#psychopathy — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #psychopathy, aggregated by home.social.
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DATE: September 14, 2026 at 10:00AM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: A specific thinking style explains why dark personality traits are linked to creativity
People with darker personality traits tend to achieve more creative success, and a recent study suggests this is linked to their highly analytical, self-directed way of processing information. Published in Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, the research indicates that a thinking style known as field independence acts as a bridge between socially aversive personality traits and real-world creative accomplishments.
To understand this connection, it helps to look at the Dark Triad. The Dark Triad is a group of three socially undesirable personality traits: Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and narcissism. People high in Machiavellianism tend to be manipulative, cynical, and highly strategic.
Psychopathy is characterized by impulsivity, thrill-seeking, and a lack of empathy or remorse. Narcissism involves an inflated sense of self-importance, a constant need for admiration, and a sense of entitlement. While these traits are often viewed negatively, they appear in varying degrees among the general population and have been linked to certain positive outcomes, including creativity.
Creative achievement refers to actual, recognized accomplishments in fields like visual arts, scientific discovery, writing, or cooking. Past research established that dark personality traits can predict these creative accomplishments. For instance, a 2021 meta-analysis found a small positive association between creative behaviors and traits like narcissism and Machiavellianism.
Additionally, a study covered by PsyPost in 2021 indicated that Dark Triad traits play a role in how people generate novel, sometimes harmful, ideas. While this link is well-documented, the exact mental mechanisms explaining why these dark traits lead to creative success have remained open to debate.
“Much of the research on creativity has focused on its ‘bright side,’ particularly traits such as openness to experience, along with intelligence and divergent thinking,” study author Marco Giancola, a researcher at the Department of Biotechnological and Applied Clinical Sciences at the University of L’Aquila in Italy, told PsyPost.
“However, these well-established factors explain only part of why people differ in their real-world creative achievements, while considerably less attention has been paid to darker personality characteristics and, especially, to the cognitive mechanisms through which they might relate to creativity,” Giancola explained. “Therefore, I was interested not simply in asking whether Dark Triad traits are associated with creative achievement, but in understanding how this association might emerge through the way people process information.”
Separate studies showed that an autonomous, analytical thinking style called field independence also fuels creativity. Field independence is a cognitive style, meaning it describes how a person naturally perceives and organizes information. A field-independent person can easily separate specific details from a complex, distracting background.
These individuals tend to rely on their own internal judgment rather than being influenced by the people or social cues around them. A 2024 study of children found that a field-independent cognitive style acts as a mental bridge connecting core intelligence to creative thinking. The new study connects these two lines of research to see if field independence is the underlying cognitive bridge linking dark personality traits to creative success.
To explore this potential pathway, Giancola recruited 212 university students with an average age of 21. About half of the participants were female. The participants were drawn from various degree programs, including biology, medicine, and psychology, and none had a history of neurological or psychiatric disorders.
During individual laboratory sessions, participants completed several assessments. To measure Dark Triad traits, they filled out a standard 12-item questionnaire. They rated how much they agreed with statements like “I cheat or lie to get what I want” to measure Machiavellianism, or “I expect special attention from others” for narcissism.
To assess cognitive style, the researcher used the Embedded Figures Test. In this task, participants looked at a complex, colorful geometric figure for 15 seconds. Then, they were shown a simple black-and-white shape. Finally, they looked at the complex colorful figure again and were timed on how fast they could find and trace the simple shape hidden within it. Faster times indicated a more field-independent cognitive style.
Creative achievement was measured using a questionnaire that asked participants to check off concrete, real-life creative successes they had achieved across ten different domains. These domains included visual arts, music, dance, architectural design, creative writing, humor, scientific discovery, invention, theater, and culinary arts.
Because creativity is influenced by many factors, the researcher controlled for several other variables. These included age, sex, education level, and openness to experience, which is a personality trait known to predict creativity. The study also controlled for fluid intelligence, which is the ability to solve new problems, and crystallized intelligence, which is accumulated knowledge. Finally, it accounted for divergent thinking, measured by asking participants to list as many alternative uses for a newspaper and a brick as possible in three minutes.
“The indirect effects of the Dark Triad on creative achievement through cognitive styles were statistically reliable even after accounting for several established predictors of creativity,” Giancola noted.
