PSYCH 232 Midterm 2

Derivation of MioMa: not mattering/action or inaction

Acts of neglect - can have massive consequences MioMa-based inaction - evildoer? "you should have known better", "you should've done", you did something else, you prioritized something else ◊ That tells us something about people - what their priorities are, they aren't what we think they should be

4 Strategies for Reducing hate

**all effective hate reduction strategies need to target the theoretical core of hate-the desire to harm another person. it may be more difficult to regulate motives than to regulate emotions - Any strategies that can reduce emotional arousal may bring down the intensity of an anger response, whereas there are arguably fewer options for bringing down the longing for a desired goal. 1. Accommodation - the tendency to resist reciprocating in kind when the partner has engaged in a negative act 2. Forgiveness - conscious act of communicating to a transgressor that "it's alright," and assuaging the desire to harm a target 3. cognitive reappraisal - altering one's perception of a negative event in order to reduce its emotional significance 4. Rerouting goal achievement - help people disentangle means and ends, emonstrate that the ultimate goal is attainable without having to induce hann.

MioMa Triggers

**generally, mind over matter is triggered by net rewards Chasing feelings - simple, but fundamental to why we do what we do, why we do anything, the motivator for behaviour

The "Dark Triad" (DT)

**reflects individual differences in MioMa -These predict nastiness -strategies and justifications in services of the appetite for more -Dark Triad traits tend to co-occur, they are similar and tend to go in the same direction, its unlikely to find and individual that is only one of the triad - They are continuous scales, not a dichotomy -Rather than causing behaviour, it is a descriptive summary of how people move through the world -Three Traits: 1. Psychopathy: callous, anti-social, impulsive. Lack of empathy, focused on self-interest, doing what they feel like without thinking of consequence 2. Machiavellianism: how to get your way, manipulate others,, cynical, strategic 3. Narcissism: grandiose, attention-seeking, entitled

shame vs. guilt

*both are reactionary emotions -Guilt tends to promote reconciliation, make up for it, action- oriented and reparative. It is about what they have done ("I made a mistake") - Shame tends to be paralysis-oriented, want to hide and get away from it, and protect themselves. Ceases to be what was done and is embodied, very uncomfortable emotion ("I am a mistake.", "Others think there is something fundamentally wrong about me."); ex. public humiliation and social rejection as the mark of cain.

study: Disgust vs anger in response to moral violations

- Anger was most relevant when the moral violation was targeted at them, as though they were being violated - deal with that directly through retaliation - Disgust tended to be most likely experienced when they saw a third party victimized - moral disgust, the rejecting emotion - Target: self = anger, so direct retaliation - Target: 3rd party = disgust, so coordinated condemnation

Study: hate and evil motivation perception

- Asked Israeli, Palestinian, and US sample of democrats and republicans "What motivates you, why does your group do what they do?" and "Why does the other group do what they do?" -The general response was "We love, they hate". the idea is that we, the in group, do what we do out of love. They, the out group, do what they do out of hate -this supports the idea that hate and evil are linked through the "I am not a hater" pathway.

study: Political speech "disgust" - violence

- During instability, addressing constituents - When the political person uses language and non- verbal actions of disgust to show disgust towards the out-group. People respond with violence towards the out-group, they are dehumanized -this is still showing up today with large repercussions

Study: High status affairs and MioMa

- More cheating and infidelity against the higher level/status employees - More likely to characterize the affair as exciting - they have more resources available to them to cover it up - Feels successful - reducing costs creates excitement and feels good

measures of the dark triad

- Narcissism - narcissistic personality inventory (NPI) - Psychopathy - Self-Report Psychopathy (SRP-III) - Marchivellianism - Mach IV - All three - the dirty dozen (4 items per construct), Short Dark Triad (SD3)

study: cause of disgust/ target of nastiness

- Personality test - assigned, fake test -Neutral and disgusting images, vs neutral images - Word association task referring to the in- group and the out-group, and animals and humans - Those exposed to disgust were more likely to have humans as in-group and animals as out- group - Personality assignment did not have an effect

schadenfreude

- Reading stories: perps attempt harm led to feelings of joy, shows lenient moral judgement -hearing about positive emotions were seen as more negative -Schadenfreude assumes indirect enjoyment in suffering of others from psychophysical distance (without causing it), sadism is enjoyment in direct infliction of suffering. -Sadism moderates the link between the intensity of other people's misfortune and self-reported Schadenfreude BUT sadism is unrelated to emotional instability -Linked to expressive suppression; May not be expressing their emotions, but it may not come out explosively, but in a measured and controlled way -Pranks can be an example of sadistic behaviour; Planning and setting up for a bigger payoff

