Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

Metaphysics & Psychology

THE DARK TRIAD: People Who Love The Night Have Psychopathic Traits

THE DARK TRIAD: People Who Love The Night Have Psychopathic Traits 1

People who prefer to work and play at night may have evolved to possess the so-called “Dark Triad” of psychological traits — psychopathy, narcissism, and manipulativeness, a new study suggests.

 

A new theory suggests that these two traits evolved together because darkness gives criminals and cheaters a way to hide from the prying eyes of others, giving them an evolutionary advantage.

The three legs of the Dark Triad can be found everywhere in the world. Magazines have labeled entire generations narcissists, psychologists create lists of the professions most likely to attract psychopaths, and Machiavellian parents turn to the godfather of political manipulation for child-rearing advice.

But psychologists say some people are walking around with a volatile cocktail of all three troubling traits. That’s because the Dark Triad may be an evolutionary adaptation; possessing these traits gives some individuals a survival and reproductive advantage, studies have suggested.

A new theory from Peter Jonason of the University of Western Sydney adds another layer: People possessing the Dark Triad may have evolved to become night owls because night time is a great time to be a psychopath.

Sleep cycles and personality

Psychologists have often found that the natural sleeping and waking patterns of individuals, called “chronotypes,” carry other traits along with them. These chronotypes are largely determined by genetics and regulate the time of day that we prefer to sleep, and when feel the most awake, intelligent, and alert.

Night owls feel their smartest, most creative, and most productive in the evening or night hours — much later than early-risers.

Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.

Early-risers score higher on tests for traits connected to leadership and authority and show a greater openness to change for the sake of the greater social good.

On the other hand, night owls can be very extroverted, extremely charming, and even deceptive. They have stronger individualistic tendencies, and are less agreeable than their early-to-bed peers.

Male “night owls” may have certain evolutionary advantages like increased mating success, and show increased impulsivity and risk-taking behavior.

“Such features of the night may facilitate the causal sex, mate-poaching, and risk-taking the Dark Triad traits are linked to,” they said in a paper published in the upcoming September issue of the journal Personality and Individual Differences.

Cops versus robbers

The researchers believe there is an evolutionary arms race between “cheaters” — those who engage in casual sex, crime, and other risky behaviors — and those who are likely to punish them. As a result, people with the Dark Triad might have also evolved to prefer the hours of the day when the light is low and fewer people are awake to catch them cheating or stealing.

So, essentially, early risers are cops and night owls are robbers.

To test this theory, Jonason and his colleagues selected 263 volunteers and gave them each three surveys to test for Dark Triad attributes.

The surveys asked participants how much they agreed with statements like, “I have a natural talent for influencing people” (a sign of narcissism), “I enjoy driving at high speeds” or “I think I could beat a lie detector test” (a sign of psychopathy); and “it is hard to get ahead without cutting corners here and there” (a sign of Machiavellianism).

Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.

Consistently, the researchers found that people who stay up later at night scored higher on each of the Dark Triad of personality traits than their early-to-bed peers.

The study has one important limitation, the scientists admit: Most of their subjects were college students, who may stay up later to fit the lifestyle and demands of student life.

Still, they concluded their study by saying, “those high on the Dark Triad traits like many other predators (e.g., lions, African hunting dogs, scorpions), are creatures of the night.”

Source

Comments

You May Also Like

Science & Technology

It’s hard to believe, but about a third of the population of planet Earth (and in the recent past, half of it) is participating...

Metaphysics & Psychology

A new study illustrates that the brain’s cerebrospinal fluid pulses during sleep, and that these motions are closely tied with brain wave activity and...

Metaphysics & Psychology

“The disappearance of a sense of responsibility is the most far-reaching consequence of submission to authority.” ~Stanley Milgram Being a responsible and compassionate human...

Metaphysics & Psychology

By Steven Bancarz What is the mark of an intelligent mind in our day and age?  When we think of intelligent people, we may...

Mysteries

Villagers in a remote Kazakhstan village are still inexplicably falling asleep for days at a time. The peculiar malady, which has afflicted as many...

Bizzare & Odd

“Epidemic of Sleep” – is how doctors – perplexed – are calling a strange disease that spread among the villagers of Kalachi (or Kalachev,...

Metaphysics & Psychology

It appears that the many forms of media may have skewed the common perception of what a psychopath is and how they appear. via...

Metaphysics & Psychology

Ok, maybe your grandparents probably slept like you. And your great, great-grandparents. But once you go back before the 1800s, sleep starts to look...

Advertisement