The results showed a consistent pattern connecting dark traits, cognitive style, and creativity. Participants with higher levels of Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and narcissism were faster at finding the hidden shapes in the visual test. This indicates that people with these traits tend to process information in a highly field-independent way.
When looking at the paths connecting all these variables, the direct relationship between the Dark Triad traits and creative achievement was not statistically significant on its own. Instead, the relationship operated indirectly through cognitive style. The presence of dark personality traits predicted a field-independent thinking style, which in turn predicted higher scores in real-life creative achievements.
“The findings suggest that some characteristics associated with Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and narcissism may coincide with a more field-independent way of processing information,” Giancola said. “That is, a greater tendency to rely on one’s own internal frame of reference, separate relevant information from its surrounding context, and be less constrained by external cues. It was through this cognitive style that emerged as an important bridge from the Dark Triad to higher creative achievement.”
The researcher suggests that each dark trait might drive this analytical thinking style for different reasons. For Machiavellianism, field independence might reflect a highly strategic orientation. These individuals tend to filter out distractions and focus strictly on information that helps them achieve their goals, allowing them to break problems down and find novel solutions.
For psychopathy, the connection might stem from a reduced sensitivity to social norms and emotional disinhibition. People high in psychopathy care very little about what others think. This allows them to ignore external constraints and take risks on unconventional ideas.
For narcissism, the link to field independence may come from a deep self-focus. Narcissistic individuals have high confidence in their own judgment and a strong desire to stand out. They tend to prioritize their own internal feelings over external feedback, which supports self-directed problem-solving and the pursuit of creative recognition.
“What I found particularly interesting was how similar the pattern was across Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and narcissism,” the researcher said. “Although these traits are psychologically distinct, the three mediation models showed no meaningful differences in their effect sizes, significance patterns, or explained variance.”
“This suggests that a characteristic they may share—a reduced reliance on socially anchored or contextual constraints—could be particularly relevant when it is expressed through field-independent information processing,” Giancola continued.
By bypassing conventional constraints and social expectations, people with dark personality traits naturally lean into a field-independent cognitive style. This specific way of filtering the world seems to foster the conditions needed to generate novel and useful ideas, resulting in measurable creative achievements.
“A major misinterpretation would be to conclude that dark personality traits are inherently beneficial or that becoming more narcissistic, Machiavellian, or psychopathic would make someone more creative,” Giancola warned. “These traits can have substantial interpersonal and behavioral costs, and our results concern statistical associations with certain modes of information processing, not a general advantage of dark personality.”
As with all research, there are a few other things to keep in mind. The study used a cross-sectional design, meaning all data was collected at a single point in time. Because of this, the results cannot prove a strict cause-and-effect relationship between personality traits, cognitive styles, and creativity.
Additionally, the participants were university students who generally reported low average levels of dark personality traits. This is typical for a non-clinical group of people, but it is something to consider when applying the findings to individuals with more extreme or severe personality traits.
The study also did not measure every possible personality factor. For example, it did not assess everyday sadism, which is sometimes grouped with the Dark Triad. It also did not account for broader personality dimensions like extraversion, which can also influence social status and creative output. Future research could follow people over longer periods to see how these traits and cognitive styles interact over a lifetime of creative work.
“I am interested in moving beyond the Dark Triad toward broader models of dark personality, including the Dark Tetrad and the general Dark Factor of Personality, and in examining whether different dark traits lead to creativity through distinct cognitive, motivational, or self-regulatory pathways,” Giancola said.
“Ultimately, I think the more interesting question is not whether a personality characteristic is simply ‘good’ or ‘bad’ for creativity, but under what conditions and through which psychological mechanisms it can facilitate or inhibit creative behavior,” he added. “I think understanding how personality interacts with the way people process information may be more informative than simply asking if particular personality traits are associated with creativity.”
The study, “Breaking the Mold: How Dark Personality Traits Shape Creative Achievement Through Cognitive Styles,” was authored by Marco Giancola.
