After IQ, EQ, sexual intelligence, adversity quotient, social intelligence, team intelligence… a new “quotient” has just come fresh out of the oven: the Darkness Quotient.
In a recently published study, psychologists compiled the historical research on the “dark personality” (the various personality traits of bad people) and found that nearly all the different dark personality traits are correlated.
In other words, if someone stands out in one dark quality, they are quite likely to stand out in some of the others too.
So, a common factor can actually be distilled from all these dark personalities. Using this one factor, we can measure a person’s “degree of evil” to a considerable extent.
The researchers named this factor the D factor (General Dark Factor of Personality), echoing the G factor proposed many years ago (the G factor is the general factor of intelligence distilled from various intelligence tests).
Put simply, the D factor is a person’s “Darkness Quotient.”
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D factor—your Darkness Quotient is measured by combining your scores on the following nine personality traits:
Trait 1: Egoism
Excessive concern with one’s own pleasure or interests (usually at the expense of the welfare of the group).
Trait 2: Machiavellianism
Also known as Machiavellianism: an inclination toward manipulating others, being cold-blooded, and being skilled at scheming.
Trait 3: Moral Disengagement
A cognitive orientation that redefines one’s behavior so that its harmfulness seems smaller, minimizes one’s responsibility for the consequences, and reduces one’s identification with the victim’s suffering. In other words: “Not my business. Not my fault.”
Trait 4: Narcissism
No explanation needed. We all get it.
Trait 5: Psychological Entitlement
A psychological inclination to believe that one deserves more and has the right to get more than other people. In other words: “I want it all.”
Trait 6: Psychopathy
A lack of emotional empathy; cold and heartless. We’ve written plenty about psychopathy before—see some of the earlier Fan Tuan articles.
Trait 7: Sadism
Deliberately causing others physical, sexual, or psychological pain in order to maintain power and dominance, or to gain pleasure and enjoyment.
Trait 8: Self-Interest
Pursuing benefits in domains of social value, including material wealth, social status, recognition from others, academic or career achievement, and happiness.
Trait 9: Spitefulness
An inclination to harm others maliciously. The harm may be social or physical (and sometimes, to hurt someone else, one is willing to hurt oneself as well).
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Here is a super-simplified “Darkness Quotient” test scale, translated from an article in the November 2018 issue of Scientific American: Mind reporting on this research.
After reading each sentence, please answer whether you agree with the view expressed in it. The more you agree, the “darker” you are.
Please note that this scale has not been scientifically standardized and is for reference only.
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Darkness Quotient Test (Super-Simplified Version)
1. Without taking shortcuts, it is very difficult to achieve success.
2. I enjoy using clever manipulation to achieve my goals.
3. People who are treated unfairly actually did something wrong and brought it on themselves.
4. I know I’m special because everyone tells me so.
5. I genuinely feel that I deserve more than other people do.
6. I am willing to say anything to get what I want.
7. Hurting other people is exciting.
8. I make an effort to let other people know about my successes.
9. Sometimes, seeing other people receive the punishment they deserve is worth suffering a bit myself.
References:
Study discussed in this article: Moshagen, M., Hilbig, B. E., & Zettler, I. (2018). The dark core of personality. Psychological Review.
Scientific American: Mind report on this research, November 2018: Scott Barry Kaufman. THE DARK CORE OF PERSONALITY.
p.s.:
Many “quotients” aren’t rigorous psychological concepts at all; they were made up by the media or by bestselling authors. The original article in Scientific American: Mind also doesn’t summarize the D factor as the “Darkness Quotient.” But it really is an indicator of how evil people are, so calling it the “Darkness Quotient” isn’t exactly pulled out of thin air.
Note
- This “New Psychology Knowledge Mini-Course” series was written at the time as a collection of short popular-science pieces and informal essays connected with Zhichao Wei: New Psychology Knowledge Mini-Course, published on the now-closed platform Fan Tuan. The original link no longer exists.
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