People who have conservative moral judgements on a number of hot-button issues tend to have the “dark and socially destructive” personality traits of machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy, according to an article in the journal Neuroethics.

People who have conservative moral judgements on a number of hot-button issues tend to have the “dark and socially destructive” personality traits of machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy, according to an article in the journal Neuroethics.

Assuming that a “person’s moral judgments ‘fit’ their personality”, Marcus Arvan, of the University of Tampa (in Florida), survey a number of people in their 20s to see if there were correlations between conservatism and “the dark triad”. He found 11 significant correlations between the Dark Triad and conservative moral judgments on capital punishment, indefinite detention of suspected terrorists without trial, the right of a government to wage war in violation of UN resolutions, the view that government should never intervene in free markets except to prevent force and fraud, and gay marriage. There was no correlation of the Dark Triad with liberal moral judgements.

The study was based on brief questionnaires on the internet by 567 participants (302 male, 257 female, 2 transgendered; with a median age of 28). Dr Arvan says that his findings are “significant and provocative” and need to be researched further. ~ Neuroethics, Oct 25

Michael Cook
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Michael Cook

Michael Cook edits BioEdge, a bioethics newsletter, and MercatorNet, an on-line magazine whose focus is human dignity. He writes from Sydney, Australia.

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