The Dark Side of Personality Science and Practice in Social Personality and Clinical Psychology 1St Edition Virgil Zeigler Hill Full Chapter
The Dark Side of Personality Science and Practice in Social Personality and Clinical Psychology 1St Edition Virgil Zeigler Hill Full Chapter
The Dark Side of Personality Science and Practice in Social Personality and Clinical Psychology 1St Edition Virgil Zeigler Hill Full Chapter
Edited by
Virgil Zeigler-Hill and David K. Marcus
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The dark side of personality : science and practice in social, personality, and clinical
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Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4338-2187-5 — ISBN 1-4338-2187-7 1. Personality. 2. Personality
disorders. I. Zeigler-Hill, Virgil, editor. II. Marcus, David K., editor. III. Title.
BF698.3.D37 2016
155.2—dc23
2015033473
http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/14854-000
CONTENTS
Contributors................................................................................................. ix
Introduction: A Bright Future for Dark Personality Features?..................... 3
Virgil Zeigler-Hill and David K. Marcus
I. Antagonism............................................................................................ 23
Chapter 1. The Dark Side of Narcissism........................................... 25
Emily A. Dowgwillo, Sindes Dawood,
and Aaron L. Pincus
Chapter 2. Contemporary Conceptualizations of Callous
Personality Features From Childhood to Adulthood........ 45
Dustin A. Pardini and James V. Ray
Chapter 3. Fearless Dominance and Its Implications
for Psychopathy: Are the Right Stuff and
the Wrong Stuff Flip Sides of the Same Coin?............... 65
Scott O. Lilienfeld, Sarah Francis Smith,
and Ashley L. Watts
v
Chapter 4. The Nature of Machiavellianism:
Distinct Patterns of Misbehavior.................................... 87
Daniel N. Jones
Chapter 5. Everyday Sadism............................................................ 109
Delroy L. Paulhus and Donald G. Dutton
Chapter 6. Spite.............................................................................. 121
David K. Marcus and Alyssa L. Norris
vi contents
Chapter 14. Anxiousness and Negative Affectivity in
the Personality and Internalizing Disorders.................. 287
Anthony J. Rosellini and Timothy A. Brown
Chapter 15. Depressivity and Anhedonia......................................... 307
Ellen M. Kessel and Daniel N. Klein
Chapter 16. The Dark Sides of High and Low Self-Esteem.............. 325
Virgil Zeigler-Hill, Christopher J. Holden,
Ashton C. Southard, Amy E. Noser,
Brian Enjaian, and Noah C. Pollock
Chapter 17. Interpersonal Dependency............................................ 341
Robert F. Bornstein
contents vii
CONTRIBUTORS
ix
Emily A. Dowgwillo, MS, Department of Psychology, Pennsylvania State
University, University Park
Donald G. Dutton, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of British
Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Joyce Ehrlinger, PhD, Department of Psychology, Washington State Uni-
versity, Pullman
Alex Eichenbaum, MS, Department of Psychology, Washington State Uni-
versity, Pullman
Brian Enjaian, MS, Department of Psychology, Oakland University,
Rochester, MI
Lauren R. Few, MS, Department of Psychology, University of Georgia,
Athens
Karin Fisher, MS, Department of Psychology, University of Southern
Mississippi, Hattiesburg
Gordon L. Flett, PhD, Department of Psychology, York University, Toronto,
Ontario, Canada
Kim L. Gratz, PhD, Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior,
University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson
Paul L. Hewitt, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of British
Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Christopher J. Holden, MA, Department of Psychology, Oakland Univer-
sity, Rochester, MI
Daniel N. Jones, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of Texas at
El Paso
Ellen M. Kessel, MA, Department of Psychology, Stony Brook University,
Stony Brook, New York
Daniel N. Klein, PhD, Department of Psychology, Stony Brook University,
Stony Brook, New York
Scott O. Lilienfeld, PhD, Department of Psychology, Emory University,
Atlanta, GA
Steven Ludeke, PhD, Department of Psychology and Political Science,
University of Southern Denmark, Odense
Jessica L. Maples-Keller, MS, Department of Psychology, University of
Georgia, Athens