Study: sexual attitudes and MioMa

- Sample of undergraduate men, same people for both - Complete a sexual attitude surveys on a couple different occasions - Answer under normal circumstances complete once, then in a private place of their choice complete again at the peak of arousal after masturbating Found that a larger number of activities and groups arousing, attitude of condom usage reduced, shift to use manipulative and coercive means for sexual relations - such as slipping a drug to their date, increased by 5x Possible reason: motivation causes tunnel vision Other studies show increased risk taking is for both genders Some believe any high motivation pursuit will create tunnel vision in any situation Such as someone who abuses substances and suffering from withdrawal - what are they willing to do, and who are they willing to do it to in order to reduce the uncomfortable and painful feelings - another type of tunnel vision could occur

How do we make sense of Serial Killers (and two key ideas)

- There is no one size fits all for serial killers -SK can be thought about as sadisms most extreme, acting out of sadistic motivation in a vast majority of cases (ex. big game hunting) 1. More remote in time, the less likely it will be predictive -Example: head injuries, 10% SKs had several head injuries than the baseline, therefore over representative sample, Yet most people that have severe head injuries do not become SKs 2. SKs are heterogeneous - 15% of known SKs are female -A lot of the kills do not involve violence - poison, medical based -Most are not sexual

poisonous Western fizz cartoons

- example of B->D (anticipated relief from negative state of disgust) -Found the Western cartoons as blasphemous in non- Western countries - A scene was created where they were smashing soda bottles or dumping them out; symbolic depiction of getting rid of Western secularism and western values

"wet wipes for the soul" study

- example of B->D (anticipated relief from negative state of disgust) -hardcore christians asked to taste lemon water and then split into three conditions: write stuff from a dictionary, the athiest manifesto, or the karaan. The two religious documents were seen as "spiritually contaminated". After they tasted the same lemon water, the two non-dictionary groups rated the lemon water as more gross because they felt disgusting. By writing from a document that violated their values, they were icky. In a follow up, they were offered sanitary wipes before tasting the second water, this negated the effect.

Macro level factors of SK

- inequality - Sks can only kill when the social structure in which they operate allows them to through placing value on one group over others -anonymity - from urbanization -media - celebrity culture and the fast track to fame through multiple killing -cultural means/end rationality - can be invoked by individuals to justify almost any act. **key point: macro factors and the socio-cultural framework sees the SK as a regrettable social by-product of our times and culture, rather than a result of an individual being a "bad apple" (i.e. cultural abnormality or human aberration) -Rather than being explained as the result of individual pathology, such behaviors can often be seen as individual responses or solutions to wider social or cultural issues.

The "Mind over Matter" (MioMa) Principle

-"I mind, and you don't matter."▪ Evil behaviour - Expected net benefits to the self/in-group is greater than the expected costs to the victim - This is all about priorities - what I hope to get out of this, means ore to me than any possible impacts on others - its justified - Others do not think it is okay, it is not justified - that is why it is labelled evil -3 Derivations: you don't matter enough, action or inaction, expected is not actual

Study: dollar value and DT

-"you're __$ compared to peers" -three forms of feedback, below, average, above. -Asked if they want to see their score 10-20% said no -Ask how their feeling, then dark triad and appetite -Increases: High appetite/DT and below average feedback but occurred with average feedback as well, therefore Dark triad and appetite must be related -The correlation disappears after above-average feedback -Those who refused feedback had similar outcome to average and below average. They may have expected that they were below average and didn't want their faces "rubbed in it" -Basically, Appetite accounts for the effect on dark triad -Appetite is sitting between dark triad and financial dissatisfaction - "Unless I am better off than most, it's not fair." therefore appetite for more switches on, and the dark triad comes out to get more of what they want - Doesn't matter their actual circumstances, it is the mindset that drives this

Female serial killers

-16% of SK are women -We tend to reconstruct these women as victims of a male-dominated hetero-patriarchal society or as 'non-women' (makes them doubly deviant in the sense that they transgress not only our moral boundaries but also our views of what it means to be a woman) -assumed to kill for financial gain -The behavior of the lone female killer cannot be constructed as killing for profit or greed, do not kill for self-preservation, or revenge - can be particularly difficult to accept because she violates all expectations -similarly, black serial killers are less newsworthy even when their deeds are just as bad as their white counterparts; whilst society and the media expect violent offenders to be disproportionately black, this is not the case with the serial killer, who we assume to lack the intelligence of the psychopathic killer

