Date of Thesis

Spring 2025

Description

Abstract

Empathy is the ability to understand and share others’ emotions, and it is crucial for building positive relationships. While much research links empathy to positive personality traits, less is known about its relationship with dark personality traits. The Dark Triad (Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy) shows inconsistent patterns with cognitive (understanding emotions) and affective (sharing emotions) components of empathy, highlighting the need for further study. Additionally, little research has examined whether the nature of a situation (specifically in the contexts of social exclusion or test performance) influences empathetic concern. This study addressed these gaps by investigating three main questions: whether higher dark trait scores would negatively correlate with dispositional empathy, whether dark traits would predict situational empathy and prosocial intentions beyond dispositional empathy, and whether situation type moderated these relationships. Results showed that Machiavellianism and psychopathy were negatively correlated with dispositional empathy, while narcissism surprisingly correlated positively, suggesting a heightened self-focus. Machiavellianism and psychopathy also explained additional variance in situational empathy for the test performance scenario. Lastly, Machiavellianism moderated situational empathy; Individuals high in Machiavellianism showed particularly reduced empathy for those experiencing poor academic performance compared to social exclusion. Although limited by sample size, reliance on self-reports, and a narrow set of vignettes, the study offers new insight into how dark traits influence empathy and prosocial behavior across different contexts.

Keywords

Psychology, Personality, Empathy, The Dark Triad, Prosocial Behavior

Access Type

Honors Thesis (Bucknell Access Only)

Degree Type

Bachelor of Arts

Major

Psychology

Minor, Emphasis, or Concentration

Mathematics

First Advisor

Dr. John Ptacek

Second Advisor

Dr. Aaron Mitchel

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