Emotion recognition and moral utilitarianism in the dark triad of personality

Abstract

Introduction: In the last decade, the dark triad of personality has attracted a great deal of attention in studies. However, little is known about the emotional and moral defects in such circumstances. Aim of the study: To evaluate emotion recognition and utilitarianism in moral decision-making in people with dark triad personality tendencies. Material and methods: Three hundred and ninety girl students (with an average age of 22.7 years and a standard deviation of 2.66) were selected in 2017. Then 120 of them were selected for the second stage according to cluster analysis on the Dark Triad Scale (SD3); as Machiavellian, psychopathic, and narcissistic. Finally, participants were studied in emotion recognition using the International Affective Picture System (IAPS) and moral decision-making. Results: The results showed that there is a significant difference between the dark triad personality groups in emotion recognition and moral decision making. Participants with dark triad traits have lower performance in emotion recognition. The comparison groups in impersonal moral decision-making showed that participants with psychopathic tendencies showed more utilitarianism. Conclusions: It can be concluded that people with Machiavellian, psychopathic, and narcissistic personality tendencies, as dark dimensions of personality, have deficiencies in emotional aspects and moral decision making.