David K. Marcus, PhD, Department of Psychology, Washington State
University, Pullman
Joshua D. Miller, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of Georgia,
Athens
Alyssa L. Norris, MS, Department of Psychology, Washington State
University, Pullman
Amy E. Noser, MS, Department of Psychology, University of Kansas,
Lawrence
x contributors
Dustin A. Pardini, PhD, School of Criminology and Criminal Justice,
Arizona State University, Phoenix
Delroy L. Paulhus, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of British
Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Aaron L. Pincus, PhD, Department of Psychology, Pennsylvania State
University, University Park
Noah C. Pollock, MS, Department of Psychology, Oakland University,
Rochester, MI
James V. Ray, PhD, Department of Criminal Justice, University of Texas at
San Antonio
Anthony J. Rosellini, PhD, Department of Health Care Policy, Harvard
Medical School, Boston, MA
Simon S. Sherry, PhD, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Life
Sciences Centre, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
Sarah Francis Smith, MS, Department of Psychology, Emory University,
Atlanta, GA
Ashton C. Southard, PhD, Department of Psychology, Oakland University,
Rochester, MI
Theodore S. Tomeny, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of
Alabama, Tuscaloosa
J. Davis VanderVeen, BA, Department of Psychology, Indiana University–
Purdue University Indianapolis
Ashley L. Watts, MS, Department of Psychology, Emory University, Atlanta,
GA
Diana Whalen, PhD, Department of Psychiatry, Washington University in
St. Louis, St. Louis, MO
Virgil Zeigler-Hill, PhD, Department of Psychology, Oakland University,
Rochester, MI
contributors xi
THE DARK SIDE
OF PERSONALITY
INTRODUCTION: A BRIGHT FUTURE
FOR DARK PERSONALITY FEATURES?
VIRGIL ZEIGLER-HILL AND DAVID K. MARCUS
http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/14854-001
The Dark Side of Personality: Science and Practice in Social, Personality, and Clinical Psychology, V. Zeigler-Hill
and D. K. Marcus (Editors)
Copyright © 2016 by the American Psychological Association. All rights reserved.
3
conscientiousness is generally considered to be a relatively positive personal-
ity feature (e.g., O’Connor, Conner, Jones, McMillan, & Ferguson, 2009),
but individuals who are “overly conscientious” may be rigid and inflexible,
whereas those who are “not conscientious enough” may be impulsive and
undependable. It is relatively easy to imagine scenarios in which nearly any
personality feature may be socially aversive. Consequently, we propose that
traits be considered “dark” when they are linked with interpersonal diffi-
culties across a variety of contexts even when only modest levels of these
features are present.
The purpose of this volume is to provide an overview of the current
conceptualizations of a diverse array of personality traits that may have
socially aversive, destructive, or dark features. It presents an interdisciplin-
ary approach that extends social and personality psychology to overlap
with clinical psychology. In doing so, each chapter in this book discusses
implications for assessment and intervention, as well as future directions
for research.
In addition to prototypically dark personality traits, this book covers
some traits (e.g., spitefulness) that have been largely overlooked by psycholo-
gists, despite being topics of interest in associated disciplines (e.g., econom-
ics, evolutionary biology), and other traits (e.g., perfectionism) that have
been presumed to be largely beneficial even though they may often be associ-
ated with negative outcomes. We review not only the maladaptive features
of these dark traits but also the adaptive and beneficial features—such as
the potential for altruistic outcomes from spitefulness—to provide a more
expansive and nuanced analysis.1 As a consequence, this volume includes a
relatively broad range of dark personality traits that have rarely, if ever, been
brought together in the same work (e.g., sadism and distractibility; inter
personal dependency and overconfidence). We do not believe that the dark
personality traits reviewed in this volume constitute an exhaustive list of
dark personality traits or even that these are the most important. Rather, our
goal for the volume was to cover a wide array of personality traits that would
have the potential to expand the common understanding of the dark side of
personality. We hope this volume will draw attention to a range of personality
traits that have dark aspects.
