Researchers from the University of Copenhagen have a compelling new data point to add to the nature vs. nurture debate about what shapes human behavior and traits. Data from a massive global survey they conducted shows a link between aversive societal conditions in a country, and the "dark" personality characteristics that people may develop.
Prof. Ingo Zettler and colleagues ran a personality questionnaire online for five years from 2019 to 2024, and had roughly two million people from around the world respond to a range of statements, with agreement ratings from "Strongly disagree" to "Strongly agree." The researchers also compiled data on four key negative social conditions – corruption, inequality, poverty and violence – of 183 countries and all 50 US states, going back 20 years to see if there was a connection.
The study relied on World Bank data for metrics on corruption and inequality, and violence was measured by the number of homicides per 100,000 people. Similar stats were available from the US Census Bureau on American states.
The questionnaire had two versions, one with 16 statements with agreement ratings for a rough estimate of your "dark" personality traits, and and one with 70 statements for a more accurate estimate. You can check it out for yourself on this site. Examples of the statements with agreement ratings from "Strongly disagree" to "Strongly agree," include:
- I feel sorry if things I do upset people.
- I cannot imagine how being mean to others could ever be exciting.
- It's wise to keep track of information that you can use against people later.
- Most people deserve respect.
- People who get mistreated have usually done something to bring it on themselves.
They found a clear correlation between the countries and states that had aversive societal conditions (ASC), and higher levels of dark personality traits in respondents from those countries and states. As Zettler explained, "The more adverse conditions in a society, the higher the level of the Dark Factor of Personality among its citizens. This applies both globally and within the United States."
The Dark Factor of Personality (or simply D) refers to the underlying trait that predisposes individuals to engage in all kinds of aversive behaviors. It represents the "aversive essence of personality," from which all other aversive traits, such as egoism, spitefulness, greed, moral disengagement, sadism, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism arise.
The researchers noted, "Individuals high in D will ruthlessly pursue their own interests, even when it negatively affects others (or even for the sake of it), while having beliefs that justify these behaviors."
The idea behind gathering data points on the countries and states 20 years prior to the survey is that this time lag will have allowed these negative societal conditions to have influenced participants’ personalities, and therefore their levels of D.
Why would this relationship between aversive societal conditions and behavioral traits – or a high D – exist? The team offered a couple of broad explanations. For one, in such societies, people routinely face a greater risk of being exploited by others. As such, they may develop selfish or noncooperative tendencies to protect themselves from being taken advantage of.
Secondly, people in these societies are more likely to perceive aversive behavior as common and justifiable. That might foster the adoption of more competitive, distrusting, and normless beliefs, and result in a higher D.
People in Mexico and Indonesia, and US states like Nevada and Louisiana – which had reported higher levels of all four ASCs – had higher D scores. Lower D scores were observed in respondents from countries and US states with lower levels of ASCs, such as Denmark and New Zealand, and states like Utah and Vermont.
It's worth noting that many countries and states didn't jump out in the correlations, because of low numbers of respondents. Also, the correlation between ASC index scores and the Dark factor are largely moderate.
Still, the findings could help us think through how we prioritize social reforms around the world. Zettler concluded, "Our findings substantiate that personality is not just something we are born with, but also shaped by the society we grew up and live in. This means that reforms that reduce corruption and inequality not only create better living conditions just now – they may also contribute to mitigating aversive personality levels among the citizens in the future."
You can find the study that appeared in PNAS last month on this page, and the team's data here.
Source: University of Copenhagen
