- People who score high in the personality traits narcissism, Machiavellianism and psychopathy can empathize, but generally lack the disposition to do so, according to a recent study.
- These traits are part of the "dark triad" of personality, which has been used to study malevolent personality traits since 2002.
- The results suggest it might be possible to encourage psychopaths to empathize more, but no evidence shows this is effective over the long term.
Lack of empathy – the ability to understand and share the feelings of others – is one of the most often cited traits of psychopaths. This inability is also common among individuals who score high in the "dark triad" of personality traits: narcissism (entitled self-importance), Machiavellianism (strategic exploitation and deceit) and psychopathy (callousness and cynicism).
But new research suggests that these individuals are able to understand and share others' feelings – they'd just rather not.
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evolutionary_psychology, personality, psychology,
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