-------------------------------------------------
Private, vetted email list for mental health professionals: https://www.clinicians-exchange.org
Unofficial Psychology Today Xitter to toot feed at Psych Today Unofficial Bot @PTUnofficialBot
-------------------------------------------------
#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #DarkTriadCreativity #FieldIndependence #CreativeAchievement #Machiavellianism #Psychopathy #Narcissism #CognitiveStyle #CreativeProcess #DarkPersonality #InnovationMindset
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DATE: September 14, 2026 at 10:00AM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: A specific thinking style explains why dark personality traits are linked to creativity
People with darker personality traits tend to achieve more creative success, and a recent study suggests this is linked to their highly analytical, self-directed way of processing information. Published in Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, the research indicates that a thinking style known as field independence acts as a bridge between socially aversive personality traits and real-world creative accomplishments.
To understand this connection, it helps to look at the Dark Triad. The Dark Triad is a group of three socially undesirable personality traits: Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and narcissism. People high in Machiavellianism tend to be manipulative, cynical, and highly strategic.
Psychopathy is characterized by impulsivity, thrill-seeking, and a lack of empathy or remorse. Narcissism involves an inflated sense of self-importance, a constant need for admiration, and a sense of entitlement. While these traits are often viewed negatively, they appear in varying degrees among the general population and have been linked to certain positive outcomes, including creativity.
Creative achievement refers to actual, recognized accomplishments in fields like visual arts, scientific discovery, writing, or cooking. Past research established that dark personality traits can predict these creative accomplishments. For instance, a 2021 meta-analysis found a small positive association between creative behaviors and traits like narcissism and Machiavellianism.
Additionally, a study covered by PsyPost in 2021 indicated that Dark Triad traits play a role in how people generate novel, sometimes harmful, ideas. While this link is well-documented, the exact mental mechanisms explaining why these dark traits lead to creative success have remained open to debate.
“Much of the research on creativity has focused on its ‘bright side,’ particularly traits such as openness to experience, along with intelligence and divergent thinking,” study author Marco Giancola, a researcher at the Department of Biotechnological and Applied Clinical Sciences at the University of L’Aquila in Italy, told PsyPost.
“However, these well-established factors explain only part of why people differ in their real-world creative achievements, while considerably less attention has been paid to darker personality characteristics and, especially, to the cognitive mechanisms through which they might relate to creativity,” Giancola explained. “Therefore, I was interested not simply in asking whether Dark Triad traits are associated with creative achievement, but in understanding how this association might emerge through the way people process information.”
Separate studies showed that an autonomous, analytical thinking style called field independence also fuels creativity. Field independence is a cognitive style, meaning it describes how a person naturally perceives and organizes information. A field-independent person can easily separate specific details from a complex, distracting background.
These individuals tend to rely on their own internal judgment rather than being influenced by the people or social cues around them. A 2024 study of children found that a field-independent cognitive style acts as a mental bridge connecting core intelligence to creative thinking. The new study connects these two lines of research to see if field independence is the underlying cognitive bridge linking dark personality traits to creative success.
To explore this potential pathway, Giancola recruited 212 university students with an average age of 21. About half of the participants were female. The participants were drawn from various degree programs, including biology, medicine, and psychology, and none had a history of neurological or psychiatric disorders.
During individual laboratory sessions, participants completed several assessments. To measure Dark Triad traits, they filled out a standard 12-item questionnaire. They rated how much they agreed with statements like “I cheat or lie to get what I want” to measure Machiavellianism, or “I expect special attention from others” for narcissism.
To assess cognitive style, the researcher used the Embedded Figures Test. In this task, participants looked at a complex, colorful geometric figure for 15 seconds. Then, they were shown a simple black-and-white shape. Finally, they looked at the complex colorful figure again and were timed on how fast they could find and trace the simple shape hidden within it. Faster times indicated a more field-independent cognitive style.
Creative achievement was measured using a questionnaire that asked participants to check off concrete, real-life creative successes they had achieved across ten different domains. These domains included visual arts, music, dance, architectural design, creative writing, humor, scientific discovery, invention, theater, and culinary arts.
Because creativity is influenced by many factors, the researcher controlled for several other variables. These included age, sex, education level, and openness to experience, which is a personality trait known to predict creativity. The study also controlled for fluid intelligence, which is the ability to solve new problems, and crystallized intelligence, which is accumulated knowledge. Finally, it accounted for divergent thinking, measured by asking participants to list as many alternative uses for a newspaper and a brick as possible in three minutes.
“The indirect effects of the Dark Triad on creative achievement through cognitive styles were statistically reliable even after accounting for several established predictors of creativity,” Giancola noted.
