Characteristics Of A Psychopath And The Making Of The Dark Tetrad

The following is a transcript excerpt from Dr. JOrdan Peterson’s conversation with Dr. Del Paulhus on the Dark Tetrad: Machiavellianism, narcissism, psychopathy, and the newly added sadism. You can listen to or Watch The complete podcast is available on DailyWire+.

Podcast time: 10:54

Dr. Jordan B. Peterson

I have heard that the Dark Triad has become the Dark Tetrad. However, I am curious about what your thoughts are on the overlap between personality disorder and Dark Tetrad traits, particularly in the histrionics, antisocials, and narcissistic groups. That inevitably leads to personality pathology. (To Dr. Del Paulhus: Can you please define these traits and correct me if I am wrong?

As you have pointed out, Machiavelli served as an advisor to princes. He was very interested in the maintenance of instrumental power. I wouldn’t say that he was motivated by any intrinsic ethics. Machiavelli offered advice to princes who wanted their position to be maintained by hook or by the crook. Machiavellians can manipulate others to get their desired ends. Narcissists, on the other hand, seem driven by a desire to attain unearned status. They see status as not in relation to competence or performance, but rather status for its own sake.

Then came the psychopaths. I spent a lot of time looking at Hare’s research and thinking about the relationship to the Big Five. Psychopaths look like parasitical predators. They are extremely, very low in agreementability which makes them callous as well as non-empathetic. They also appear to be very poor in conscientiousness. These two characteristics seem to match fairly well the psychopathy scale. So a real psychopath is someone who is willing to take what you have, and use it – that might be the predatory aspect – and also to live off the earnings and efforts of others. This is also a form of criminal behavior. 

You are looking at the intersection of Machiavellianism and narcissism. Recently, you and other researchers have added – I think this is so interesting because I think it was a real lack – sadism to that, which is positive delight and pleasure-taking in the suffering of others. Could you please expand on Machiavellianism’s definitions? You can even segue into sadism.

Dr. Del Paulhus:

While I agree with all your definitions, what we did was spend a lot more time trying to determine what differences exist among each character and where there is overlap. It is strange that literature and all the available measures overlap to dangerous degrees in trying to understand the situation. We believe that psychopaths have a key trait: impulsivity, sensation-seeking, and this is what gets them in trouble.

Although they might not have worse motives than others, they simply cannot help it. That is why they – at the extreme levels – spend their lives in prison. They can’t resist temptation. They will respond to any temptation, no matter how strong, and they often get what they want immediately. They seem to not learn from it. This qualifies them as psychopaths. 

What is the core of it? We think that all are apathetic. These are all overlapping because they share the same core problem: a lack of empathy. And if you have a deficit in empathy, it seems inevitable that you’re going to exploit other people in one way or another because you are not getting the feedback that people with empathy get in seeing other people suffer at your hands.

The sadistic story is a long one, but I’m happy to go into more detail if you ask.

Dr. Jordan B. Peterson

Please do. Please do.

Dr. Del Paulhus:

Although I don’t know if I am more sensitive than others to these things, I noticed sadism in everyday people. It is not just a common trait in people every day, but it can also be found in people who succumb to it when it is possible. Hockey is one of my favourite sports. It is almost sad to see a hockey game. The cheers are bigger for the fights and less for the goals. People love to see their fighter pummel the fighter of the other team – or pummel anyone – and the cheers that go up in a hockey stadium are incredible.

When the victim falls to the ice, the cheers stop. The crowd then hushs, revealing the dual nature of human motivations. The fact is that they love to see

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