Characterised by things just stated with the addition of duplicity

    • Aggression.

  • Success may be achieved through exploitation rather than cooperation

Key theories / models

  • Dark Triad

    • Narcissism

    • Machiavellianism

    • Psychopathy

  • Dirty Dozen scale

Key studies

  • Hoskey et al. (1998a,b); Paulus & Williams (2002); Jakobwitz et al. (2006) - Identified clustering of three malevolent personality traits.

    • Found that Narcissism, psychopathy and, Machiavellianism seem to cluster together. When you find high rates of one, there is likely to be high rates of the others also.

  • Jonason et al. (2010) - Developed the Dirty Dozen measure.

One-line essay use

  • Central for challenging the assumption that success requires prosocial traits.

Slides 25–27: Why Do Dark Triad Individuals Succeed?

Key claims / arguments

  • Dark traits are often studied in organisational contexts → can show links between the individual and organisations (characteristics of the individual can be transferred the organisation, making a narcissistic organisation).

    • Those individuals that are identified as being Dark Triadic aren’t necessarily the ‘bad guys’ within society. E.g. James Bond → kills without remorse, uses women, cheats, lies, attention always on him and yet the movies are celebrated.

  • Traits such as fearlessness, manipulation, and emotional coldness can promote advancement

  • Success depends on context, not morality

Key theories / models

  • Subclinical psychopathy

  • Continuum model of dark traits

Key studies

  • Jonason et al. (2010)
    Found Dark Triad traits associated with workplace success.

  • James (2013)
    Estimated prevalence of psychopathy in general and prison populations.

One-line essay use

  • Strong for employment-focused essays, showing how individual differences can promote success in competitive environments.

Slides 27–28: Psychopathy

Key claims / arguments

  • Psychopaths show emotional detachment and stress immunity

  • Low anxiety and lack of empathy facilitate manipulation

  • Social cognition may be intact or enhanced → superficial charm to get others to do as they please.

Key theories / models

  • Clinical vs subclinical psychopathy → It has been found that psychopathy overlaps with machiavellianism, can be argued that psychopathy is the clinical version and machiavellianism is the sub-clinical version.

    • May also be the case that it is on a continuum with machiavellianism on one end and psychopathy on the other.

  • Psychopathy as instrumental social strategy

Key studies

  • James (2013) - Estimated ~1% prevalence in general population.

  • Neuroscience evidence (implied)
    Reduced empathy linked to neural circuitry differences.

One-line essay use

  • Useful for explaining why lack of emotional reactivity can facilitate high-pressure success.

Slides 28–30: Narcissism

Key claims / arguments

  • Narcissism involves inflated self-esteem and status-seeking

  • Narcissists often perform well in short-term social and competitive contexts and are extroverted

  • Exhibit attention-seeking behaviour, and ‘stealing credit for things others have done → one of many ways they may attempt to chase status

    • Shows obvious involvement of self-deception and impulsive behaviour

  • Long-term relationship success is impaired

Key theories / models

  • Healthy vs maladaptive narcissism

  • Self-enhancement model

Key studies

  • Raskin, Robert & Hall (1979)
    Developed the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI).

  • Twenge et al. (2008) - Reported increases in narcissism among US students.

    • Meta analysis of 85 studies ranging from 1979 to 2006

    • Used NPI (Narcissistic Personality Inventory)

    • Found increases in NPI scores

    • 15% of US students were narcissistic in 1979, now 24% of 2006

  • Twenge (2010) - Showed narcissists rated as likeable initially and successful in brief tasks.

    • Narcissistic behaviour may be an extension of child like egocentrism → perceiving oneself as the centre of the universe as a child then changes to positive self regard as you grow up, and they tend to have more realistic confidence in their abilities as opposed to having imposter syndrome.

    • Is being Narcisstistic healthy?

      • Narcissistic people have higher rates of life satisfaction

      • They are said to be very likeable when you first meet them

      • They perform well socially, but fail in long term relationships

      • The key difference may therefore be empathy

One-line essay use

  • Ideal for evaluating short-term vs long-term success, especially in leadership and social influence.

Slides 31–33: Machiavellianism

Key claims / arguments

  • Definition - Someone who seizes and holds power via their own manipulation of others → cunning behaviour.

    • What they want to happen is what SHOULD happen in their eyes

  • Machiavellian individuals use strategic manipulation

    • While being influential and manipulative themselves, they are resistant to attempts at being influenced by others

    • Have the ability to convince others into their own agendas whilst keeping their true intentions concealed

    • Prefer fluid environments in order to be flexible in their method of manipulation to achieve their goal.

    • Exploitative and suspicious of others

  • They are socially skilled but emotionally detached

  • May represent the most adaptive dark trait

Key theories / models

  • Machiavellianism as strategic exploitation

  • Fluid adaptation to social environments

Key studies

  • Christie et al. (1970); Nelson et al. (1991); Fehr et al. (1992)
    Defined Machiavellian traits.

  • Goleman (2007) - Suggested moderate deviousness may be adaptive.

    • Meaning that the Machiavellian will be more succesful within society because they posses a factual connection with reality that neither the narcissist nor the psychopath posses. Meaning that they will be able to manipulate people, but not to the point that they will lose the favour of those around them.

      • “displaying just enough deviousness to get the lion’s share without getting booted out of the group”.

One-line essay use

  • Strong for arguing that some individual differences optimise success without triggering social rejection.