人格的黑暗因素(The Dark Factor of Personality)

　　人格的黑暗因素(The Dark Factor of Personality)During the current coronavirus pandemic, there have been inpidual differences in the degree of compliance with the social restrictions coming down from city mayors and state governors. As I have written, some of the support or opposition for Stay-at-Homerdquo; orders varies based on politics. But some of it also comes down to personality. Researchers from Copenhagen (Zettler, Schild, Lilleholt amp; B?hm, 2020) recently released a preprint article focused on exploratory research conducted last month showing that compliance differs based on three factors. The first two are predictable: age (older adults follow the precautions) and emotionality (those prone to fear or empathy follow the precautions). But the third predictor is something that is ominously called The Dark Factorrdquo; of personality, and it is a factor that should be understood by those who want to understand personality and persuasion.

　　译文：　　当前的冠状病毒大流行期间,个体差异的程度符合社会限制来自城市市长和州长。正如我所写的,一些支持或反对全职rdquo;订单基于政治的变化。但有些也归结于性格。研究人员从哥本哈根(zettl席尔德Lilleholt amp; B ?嗯,2020)最近公布的预印本的文章侧重于上个月进行的探索性研究表明合规基于三个因素的不同。前两个是可以预见的:年龄(老年人遵循预防措施)和情绪性(那些容易恐惧或移情遵循预防措施)。但第三预测是不幸的是被称为黑暗因素rdquo;的个性,这是一个因素,应该理解那些想理解人格和说服。

　　The Dark Factor of personality is an emerging concept in academic research, and it focuses on predictors of what we would consider anti-social behavior: selfishness at the low end or psychopathy at the extreme end. Helpfully explained on a website created by the main authors, the construct refers to The tendency to ruthlessly pursue onersquo;s own interests, even when this harms othersrdquo; or, more generally, to maximize onersquo;s inpidual utility disregarding, accepting, or malevolently provoking disutility for others.rdquo; It is accompanied by a set of beliefs that serve to justify that disposition. The attitude predicts whether a person will be open to goals or values outside of themselves, and whether they can be motivated to protect the community or just themselves. In other words, it has a bearing on how they view legal cases.

　　黑暗的性格因素是学术研究中一个新兴的概念,它侧重于预测我们会考虑反社会行为:自私在低端或精神病极端。有助于解释在网站上创建的主要作者,构造是指无情地追求自己的利益的倾向,即使这伤害他人rdquo;,或者更一般的意义上,人的个人效用最大化,无视接受,或为他人恶意地引发负效用。这是伴随着一套信仰,证明性格。态度预测一个人是否将目标或价值观之外的自己,和他们是否可以激励保护社区或者只是自己。换句话说,它已经影响到他们如何看待法律案件。

　　The Research: The lsquo;Dark Factorrsquo; Drives Noncompliance

　　黑暗人格因素测试学术译文【the dark factor of personality】__The idea of a Dark Factor, or personality, is an evolution of an earlier idea you may have heard of: The Dark Triadrdquo; is the idea of three personality traits that predict the worst forms of anti-social behavior: narcissism (a sense of entitlement, dominance, and ego-gratification); machiavellianism (a self-interested focus on using other people as a means to an end); and psychopathy (callousness and impulsivity).

　　Looking beyond that trio, researchers have more recently theorized that there is a common factor underlying all of these the Dark Factor, or simply Drdquo; that more effectively predicts anti-social behavior. They defined it as a Basic disposition that gives rise to specific personality traits related to antagonistic, malevolent, or socially aversive behaviorrdquo; (Moshagen, Zettler amp; Hilbig, 2019). They also found and validated a way to measure it. Using a 70-question scale (with shorter versions that include 35 or 16 questions), it involves agree/disagree scale items like: My own pleasure is all that matters,rdquo; It is hard to get ahead without cutting corners here and there,rdquo; and People who get mistreated have usually done something to bring it on themselves.rdquo;

　　The researchers saw the current pandemic and its associated restrictions as an ideal real-life laboratory to test peoplersquo;s ability to put collective gain ahead of their own interests. Using a sample of 799 Danish adults, they looked at the determinants of compliance with COVID-19 social restrictions. As noted, they found three significant relationships:

　　Age: Older people (who are more at risk) are more likely to comply.

　　Emotionality: People who are more prone to anxiety and fear, and/or feel more empathic toward others, are more likely to comply.

　　Dark Factor: People with anti-social personality traits are less likely to comply.

　　The Implications: Appeal to the Dark and the Light

　　Because this concept is just emerging and being tested, I am not seeing current estimates of the proportion of the population that is high in the Dark Factors. It is also useful to think of it as a spectrum. Yes, there are certainly abject psychopaths among us, but there are also inpiduals with more subtle tendencies to focus on self-interest and to treat others as tools or obstacles. There are also situations like a global pandemic that might bring out higher levels of self-interest in all of us.

　　So what does this mean for your case? Knowing that your case could depend on jurors having a higher or lower level of community-motivation or altruism, it may help to keep this Dark Factor in mind during jury selection. Some scale questions may be included in voir dire, or you could ask versions that are applicable to your case. For example, Who believes that a business cannot succeed without cutting corners here or there?rdquo; Or, Who agrees that if someone has been injured using a product, then usually they have done something to bring it on themselves?rdquo; Beyond the specific question responses, you may simply get a read on someone as you observe them and hear them speak.

　　When it comes to persuasion, there is also likelihood that you will need to speak to the motivations of at least a few lsquo;Dark Factorrsquo; jurors on your panel. In the past, I have counseled against presuming that your jury is altruistic and simply wanting to do justicerdquo; for you. For that reason, it helps to think about what would serve as a personal motivator for them and to ask, What would make different kinds of jurors want my side to win in this litigation?rdquo; While those on the lighter side might appreciate an appeal to community values, those closer to the dark side would need to hear some form of implicit self-interest appeal.

　　One example of a litigation approach that arguably addresses Dark Factor jurors might be the Reptile approach of trying plaintiffsrsquo; cases by framing defendantrsquo;s behavior as a personally relevant threat. By targeting the danger posed by the defendant, the aim is to appeal to the self-interest of a juror who might have trouble identifying with the concerns of a stranger, the plaintiff.

　　So, on different points of the spectrum, there are ways of speaking to those who are more community-focused and those who are more self-centered, including those high in the Dark Factor of personality. Now, if we can just get them to stay home for the next few weeks.

　　____________________

　　Thanks for reading. I am a litigation consultant (bio here) specializing in mock trial research, witness preparation, jury selection, and case strategy, generally (but not always) in high-value civil cases. If you have a comment, a request for a future topic, or a concern about a current case, contact me now.