The results showed a consistent pattern connecting dark traits, cognitive style, and creativity. Participants with higher levels of Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and narcissism were faster at finding the hidden shapes in the visual test. This indicates that people with these traits tend to process information in a highly field-independent way.
When looking at the paths connecting all these variables, the direct relationship between the Dark Triad traits and creative achievement was not statistically significant on its own. Instead, the relationship operated indirectly through cognitive style. The presence of dark personality traits predicted a field-independent thinking style, which in turn predicted higher scores in real-life creative achievements.
“The findings suggest that some characteristics associated with Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and narcissism may coincide with a more field-independent way of processing information,” Giancola said. “That is, a greater tendency to rely on one’s own internal frame of reference, separate relevant information from its surrounding context, and be less constrained by external cues. It was through this cognitive style that emerged as an important bridge from the Dark Triad to higher creative achievement.”
The researcher suggests that each dark trait might drive this analytical thinking style for different reasons. For Machiavellianism, field independence might reflect a highly strategic orientation. These individuals tend to filter out distractions and focus strictly on information that helps them achieve their goals, allowing them to break problems down and find novel solutions.
For psychopathy, the connection might stem from a reduced sensitivity to social norms and emotional disinhibition. People high in psychopathy care very little about what others think. This allows them to ignore external constraints and take risks on unconventional ideas.
For narcissism, the link to field independence may come from a deep self-focus. Narcissistic individuals have high confidence in their own judgment and a strong desire to stand out. They tend to prioritize their own internal feelings over external feedback, which supports self-directed problem-solving and the pursuit of creative recognition.
“What I found particularly interesting was how similar the pattern was across Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and narcissism,” the researcher said. “Although these traits are psychologically distinct, the three mediation models showed no meaningful differences in their effect sizes, significance patterns, or explained variance.”
“This suggests that a characteristic they may share—a reduced reliance on socially anchored or contextual constraints—could be particularly relevant when it is expressed through field-independent information processing,” Giancola continued.
By bypassing conventional constraints and social expectations, people with dark personality traits naturally lean into a field-independent cognitive style. This specific way of filtering the world seems to foster the conditions needed to generate novel and useful ideas, resulting in measurable creative achievements.
“A major misinterpretation would be to conclude that dark personality traits are inherently beneficial or that becoming more narcissistic, Machiavellian, or psychopathic would make someone more creative,” Giancola warned. “These traits can have substantial interpersonal and behavioral costs, and our results concern statistical associations with certain modes of information processing, not a general advantage of dark personality.”
As with all research, there are a few other things to keep in mind. The study used a cross-sectional design, meaning all data was collected at a single point in time. Because of this, the results cannot prove a strict cause-and-effect relationship between personality traits, cognitive styles, and creativity.
Additionally, the participants were university students who generally reported low average levels of dark personality traits. This is typical for a non-clinical group of people, but it is something to consider when applying the findings to individuals with more extreme or severe personality traits.
The study also did not measure every possible personality factor. For example, it did not assess everyday sadism, which is sometimes grouped with the Dark Triad. It also did not account for broader personality dimensions like extraversion, which can also influence social status and creative output. Future research could follow people over longer periods to see how these traits and cognitive styles interact over a lifetime of creative work.
“I am interested in moving beyond the Dark Triad toward broader models of dark personality, including the Dark Tetrad and the general Dark Factor of Personality, and in examining whether different dark traits lead to creativity through distinct cognitive, motivational, or self-regulatory pathways,” Giancola said.
“Ultimately, I think the more interesting question is not whether a personality characteristic is simply ‘good’ or ‘bad’ for creativity, but under what conditions and through which psychological mechanisms it can facilitate or inhibit creative behavior,” he added. “I think understanding how personality interacts with the way people process information may be more informative than simply asking if particular personality traits are associated with creativity.”
The study, “Breaking the Mold: How Dark Personality Traits Shape Creative Achievement Through Cognitive Styles,” was authored by Marco Giancola.
