Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 15, 2025

Brain Morphology of Cannabis Users With or Without Psychosis: A Pilot MRI Study
Published on: August 18, 2020
Cognitions in antisocial personality and their association with "dark" traits
Luna Rabl1, Valerie Kienhöfer2, Morten Moshagen3
1Institute of Psychology, University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria. luna.rabl@uibk.ac.at.
Abstract:
Unlike the cognitions associated with depressive symptoms, little is known about those associated with antisocial personality and with its related traits ("dark traits"). Using the scrambled sentences task, an instrument from depression research, we investigated cognitions such as justifications (external blaming for one's behavior) and harm to others (based on the notion that some of these individuals enjoy harming or humiliating others) that we hypothesized may be prevalent in those high in antisocial personality traits. Confirming our hypothesis, these cognitions were associated with ratings on different antisocial personality scales and with antisocial and detachment scores in the alternative model of personality disorders of the DSM-5 (AMPD) in three non-clinical samples, but not with depressive symptoms or neuroticism. Cognitions including harm to others were differentially associated with high sadism. These findings empirically characterize classes of cognitions that are shared by individuals with antisocial tendencies, and that differ from those associated with depressive symptoms.
Related Concept Videos
Antisocial Personality Disorder
Behavioral Characteristics and...
Social Cognitive Perspective on Personality
Personality Disorders: Paranoid and Schizoid
Paranoid Personality Disorder
Paranoid personality disorder is...
Self-Presentation: Self-Monitoring and Self-Handicapping
Personality Disorders: Narcissistic and Avoidant
Characteristics of Narcissistic Personality Disorder
Narcissistic individuals exhibit an inflated sense of self-importance and an excessive need for admiration. They are often...
Revisionist Views of Adolescent and Adult Cognition