The dark personality features that have received the most empirical
attention during the past decade are the Dark Triad, which is a constellation of
personality traits that includes narcissism, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism
1
Throughout the book, the terms adaptive and maladaptive are used in their broadest sense as synonyms
for functional or dysfunctional or as being associated with positive or negative outcomes. Unless the
authors specify otherwise, these terms are not intended to imply biological adaptation.
introduction 5
RESEARCH CONCERNING THE DARK TRIAD
introduction 7
A BROADER VIEW OF DARK PERSONALITY FEATURES
2The dimensional model of personality pathology is DSM-specific and therefore does not have a coun-
terpart in the International Classification of Diseases.
introduction 9
The results concerning the short-term mating success of those with some
dark personality features suggest the intriguing possibility that certain dark
personality features may represent specialized adaptations that allow indi-
viduals to exploit particular niches within society (e.g., Furnham et al., 2013;
Jonason, Jones, & Lyons, 2013). In addition to life-history theory, several
other promising evolutionary approaches have been applied to understanding
dark personality features, including costly signaling theory, mutation load,
flexibly contingent shifts in strategy according to environmental conditions,
environmental variability in fitness optima, and frequency-dependent selec-
tion (for a review, see Buss, 2009). A prominent example of these evolu-
tionary explanations is the argument that psychopathy is the expression of
a frequency-dependent life strategy that is selected in response to varying
environmental circumstances (Mealey, 1995). Frequency-dependent selec-
tion involves a dynamic equilibrium in which certain characteristics (e.g.,
psychopathic personality features) will be advantageous to the individuals
who possess them as long as the frequency of those characteristics remains
relatively low in the general population. This frequency-dependent model
could easily be applied to other dark personality features (e.g., spitefulness,
impulsivity), but it is important to note that the original model concerning
psychopathy has been criticized on multiple fronts, including the heritabil-
ity estimates of psychopathy (e.g., Crusio, 1995; Stoltenberg, 1997) and the
failure to consider more parsimonious explanations (Crusio, 2004).
Our goal for this volume was to expand the appreciation that research-
ers and clinicians have for what constitutes dark personality traits beyond the
ubiquitous Dark Triad (i.e., narcissism, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism;
see Furnham et al., 2013, for a review). Consequently, we cast a wide net
when identifying potentially dark personality traits that were worthy of
review. First, the broad constellations of dark personality features that we
included in this volume were informed by the recent work that has been done
to develop a stronger connection between pathological personality features
and the Big Five personality dimensions (e.g., Thomas et al., 2013). This
can be readily seen by our decision to include sections concerning nega-
tive affectivity, antagonism, and disinhibition which are all considered to
be pathological personality trait domains in the model that is included in
DSM–5 (Krueger et al., 2012). We also included a section on rigidity because
we believe this is an important domain that has often been ignored by those
researchers who are interested in dark personality features.
introduction 11
but the research base for these traits is so limited that it would have been
premature to review them.
A fourth strategy to expand the range of dark personality traits was
to include internalizing traits. Whereas the traditional Dark Triad traits are
associated with inflicting harm and misery on others, the traits reflecting neg-
ative affectivity are prototypically associated with the misery they bring to
their possessors. We believe that there is a benefit to expanding the notion of
dark traits beyond antagonistic or externalizing traits, and a trait may also be
considered dark if it is associated with self-harm (e.g., suicide, social impair-
ment). Yet it is noteworthy that many of these “internalizing” traits are also
associated with aggressive behaviors and harm to others.
Finally, we also included some traits that might superficially be considered
neutral or even positive but that also have darker aspects. For example, fearless
dominance is considered to be the “right stuff” for bravery and heroism, but it
is also a component of psychopathy (Lilienfeld, Smith, & Watts, Chapter 3,
this volume). Similarly, perfectionism is a trait that is often assumed to be adap-
tive and desirable because it inspires people to produce their best work. Yet,
as discussed by Flett, Hewitt, and Sherry (Chapter 10, this volume), high
levels of perfectionism are associated not only with personal misery, including
suicidality, but, in extreme cases, perfectionism can lead to interpersonal vio-
lence and even murder. Even overconfidence, a trait that may be considered
more annoying than dark, can have harmful interpersonal consequences. As
detailed by Ehrlinger and Eichenbaum (Chapter 12, this volume), in some
circumstances, overconfidence can result in disastrous and deadly outcomes
(e.g., the deaths of more than 800 overconfident but ill-prepared people who
have tried to climb Nepali mountains; the Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba).