-------------------------------------------------
Private, vetted email list for mental health professionals: https://www.clinicians-exchange.org
Unofficial Psychology Today Xitter to toot feed at Psych Today Unofficial Bot @PTUnofficialBot
-------------------------------------------------
#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #DarkTriadCreativity #FieldIndependence #CreativeAchievement #Machiavellianism #Psychopathy #Narcissism #CognitiveStyle #CreativeProcess #DarkPersonality #InnovationMindset
-
DATE: September 14, 2026 at 10:00AM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: A specific thinking style explains why dark personality traits are linked to creativity
People with darker personality traits tend to achieve more creative success, and a recent study suggests this is linked to their highly analytical, self-directed way of processing information. Published in Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, the research indicates that a thinking style known as field independence acts as a bridge between socially aversive personality traits and real-world creative accomplishments.
To understand this connection, it helps to look at the Dark Triad. The Dark Triad is a group of three socially undesirable personality traits: Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and narcissism. People high in Machiavellianism tend to be manipulative, cynical, and highly strategic.
Psychopathy is characterized by impulsivity, thrill-seeking, and a lack of empathy or remorse. Narcissism involves an inflated sense of self-importance, a constant need for admiration, and a sense of entitlement. While these traits are often viewed negatively, they appear in varying degrees among the general population and have been linked to certain positive outcomes, including creativity.
Creative achievement refers to actual, recognized accomplishments in fields like visual arts, scientific discovery, writing, or cooking. Past research established that dark personality traits can predict these creative accomplishments. For instance, a 2021 meta-analysis found a small positive association between creative behaviors and traits like narcissism and Machiavellianism.
Additionally, a study covered by PsyPost in 2021 indicated that Dark Triad traits play a role in how people generate novel, sometimes harmful, ideas. While this link is well-documented, the exact mental mechanisms explaining why these dark traits lead to creative success have remained open to debate.
“Much of the research on creativity has focused on its ‘bright side,’ particularly traits such as openness to experience, along with intelligence and divergent thinking,” study author Marco Giancola, a researcher at the Department of Biotechnological and Applied Clinical Sciences at the University of L’Aquila in Italy, told PsyPost.
“However, these well-established factors explain only part of why people differ in their real-world creative achievements, while considerably less attention has been paid to darker personality characteristics and, especially, to the cognitive mechanisms through which they might relate to creativity,” Giancola explained. “Therefore, I was interested not simply in asking whether Dark Triad traits are associated with creative achievement, but in understanding how this association might emerge through the way people process information.”
Separate studies showed that an autonomous, analytical thinking style called field independence also fuels creativity. Field independence is a cognitive style, meaning it describes how a person naturally perceives and organizes information. A field-independent person can easily separate specific details from a complex, distracting background.
These individuals tend to rely on their own internal judgment rather than being influenced by the people or social cues around them. A 2024 study of children found that a field-independent cognitive style acts as a mental bridge connecting core intelligence to creative thinking. The new study connects these two lines of research to see if field independence is the underlying cognitive bridge linking dark personality traits to creative success.
To explore this potential pathway, Giancola recruited 212 university students with an average age of 21. About half of the participants were female. The participants were drawn from various degree programs, including biology, medicine, and psychology, and none had a history of neurological or psychiatric disorders.
During individual laboratory sessions, participants completed several assessments. To measure Dark Triad traits, they filled out a standard 12-item questionnaire. They rated how much they agreed with statements like “I cheat or lie to get what I want” to measure Machiavellianism, or “I expect special attention from others” for narcissism.
To assess cognitive style, the researcher used the Embedded Figures Test. In this task, participants looked at a complex, colorful geometric figure for 15 seconds. Then, they were shown a simple black-and-white shape. Finally, they looked at the complex colorful figure again and were timed on how fast they could find and trace the simple shape hidden within it. Faster times indicated a more field-independent cognitive style.
Creative achievement was measured using a questionnaire that asked participants to check off concrete, real-life creative successes they had achieved across ten different domains. These domains included visual arts, music, dance, architectural design, creative writing, humor, scientific discovery, invention, theater, and culinary arts.
Because creativity is influenced by many factors, the researcher controlled for several other variables. These included age, sex, education level, and openness to experience, which is a personality trait known to predict creativity. The study also controlled for fluid intelligence, which is the ability to solve new problems, and crystallized intelligence, which is accumulated knowledge. Finally, it accounted for divergent thinking, measured by asking participants to list as many alternative uses for a newspaper and a brick as possible in three minutes.
“The indirect effects of the Dark Triad on creative achievement through cognitive styles were statistically reliable even after accounting for several established predictors of creativity,” Giancola noted.
