9 traits of the bad person. Human beings, both biologically and socially conscious, have the characteristic of empathy and mutual interest. With these features, we survived as a species and managed to progress. So do we have evil as well as these features? Is there a bad person? Yes, we know that the bad person exists. So what are their potential origins?
Former president of the American Psychological Association (APD), Social psychologist Philip Zimbardo says that the bad is more than just humiliating, humiliating, controlling and harming others.
There are many bad people in our history. Mass killers like Ted Bundy or Andrei Chikatilo, and genocide bullies like Hitler and Stalin… Also those who encourage other people like Charles Manson to commit violent crimes.
Satanism can be worldly
But evil is evil, quiet, and often not obvious in the dramatic stories of these legendary names in criminal history. The devil also takes part in everyday areas: CEOs, politicians, malicious parents, and even children who brutally bully and humiliate their classmates…
We also know that there are several conditioning factors that play a role in these aggressive behaviors. Still, neurologists, psychiatrists, and psychologists have always wondered if there are some common factors in all of them.
The answer seems to be “Yes”. A few weeks ago, scientists from Ulm University, Koblenz and Landau University from Germany published an interesting study that reveals a term that you will often start hearing if you have not yet heard: the D-Factor. This is a compilation of general personality traits related to bad behavior.
“The person who fights monsters must see that he will not turn into a monster in this process. If you look long enough into the abyss, it will look back at you. ” – Friedrich Nietzsche
From Charles Spearman to bad human theory
100 years ago, psychologist Charles Spearman brought our understanding of human intelligence one step further. According to his two-factor theory, we all have something called the G factor. This is the general intelligence that gives us most of our cognitive abilities.
This factor always plays a role in our intelligent behavior, no matter how specific it is. Cognitive psychologist Morten Moshagen and his colleagues at the University of Ulm decided to take the ideas of Charsles Spearman further.
They wanted to see if evil is a factor similar to the G Factor, where people can score low or high. They worked on 2,500 people and discovered some fascinating things. They found that evil is a general component of what they call the D-factor, consisting of 9 dark personality traits.
These are features that have appeared predominantly in people acting in a brutal and aggressive way.
Bad people and D Theory
It tends to keep their own interests, desires and motivations superior to other people. It does not matter what the conditions are. Theory D provides a broad spectrum of behavior that is also part of the bad person.
Plus, it is worth noting that four other studies have been carried out to see if the D-Factor theory is valid. All this proved to be the right way to measure evil.
Nine dark personality traits in the D-Factor
Selfishness: excessive concern for their own interests.
Machiavellianism: strategic focus on manipulative behavior, emotional coldness, and personal interests.
Lack of ethics and morality.
Narcissism: Extreme self-love and constant pursuit of their own interests. Superiority: Believing that it has more rights and privileges than others.
Psychopathy: lack of emotion and empathy, insensitivity, tendencies to lie, and impulsivity.
Sadism: deliberate pain to others through physical, sexual or psychological aggression.
Social and material interests: To follow the rewards such as continuous social support, material things, recognition and success.
Cruelty: tendency to treat others cruelly in ways such as violence, abuse, theft and humiliation.
Why is the D-factor important for us to understand evil?
One of the co-authors of this study, Ingo Zettler, says the D-Factor is the dark personality type with all these features. Thus, the unified feature of the bad person is to constantly pursue their own interests without caring about other people. People with this type of personality even believe that their behavior is legitimate.
This theory also leaves potential neurobiological and social explanations for this personality type. For now, we have valuable psychological tools to see, identify and measure it.
Before we go, we want to leave you with a quote from Fyodor Dostoevsky: “Nothing is easier than to condemn the evil; there is nothing more difficult than understanding it. ”
