The hierarchies of good and evil personality traits

Abstract

The question of good and evil is an important topic in people's social life. What is the first information that people care about when they perceive others, and do they weigh different types of good and evil traits? Based on the perspective of personality psy-chology, this study explored the issue through four studies. Firstly, the paper explored the differences between good and evil when the moral concept of personality is activated, and then examined the differences in the core degree of different types of good and evil traits by using representativeness, desirability, the scope of trait, and importance as the measurement indicators. The result s show that the hierarchies of good and evil personality traits are embodied in two aspects: (1) the hierarchy between good and evi l personalities, in the moral category of personality, there exists the priority effect of the good personality; (2) the hierarchies within good and evil personalities, The core of good from the inside to out is: conscientiousness and integrity, benevolence and amicability, tolerance and magnanimity, altruism and dedication; the core of evil from the inside to out is: atrociousness and mercilessness, faithlessness and treacherousness, calumniation and circumvention, mendacity and hypocrisy. The study helps to further understand the Chinese view of good and evil, and provides a new way of thinking for the exploration of the field of good and evil.