Antagonistic personality trait patterns and cooperative behavior: A multi-component approach
Final Report Abstract
Maladaptive trait levels, that is, extreme levels of common personality traits, can have negative consequences for both individuals and society at large because they are typically related to ethically and socially aversive behaviors. In the clinical context, these maladaptive trait patterns are represented in distinct personality disorders or accentuations with distinct personality profiles. Importantly, these patterns all share antagonism as a common underlying dimension, which is, in turn, associated with basic personality traits representing cooperative tendencies (i.e., Honesty-Humility and Agreeableness). Following this reasoning, the current project set out to test whether such maladaptive or antagonistic trait patterns (ATPs) relate to actual cooperative behavior, that is, a low willingness to cooperate with others in general and – given their distinct trait patterns in addition to the shared antagonism aspect – to impairments in certain components of cooperation in particular (fairness, forgiveness, strategic considerations, and trust). The project thereby aimed to foster the understanding of social impairments associated with ATPs by integrating different lines of research from clinical psychology, personality psychology, and behavioral economics. In a large web-based, longitudinal study with four measurement occasions, we assessed basic personality traits, ATPs and actual cooperative behavior in different economic games designed to measure the specific components of cooperation under scrutiny. However, most predictions failed to receive any empirical support. That is, whereas the links between the ATPs and basic personality traits were somewhat in line with predictions, the links between ATPs and cooperative behavior were generally weak. However, correlations between the ATPs were relatively strong, which led us to conduct further (previously unplanned) studies investigating whether all ATPs have a common underlying core apart from antagonism. Specifically, in a series of follow-up studies, we found that the so-called Dark Factor of Personality (D) can account for the high intercorrelations among the ATPs as it (i) showed large correlations with all ATPs, (ii) accounted for variance in ATPs above and beyond basic personality traits, and (iii) even accounted for unique variance in ATPs above and beyond measures of the very same ATPs assessed previously. Overall, despite the fact that the original hypotheses of the project could not be supported (indeed running contrary to prior findings in several cases), the project set the starting point for an integrative research project that advanced our understanding of individual differences in ethically and socially aversive tendencies and behaviors. Ultimately, the project thereby helped bridging the gap between basic personality psychology and abnormal psychology, and we are confident that the presented findings will have a long-lasting impact on the field by providing several starting points for future research.
Publications
- (2016). The two faces of cooperation: On the unique role of HEXACO Agreeableness for forgiveness versus retaliation. Journal of Research in Personality, 64, 69-78
Hilbig, B. E., Thielmann, I., Klein, S. A., Henninger, F.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2016.08.004) - (2018). The dark core of personality. Psychological Review, 125, 656-688
Moshagen, M., Hilbig, B. E., & Zettler, I.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1037/rev0000111) - (2020). Measuring the dark core of personality. Psychological Assessment, 32(2), 182–196
Moshagen, M., Zettler, I., & Hilbig, B. E.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1037/pas0000778)
