Effects of Dark Tetrad traits on utilitarian moral judgement: The role of personal involvement and familiarity with the victim

The aim of this study was to re-examine relations between dark traits and utilitarian moral judgement in sacrificial moral dilemmas by taking into account two contextual characteristics of dilemmas: the actor's role in sacrificing (personal or impersonal involvement in inflicting harm) and the actor's familiarity with the victim (a known or an unknown person). Results showed that all dark traits, except for psychopathy, obtained significant main and positive effects on utilitarian moral judgement. However, psychopathy and sadism obtained interaction effects with dilemma type, indicating the importance of the specific context of moral judgement in individuals with these traits. Furthermore, among all dark traits, only sadism showed an incremental contribution to utilitarian judgement over empathy and HEXACO traits, with the highest contribution to dilemmas that include personal harm. Results highlighted the role of enjoyment of cruelty in utilitarian moral judgement.

Automated summary

This study found that, among dark traits, all traits except for psychopathy had significant positive effects on utilitarian moral judgement, with sadism showing the highest contribution to dilemmas involving personal harm.