Is the COVID-19 pandemic even darker for some? Examining dark personality and affective, cognitive, and behavioral responses to the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

As the COVID-19 pandemic and interventions intended to minimize its spread continue to impact daily life, personality research may help to address the different ways in which people respond to a major global health crisis. The present study assessed the role of dark personality traits in predicting different responses to the pandemic. A nationally representative sample of 412 Americans completed measures of the Dark Tetrad as well as perceptions of COVID-19 threat, emergency beliefs, and positive and negative affect in response to COVID-19. Narcissism and Machiavellianism predicted greater negative affect and perceptions of threat during the pandemic, while psychopathy predicted positive affect. Conversely, sadism predicted greater positive affect. Dark personality also showed some predictive ability in explaining pandemic-related behaviors (e.g., more frequent cleaning) but not others (e.g., social distancing). Our findings provide evidence for differences in how dark personality traits predict individual responses to global crises.

Corona exhaustion (CORONEX): COVID-19-induced exhaustion grinding down humanity

“…In Bangladesh, despite that fear, respondents were mostly positive, indicating that they believed the disease was “controllable and containable” ( Hossain et al., 2020 ). In a small sample of Americans, depending on the “dark” personality trait (narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and sadism), COVID-19 was perceived either as a threat of instability or as a positive protective measure ( Hardin et al., 2020 ). In the Balkans (Bosnia and Herzegovina), fear was associated with older individuals, and depression with younger ones ( Šljivo et al., 2020 ).…”

Big Five traits as Predictors of Perceived Stressfulness of the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Finally, future longitudinal studies on perceived stressfulness of the COVID-19 pandemic could focus on additional individual difference characteristics as predictors. For instance, recent cross-sectional studies have examined personality dimensions based on reinforcement sensitivity theory (e.g., reward reactivity; Bacon & Corr, 2020), as well STRESSFULNESS OF COVID-19 22 as "dark personality traits" (e.g., narcissism, sadism; Hardin et al, 2020) in this context.…”

Intention-Based Critical Factors Affecting Willingness to Adopt Novel Coronavirus Prevention in Pakistan: Implications for Future Pandemics

“…In a different study, Wagerman et al [ 21 ] investigated and revealed that anxious attachment positively determined the COVID-19 distress factor. Hardin et al [ 22 ] analyzed and discovered that Machiavellianism and Narcissism introduced negative impacts in response to COVID-19 in the U.S. context.…”