The results showed a consistent pattern connecting dark traits, cognitive style, and creativity. Participants with higher levels of Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and narcissism were faster at finding the hidden shapes in the visual test. This indicates that people with these traits tend to process information in a highly field-independent way.
When looking at the paths connecting all these variables, the direct relationship between the Dark Triad traits and creative achievement was not statistically significant on its own. Instead, the relationship operated indirectly through cognitive style. The presence of dark personality traits predicted a field-independent thinking style, which in turn predicted higher scores in real-life creative achievements.
“The findings suggest that some characteristics associated with Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and narcissism may coincide with a more field-independent way of processing information,” Giancola said. “That is, a greater tendency to rely on one’s own internal frame of reference, separate relevant information from its surrounding context, and be less constrained by external cues. It was through this cognitive style that emerged as an important bridge from the Dark Triad to higher creative achievement.”
The researcher suggests that each dark trait might drive this analytical thinking style for different reasons. For Machiavellianism, field independence might reflect a highly strategic orientation. These individuals tend to filter out distractions and focus strictly on information that helps them achieve their goals, allowing them to break problems down and find novel solutions.
For psychopathy, the connection might stem from a reduced sensitivity to social norms and emotional disinhibition. People high in psychopathy care very little about what others think. This allows them to ignore external constraints and take risks on unconventional ideas.
For narcissism, the link to field independence may come from a deep self-focus. Narcissistic individuals have high confidence in their own judgment and a strong desire to stand out. They tend to prioritize their own internal feelings over external feedback, which supports self-directed problem-solving and the pursuit of creative recognition.
“What I found particularly interesting was how similar the pattern was across Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and narcissism,” the researcher said. “Although these traits are psychologically distinct, the three mediation models showed no meaningful differences in their effect sizes, significance patterns, or explained variance.”
“This suggests that a characteristic they may share—a reduced reliance on socially anchored or contextual constraints—could be particularly relevant when it is expressed through field-independent information processing,” Giancola continued.
By bypassing conventional constraints and social expectations, people with dark personality traits naturally lean into a field-independent cognitive style. This specific way of filtering the world seems to foster the conditions needed to generate novel and useful ideas, resulting in measurable creative achievements.
“A major misinterpretation would be to conclude that dark personality traits are inherently beneficial or that becoming more narcissistic, Machiavellian, or psychopathic would make someone more creative,” Giancola warned. “These traits can have substantial interpersonal and behavioral costs, and our results concern statistical associations with certain modes of information processing, not a general advantage of dark personality.”
As with all research, there are a few other things to keep in mind. The study used a cross-sectional design, meaning all data was collected at a single point in time. Because of this, the results cannot prove a strict cause-and-effect relationship between personality traits, cognitive styles, and creativity.
Additionally, the participants were university students who generally reported low average levels of dark personality traits. This is typical for a non-clinical group of people, but it is something to consider when applying the findings to individuals with more extreme or severe personality traits.
The study also did not measure every possible personality factor. For example, it did not assess everyday sadism, which is sometimes grouped with the Dark Triad. It also did not account for broader personality dimensions like extraversion, which can also influence social status and creative output. Future research could follow people over longer periods to see how these traits and cognitive styles interact over a lifetime of creative work.
“I am interested in moving beyond the Dark Triad toward broader models of dark personality, including the Dark Tetrad and the general Dark Factor of Personality, and in examining whether different dark traits lead to creativity through distinct cognitive, motivational, or self-regulatory pathways,” Giancola said.
“Ultimately, I think the more interesting question is not whether a personality characteristic is simply ‘good’ or ‘bad’ for creativity, but under what conditions and through which psychological mechanisms it can facilitate or inhibit creative behavior,” he added. “I think understanding how personality interacts with the way people process information may be more informative than simply asking if particular personality traits are associated with creativity.”
The study, “Breaking the Mold: How Dark Personality Traits Shape Creative Achievement Through Cognitive Styles,” was authored by Marco Giancola.