Similarly, distractibility might also be considered more irritating than dark
until one considers, for example, all of the injuries and deaths caused by dis-
tracted drivers (Barry, Fisher, DiSabatino, & Tomeny, Chapter 9, this volume).
Part I: Antagonism
introduction 13
from both external and internal sources. Although it appears that there are
some positive outcomes linked with distractibility (e.g., creativity), the exist-
ing evidence clearly indicates that distractibility is associated with a wide
array of maladaptive outcomes.
CONCLUSION
introduction 15
dark for socially aversive personality features that extend beyond those that
are antagonistic or externalizing in nature. As a result, we believe that many
of the personality features described in this volume (e.g., spitefulness, perfec-
tionism) have the potential to be aversive or harmful to others—even when
they are only present in modest levels—and so warrant consideration as part
of an extended constellation of dark personality features. To be clear, we are
not claiming that the personality features discussed in this volume represent
a comprehensive list of dark personality features. Rather, we believe that our
current efforts are merely an intermediate step in the process of developing
a deeper and more complete understanding of dark personality features. The
contributions of the authors included in this volume, as well as the many
other researchers who are doing exciting work in this area of the literature,
provide us with hope that there will be a bright future for research concerning
dark personality features.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/14854-002
The Dark Side of Personality: Science and Practice in Social, Personality, and Clinical Psychology, V. Zeigler-Hill
and D. K. Marcus (Editors)
Copyright © 2016 by the American Psychological Association. All rights reserved.
25
Although these disciplines often vary in their conceptualization and assess-
ment of narcissism (Cain, Pincus, & Ansell, 2008; Miller & Campbell, 2008),
these distinctions have been well discussed elsewhere (Pincus & Lukowitsky,
2010). There is also sufficient convergence across disciplines to effectively
capture a contemporary, empirically supported, and clinically relevant gen-
eral portrait of the dark narcissistic personality. In this chapter, we paint this
portrait using an integrative contemporary model of pathological narcissism.
Narcissisc Narcissisc
Grandiosity Vulnerability
Figure 1.1. The hierarchical structure of pathological narcissism. Data from “Patho-
logical Narcissism and Narcissistic Personality Disorder,” by A. L. Pincus and M. R.
Lukowitsky, 2010, Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 6, p. 431. Copyright 2010
by Annual Reviews. Adapted with permission.
The needs for recognition and admiration as well as motives for self-
enhancement associated with narcissism are managed and expressed through
various regulatory mechanisms (Roche et al., 2013). These mechanisms can
be either mature or primitive in nature. The use of predominately mature
regulatory strategies involves sublimating unmitigated needs for recognition
Adaptive Features
Leadership
Within organizations, individuals high in grandiosity are consistently
selected as organizational leaders. Schnure (2010) found that in personnel
selection interviews, experienced interviewers evaluated the applications of
Social Adaptation
Campbell and Campbell (2009) posited that many of the socially adap-
tive benefits associated with narcissism are short term in nature. Thus, nar-
cissists are successful in the initial stages of dating, are rated as likable and
attractive in initial meetings, and show emergent leadership potential in lead-
erless groups, although these same adaptive features do not appear to extend to
longer term relationships (Brunell et al., 2008; Oltmanns, Friedman, Fiedler,
& Turkheimer, 2004; Paulhus, 1998; Rhodewalt & Eddings, 2002).
Narcissistic grandiosity shows a significant negative association with
general interpersonal sensitivity and is unrelated to subjective interpersonal
distress (Hopwood, Pincus, DeMoor, & Koonce, 2008; Pincus et al., 2009).
