Choosing the dark path
Preferences for darkness and interpersonal antagonism
Dark personalities are those that are malevolent and antagonistic. Underlying such tendencies may be some
attraction to perceptual darkness, given that darkness has been symbolically linked to malevolence and evil throughout human
history. In the present research (total N = 501), participants were asked to choose whether they prefer dark or
light as abstract perceptual concepts. Preferences for darkness were non-normative as well as informative concerning interpersonal
functioning. Specifically, dark-preferring individuals scored lower in agreeableness or higher in antagonism (Study 1) and they
also exhibited lower levels of prosocial feeling and personality in the conduct of their daily lives (Study 2). An attraction to
darkness therefore belies tendencies toward antagonism and callousness. In total, the research highlights the manner in which a
simple preference judgment involving metaphor-rich stimuli can be used to gain key insights into the motivational substrates of
social functioning.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Study One
- 2.1Method
- 2.1.1Participants and general procedures
- 2.1.2Preferences for darkness
- 2.1.3Agreeableness versus antagonism
- 2.2Results
- 2.2.1Preferences for darkness
- 2.2.2Group differences in antagonism-agreeableness
- 2.3Discussion
- 3.Study two
- 3.1Method
- 3.1.1Participants and general procedures
- 3.1.2Preferences for darkness
- 3.1.3Daily diary protocol
- 3.2Results
- 3.3Discussion
- 4.General discussion
- 4.1Additional implications and analysis
- 4.2Questions, limitations, and future directions
- 4.3Conclusions
-
References