A man who studies evil

Why are some people selfish, manipulative, and unkind to others? We asked a scientist investigating the dark side of the human mind. If you had the opportunity to send harmless bugs to a coffee grinder, would you enjoy it? What if bugs had names and you heard their shells crunch? Or, for example, to stun an innocent person with an unbearable noise – do you like the prospect?

With the help of such tests, Delroy Polius explores the dark side of the human psyche. His main task is to answer the question that many people ask: why do some people enjoy cruelty? And this is not only psychopaths and murderers, but also schoolboys-fighters, Internet trolls and even respected, it would seem, members of society – for example, politicians and police officers.

According to the scientist, others often make hasty conclusions about these people. “We tend to assign angelic or devilish traits to new acquaintances – it’s easier for us to assume that the world is made up of good and bad people,” explains Paulus, a professor at the University of British Columbia in Canada. Polus does not justify cruelty, but he takes a detached position as a zoologist who studies poisonous insects. This allows him to build a classification of the various manifestations of evil in everyday life.

Taking care of yourself Initially, the attention of Polius attracted narcissists – people selfish and vain, able to pounce on another person so as not to lose face. Then, just over a decade ago, his graduate student, Kevin Williams, proposed testing whether these self-centered traits were related to two other unpleasant characteristics: Machiavellianism (a tendency to cold-blooded manipulation) and psychopathy (a violent insensitivity and imperviousness to the feelings of others). Together, they found that these three character traits are generally independent of each other, but sometimes occur in the same person, forming the so-called “dark three”.

It is surprising how often the participants of the study are honest. In the Polius questionnaire, respondents are asked to agree (or disagree) with statements such as “I like to tease people who are weaker than me” or “I wouldn’t recommend sharing my secrets with me.” It would seem to be a shame to admit this, but researchers are not shy, and their answers seem to correlate with the real percentage of aggressors – both in adolescence and in adulthood. In addition, they are more likely to be unfaithful to their spouses (especially those who tend to be Machiavellian and psychopathic) and cheat on exams.

People are not shy about admitting to researchers that they like to manipulate others, and yet Delroy Poleus deals mainly with everyday manifestations of evil, rather than cases from the field of forensics or psychiatry, so the traits he examines at first glance are not at all obvious.

“Such people cope with life in society and control themselves enough not to get involved in trouble,” explains the scientist. But some manifestation of their character will certainly attract attention.

For example, those whose questionnaires show a tendency to narcissism often try to throw dust in their eyes – this is one strategy that allows them to amuse their own self-esteem. So, in the framework of experiments, Poleus introduced a topic he had invented into the conversation, and his interlocutors immediately began to pretend that everyone knew about it. When the researcher asked them test questions, they became angry. “Astoundingly, yes, this is part of a set of qualities that allow them to live with inflated self-esteem,” he said.

Born evil The first results obtained by Paulus as a result of the study of the dark sides of the human psyche, interested many and raised a number of questions. For example, is a person born evil?

Scientists compared identical and fraternal twins and came to the conclusion that the genetic component of both narcissism and psychopathy is quite large, but Machiavellianism rather develops under the influence of the environment - manipulation can be learned from others.

Whatever our inheritance, it does not absolve us of responsibility for our actions. “I don’t think a person is born with the genes of a psychopath and nothing can be done about it,” said Minna Lyons of the University of Liverpool.

The popularity of popular culture antiheroes – James Bond, Don Draper (Mad Men) or Jordan Belfort (The Wolf of Wall Street) – tells us that “dark personalities” have sexual appeal. This is also evidenced by scientific research.

It is worth paying attention to another basic human characteristic – “lark” you or “owl”. Lyons and her student Amy Jones found that “owls” – people who lie down late and can’t get up early – are more likely to have “dark three” qualities. They often take risks (this is one of the manifestations of psychopathy), are more prone to manipulation (which indicates Machiavellianism), and, like typical narcissists, can exploit others.

This correlation can be explained in terms of evolution: perhaps dark personalities had more opportunities to steal, manipulate and make secret sexual connections while others were asleep, so they became nocturnal creatures.

Whether it’s true or not, Delroy Polews believes that people like this will always find a niche. “Human society is so complex that there are different ways to become more successful reproductively. Some of them are good, others are bad, he said.

Dark corners Recently, a scientist tried to penetrate the most secret corners of the human mind. "We went beyond our usual limits by asking more radical questions," he says. As it turns out, some people also readily admit that they have hurt others for one reason only: for their own pleasure. Importantly, these trends are not narcissistic, psychopathic, or Machiavellian; they seem to belong to a separate type, “everyday sadism.” So Delroy Polews called his system the “Dark Four.”

Some people are willing to hurt weaker people just for their own pleasure.

The Bitchlet allowed Paulus and his colleagues to put their theory to the test. In fact, the beetles in the grinder did not fall on the blades, but the participants in the experiment did not know about it, and the machine made sounds that mimic the crunch of the beetle shells.

Some of the subjects refused this task, others, on the contrary, performed it with pleasure. “Not only did they want to harm the bugs, they asked for more,” says Paulus. Others considered the task so disgusting that they didn’t even want to stay in the room. Importantly, fans of grinding beetles showed high results in the test for sadistic tendencies.

A rational person, perhaps, should not be particularly concerned about the fate of beetles. But a group of scientists came up with another experience – a computer game in which participants could “punish” an opponent with a loud sound in headphones. This was not necessary, the subjects, on the contrary, even had to perform tedious tasks to earn the right to apply this punishment. But to Paulus’ surprise, everyday sadists were willing to do it: “We observed not only desire, but also motivation, the desire to make extra efforts to get the opportunity to do other people harm.”

This cruelty was not provoked in any way, it did not bring any personal gain - some subjects did it just for fun.

Troll hunting The scientist believes that his work has a direct bearing on Internet trolls: “It seems to be a network variety of everyday sadists – they spend their time looking for people who can be harmed.” Indeed, an anonymous survey of Internet trolls revealed that they had strong characteristics of the “dark four,” especially everyday sadism.

They are driven primarily by the desire to enjoy. During the experiment with the “bugfly” it turned out that household sadists may not have an emotional reaction to pleasant life events. Perhaps the acts of unmotivated cruelty are an attempt to somehow break through this barrier.

Some people have to behave vilely to achieve higher goals.

Polius’ research has attracted interest from the police and the military, who would like to join forces with the scientists to try to find an explanation for why some people abuse power. “There is a suspicion that such individuals consciously choose jobs in which they get the opportunity to hurt others,” he said. If this is the case, further research could help identify such candidates at the recruitment stage.

Polews also considers it important to study “high-moral Machiavellianism” and “socially useful narcissism” – when people with dark sides of character convert them to the benefit of others (as they imagine it). In some situations, ruthlessness is helpful. “The prime minister cannot tangle with everyone: sometimes you have to play around the rules and cause people inconvenience, and sometimes even behave vilely to achieve higher goals,” he said.

Dark people often have the energy and confidence to achieve their goals. And even Mother Teresa had a temper with steel, says the researcher: “Society cannot be helped by sitting peacefully at home on the couch.”

So, the world can't be divided into black and white, and Polius willingly studies shades of gray. In a sense, this is not only a professional issue for him, but also a personal one. He notes that there are dark traits in his character, too – for example, he likes to watch tough sports, such as fighting without rules.

“I quickly realized that on my research scale I would have scored pretty high,” he admits. But I am curious, like all scientists, and I like to understand such things. So I decided to take a closer look at the dark side.

Read the original article in English on the BBC Future website.

Source: www.bbc.co.uk/russian/science/2015/02/150211_vert_fut_evil_psychology