Thus individuals high in trait grandiosity are not particularly bothered by the
interpersonal behaviors of others and do not report any distress regarding their
own interpersonal behaviors. Individuals high in trait grandiosity also endorse
believing there are people available who have positive opinions of them that
they can turn to during stressful times (Rhodewalt & Morf, 1995).
Self-Esteem
Trait grandiosity is also positively related to self-esteem. Individuals high
in grandiosity report holding positive illusions about themselves, resist feed-
back that disconfirms this positive view of self, and view themselves as suc-
cessful, with relatively congruent actual and ideal selves (Morf & Rhodewalt,
2001; Rhodewalt & Morf, 1995; Sedikides et al., 2004). Importantly, self-
esteem has been shown to mediate the relationship between grandiosity and
psychological health (Sedikides et al., 2004).
Maladaptive Features
Impulsivity
Grandiosity and vulnerability are associated with impulsive traits (Miller
et al., 2010). In particular, narcissistic grandiosity shows modest positive cor-
relations with positive urgency and sensation seeking, indicating a tendency
to pursue risky or novel activities and a difficulty resisting cravings and urges
when in a positive affective state. Vulnerability, in contrast, is positively cor-
related with the both positive and negative urgency components of impulsiv-
ity, indicating a difficulty resisting cravings and urges when in both a positive
or negative affective state.
Self-Conscious Emotions
Narcissistic grandiosity and vulnerability demonstrate distinct associations
with affect and self-conscious emotions. For example, grandiosity is positively
correlated with positive affectivity and unrelated to negative affectivity, whereas
vulnerability is negatively correlated with positive affectivity and positively
correlated with negative affectivity (Miller et al., 2010). Moreover, whereas
grandiosity is positively associated with guilt, vulnerability is unrelated to
guilt, but it is positively associated with shame, hubris, and envy, and nega-
tively associated with authentic pride (Krizan & Johar, 2012; Pincus, Conroy,
Hyde, & Ram, 2010).
1HEXACO’s name is derived from its six major dimensions: Honesty–Humility, Emotionality, eXtraversion,
Psychopathology
Narcissistic grandiosity and vulnerability show convergent and distinct
associations with psychopathological symptoms and disorders in patient and
student samples. In a sample of undergraduates (Tritt, Ryder, Ring, & Pincus,
2010), narcissistic grandiosity was positively correlated with a hyperthymic
temperament, characterized by vivid extraversion and energy. In the same
sample, narcissistic vulnerability was negatively associated with a hyperthymic
temperament and showed positive associations with depressive and anxious
temperaments, suggesting a predominate focus on avoiding narcissistic injury
rather than fueling grandiose self-enhancement.
In patients presenting for outpatient psychotherapy, narcissistic gran-
diosity was associated with level of mania, and narcissistic vulnerability
was significantly associated with level of sleep disturbance, psychosis, and
depression (Ellison et al., 2013). Similarly, in student samples (Miller et al.,
2010, 2011), narcissistic vulnerability was positively correlated with a his-
tory of emotional, verbal, physical, and sexual abuse; attachment anxiety and
avoidance; anxiety; depression; hostility; interpersonal sensitivity; paranoid
ideation; and global distress and negatively correlated with self-esteem. In
contrast, narcissistic grandiosity was unrelated to these maladaptive etiologi-
cal, developmental, and symptomatic variables. Although both grandios-
ity and vulnerability show positive associations with borderline personality
pathology and suicide attempts, nonsuicidal self-injury is exclusively associ-
ated with narcissistic vulnerability (Pincus et al., 2009). Finally, in a sample
of Israeli civilians under immediate missile threat, respondents’ overall level
of pathological narcissism moderated the association between severity of
threat and both posttraumatic stress disorder and generalized anxiety disorder
symptoms such that severity of threat and severity of symptoms were strongly
linked for individuals high in pathological narcissism but were unrelated in
individuals low in pathological narcissism (Besser, Zeigler-Hill, Pincus, &
Neria, 2013).
Mechanisms
[4] Enough.