Blunted startle reactivity in everyday sadism and psychopathy.

Two studies examined the amplitude of the startle response as a function of the Dark Tetrad of personality (narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and sadism). We measured electromyographic activity of the orbicularis oculi muscle evoked by a startle stimulus while participants viewed images on a computer screen. Both studies revealed a negative correlation between general startle reactivity (averaged across positive, negative, and neutral images) and sadistic tendencies. In Study 2, all four dark traits were negative correlates of general startle reactivity. Study 2 also examined the personality correlates of aversive startle potentiation (ASP; indexed by greater reactivity while viewing negatively-valenced images than positive or neutral images). ASP correlated negatively with a variety of personality measures of psychopathy and sadism, their facets, and related personality tendencies (callousness, risk-taking, and restricted affect). These findings suggest that ordinary people with high levels of callousness and antagonism display physiological evidence of non-reactivity (i.e., blunted acoustic startle in general), whereas psychopathy and sadism are preferentially associated with reduced ASP.

Internet trolling and everyday sadism: Parallel effects on pain perception and moral judgment.

OBJECTIVE: This research seeks to clarify the association between online trolling and sadistic personality, and to provide evidence that the reward and rationalization processes at work in sadism are likewise manifest in online trolling. METHOD: Online respondents (community adults and university students; total N = 1,715) completed self-report measures of personality and trolling behavior. They subsequently engaged in one of two judgment tasks. In Study 1, respondents viewed stimuli depicting scenes of emotional/physical suffering and provided ratings of (a) perceived pain intensity and (b) pleasure experienced while viewing the photos. In Study 2, the iTroll questionnaire was developed and validated. It was then administered alongside a moral judgment task. RESULTS: Across both studies, online trolling was strongly associated with a sadistic personality profile. Moreover, sadism and trolling predicted identical patterns of pleasure and harm minimization. The incremental contribution of sadism was sustained even when controlling for broader antisocial tendencies (i.e., the Dark Triad, callous-unemotionality, and trait aggression). CONCLUSIONS: Results confirm that online trolling is motivated (at least in part) by sadistic tendencies. Coupled with effective rationalization mechanisms, sadistic pleasure can be consummated in such everyday behaviors as online trolling.

Dispositional malevolence and impression formation: Dark Tetrad associations with accuracy and positivity in first impressions.

OBJECTIVE: The Dark Tetrad traits (subclinical psychopathy, narcissism, Machiavellianism, and everyday sadism) have interpersonal consequences. At present, however, how these traits are associated with the accuracy and positivity of first impressions is not well understood. The present article addresses three primary questions. First, to what extent are perceiver levels of Dark Tetrad traits associated with differing levels of perceptive accuracy? Second, to what extent are target levels of Dark Tetrad traits associated with differing levels of expressive accuracy? Finally, to what extent can Dark Tetrad traits be differentiated when examining perceptions of and by others? METHOD: In a round-robin design, undergraduate participants (N = 412) in small groups engaged in brief, naturalistic, unstructured dyadic interactions before providing impressions of their partner. RESULTS: Dark Tetrad traits were associated with being viewed and viewing others less distinctively accurately and more negatively. CONCLUSIONS: Interpersonal perceptions that included an individual scoring highly on one of the Dark Tetrad traits differed in important ways from interactions among individuals with more benevolent personalities. Notably, despite the similarities between the Dark Tetrad, traits had unique associations with interpersonal perceptions.

Individual differences in activation of the parental care motivational system: assessment, prediction, and implications.

We report on the development, validation, and utility of a measure assessing individual differences in activation of the parental care motivational system: The Parental Care and Tenderness (PCAT) questionnaire. Results from 1,608 adults (including parents and nonparents) show that the 25-item PCAT measure has high internal consistency, high test-retest reliability, high construct validity, and unique predictive utility. Among parents, it predicted self-child identity overlap and caring child-rearing attitudes; among nonparents, it predicted desire to have children. PCAT scores predicted the intensity of tender emotions aroused by infants, and also predicted the amount of time individuals chose look at infant (but not adult) faces. PCAT scores uniquely predicted additional outcomes in the realm of social perception, including mate preferences, moral judgments, and trait inferences about baby-faced adults. Practical and conceptual implications are discussed.

Behavioral confirmation of everyday sadism.

Past research on socially aversive personalities has focused on subclinical psychopathy, subclinical narcissism, and Machiavellianism-the "Dark Triad" of personality. In the research reported here, we evaluated whether an everyday form of sadism should be added to that list. Acts of apparent cruelty were captured using two laboratory procedures, and we showed that such behavior could be predicted with two measures of sadistic personality. Study 1 featured a bug-killing paradigm. As expected, sadists volunteered to kill bugs at greater rates than did nonsadists. Study 2 examined willingness to harm an innocent victim. When aggression was easy, sadism and Dark Triad measures predicted unprovoked aggression. However, only sadists were willing to work for the opportunity to hurt an innocent person. In both studies, sadism emerged as an independent predictor of behavior reflecting an appetite for cruelty. Together, these findings support the construct validity of everyday sadism and its incorporation into a new "Dark Tetrad" of personality.