Moral Disengagement and Unethical Generative AI Use as the Chain Mediators Between Antagonistic Personality and...

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Artificial Intelligence Ethics
• Human-Computer Interaction

Background:

• Generative artificial intelligence (GAI) tools are increasingly integrated into academic and professional settings.
• Concerns exist regarding the unethical use and potential for problematic usage patterns of GAI.
• Personality and moral psychology frameworks offer insights into user behavior with new technologies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine the associations between antagonistic personality traits (narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy) and problematic GAI use (PGAIU).
• To investigate the mediating roles of moral disengagement and unethical GAI use (UGAIU) in this relationship.
• To explore potential gender and age differences in these associations.

Main Methods:

• A quantitative study utilizing validated self-report measures.
• Data collected from an adult sample (N = 491; 52% men; M_age = 43.92).
• Path analysis and multi-group analyses were employed to test the proposed model.

Main Results:

• Narcissism showed significant direct and indirect links to PGAIU.
• Machiavellianism and psychopathy were indirectly associated with PGAIU through moral disengagement and UGAIU.
• Gender and age groups showed broadly similar structural patterns, with some variations in mediation pathways.

Conclusions:

• Moral disengagement and unethical GAI use are key mediators linking antagonistic personality traits to PGAIU.
• Understanding these psychological mechanisms is crucial for addressing problematic GAI adoption.
• Findings underscore the importance of ethical considerations in the development and deployment of GAI tools.