-------------------------------------------------
Private, vetted email list for mental health professionals: https://www.clinicians-exchange.org
Unofficial Psychology Today Xitter to toot feed at Psych Today Unofficial Bot @PTUnofficialBot
-------------------------------------------------
#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #DarkTriadCreativity #FieldIndependence #CreativeAchievement #Machiavellianism #Psychopathy #Narcissism #CognitiveStyle #CreativeProcess #DarkPersonality #InnovationMindset
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RE: https://mstdn.social/@noelreports/117163146629424256
Putin was always going to want to nuke someone. He's a psychopath with no bottom. Trump has asked about using them, too. (He's also a narcissistic psychopath.)
"Sources cited by Bloomberg also say a growing number of Russian officials believe Putin could use a tactical nuclear weapon. Key Russian partners, including China and India, have reportedly warned Putin against even considering such a step."
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I did a poll here for a week. 141 people responded. I was interested in #mastodon users' preferred categorization of the term "neurodiverse." The results generally confirmed my a priori predictions but had some surprises. Some takeaways for me, right now:
- Autism was in a tie for top position, unsurprising as, in my experience, autism was the first condition to be labeled "neurodiverse" or "neuroatypical", and is, I suspect, something of a prototype for the category.
- ADHD was tied (given the sample) with autism. I was mildly surprised. I think a few years ago this would not have been the case; ADHD awareness, activism, and acceptance have increased dramatically over the past few years.
- Schizophrenia, anxiety disorders, and #bipolar disorders were the next group. The inclusion of anxiety disorders surprised me; I suspected it would be tied with depression disorders.
- Personality disorders being endorsed at the same rate as depression and intellectual disability was a mild surprise.
- Psychopathy being tied with depression and intellectual disability was a pretty big surprise for me. This poll was largely about opinions and preferences, so stigma is (IMO) a big part of it. "Being a psychohpath" seems to be less stigmatized (in a specific way) than I thought... it's also possible the results would change if I'd used the word "psychopath" instead of "psychopathy."
- Intellectual disabiity (until pretty recently labeled "mental retardation" but, you know, the euphemism treadmill) was a wild card for me; I didn't know where it would end up. I would like to do a different survey sometime, with a different response format, so I could see the variability in responses. I suspect this condition (and a few others) would result in a lot of variability.
- Pedophilia was of particular interest to me. The results confirmed my strong a priori hypothesis, and this (plus psychopathy) was a major reason for wording the poll as I did, prompoting for preferences instead of a more objective assessment of the research-based fitness of each condition for the "neurodiverse" category.
More about #pedophilia: a nice, big mountain of research strongly suggests that it is a condition of altered brain development; in fact, it is probably a sexual orientation. A better survey than this simple poll might assess participants' understanding of pedophilia in addition to the question I did ask. I suspect many people confuse pedophilia with child molestation/abuse (nb: pedophilia is a pattern of attraction, not a set of behaviors, though many pedophiles have also abused children).
Both the left and right political meta-groups in the USA have latched onto "pedophile" as a label for child molestation--usually of post-pubescent children, where pedophilia is very specifically a pattern of attraction to prepubescent children. There was flirtation during Trump's first term with the more correct(ish) labels "hebephilia" and "ephebephilia", but I think the need for a stronger, more dehumanizing label won in the end, and "pedophile" packs a bigger cultural/emotional punch than "child molester."
Anyway, thanks to everyone who participated. This is fascinating enough for me that I might even do a real survey sometime. If I can get my dean to stop giving me extra classes for calling him out on his anti-labor nonsense.
Notes:
- I phrased the question as *Which of the following conditions do you personally think should be included under the #neurodiversity umbrella? * instead of asking which conditions would be classified as neurodiverse, etc. for reasons noted above.
- I chose "neurodiverse" instead of "neuroatypical", believing that the latter would produce more restricted categorization.
- This is not (I hope) research according to federal definitions. It's a demonstration of a concept and I won't be trying to disseminate these results in scientific journals or at science conferences.
#neurodiverse #neuroatypical #poll #adhd #autism #schizophrenia #anxiety #bipolar #PersonalityDisorder #psychopathy #depression #IntellectualDisability
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Following discussions elsewhere, I'm interested in who we think is #neurodiverse. Which of the following conditions do you personally think should be included under the #neurodiversity umbrella?
(one billion hashtags to include relevant communities and individuals)
#mentalhealth #psychology #autism #intellectualdisability #adhd #anxiety #depression #bipolar #schizophrenia #PersonalityDisorder #psychopathy #pedophilia