Tethering

-A person is willing to harm a target in order to keep them close; Harm to prevent abandonment can be a form of hate - What are you willing to do to keep them close - Ex. Borderline Personality Organization - Intense fears of abandonment is a strong predictor of partner violence - "Costly mate retention tactics"; Nobody else can have them - sabotaging other relationships, hurting them, threatening suicide, all in order to keep them as theirs

sadistic personality disorder

-A repeat pattern of cruel and demeaning behavior. People suffering from this type of extreme personality disturbance seem prone to engage in serious violent attacks, including homicides motivated by sexual sadism. -sadists more often use emotional rather than physical violence and tend to "normalize" their behavior by rationalizing it, and in that way enhance their inflated self-image. -no longer in the DSM -measures: Short Sadistic Impulse Scale (SSIS), Varieties of Sadistic Tendencies (VAST), Amoralism Scale (AMRL-9), The Assessment of Sadistic Personality (ASP)

Shame Sensitivity

-Can stem from abuse/trauma: Shame implicates the self as the cause of the abuse or trauma -Can lead to PTSD, which leads to shame processing bias (react unconsciously) -Military veterans with PTSD react to shame related cues on unconscious levels, which can lead to NPD, BPD symptoms. Those veterans were more likely to be violent with their partners if they were sensitive to shame -The reaction shame is not avoiding and hiding, it is attacking verbally and physically - Hypersensitive to being triggered by shame - this is not functional, this is not helping them recover or let them get better - This reaction makes it so much worse• Individual differences matter, because not everyone responds in these ways

Hate and motivation

-Correlations between negative motivations and hate subscales support a motivational framing of hate. - hate is most strongly associated with the motivational trajectory to act against, rather than to retreat from, a devalued target. -Only in the case of "pure" hate would hurting or destroying be the other the ultimate goal -Hate is most strongly associated with goals of harm, suffering, and destruction for the hated target andwishes or desires for the hated target to incur these negative outcomes

Study: Can DSAR predict displaced aggression?

-DSAR = disrespect sensitivity/anger rumination -Randomly assigned taste test: 4 randomly assigned (told it was based on the taste), swish for 20 seconds -Conditions: Neutral (water), Sweet (stevia), Bitter1 (wormwood tea + assign next persons taste test), and Bitter2 (wormwood tea assigned by computer + choose next persons taste test) - More likely to assign wormwood tea to next person in bitter1 condition -After, all asked after how long should the next person have to taste each of sweet, sour, bitter, hot, salty. Bitter condition assigned significantly longer taste - more unpleasant they felt after the nasty taste, the more nasty they were to the next person, and the more they felt screwed over - Those who scored highly on DSAR, were more likely to say screwed over, even if they got water -Suggests how sensitive to insult these people are -Bitter2 assigned less time than Bitter1 and assigned nicer tastes more -Simply exposure to bitter taste brings out more sadistic tendencies and displaced aggression

Disgust Sensitivity

-Different for different people, and relatively stable over lifetime - Those that are more sensitive to disgust, tend to show less aggression and less nastiness, even in situations where they can retaliate or be sadistic by hurting someone that hasn't hurt them - Those that are less sensitive to disgust, tend to be more aggressive and more nasty. These findings may have to do with the distancing factor of disgust (Want to create distance between what is disgusting and yourself) - To get rid of something disgusting, you have to interact with it -Not worth it for those with high disgust sensitivity

sadism: boosting the self via watching pranks

-Disrespect sensitivity + anger rumination - Those with higher disrespect sensitivity showed higher dispositional sadism and they really enjoyed the videos -Anger rumination- they showed sadistic affect/motivation (I wish I was doing that) and Self-elevation/victim derogation (They're idiots, I could have done better, I wouldn't have fallen for that) -Anger Rumination only happened when they were disclosed with the long term harm is likely; it does not occur when they were disclosed that they suffered NO long term harm, only short term

Evidence for overlap of the dark triad constructs

-First is a number of factor analytic studies where subclinical psychopathy and narcissism load on the same factor -a number of studies show similar patterns when psychopathy and narcissism are correlated with self-reports, observer-reports and behavioral measures -the intercorrelations are all significantly positively correlated -Highest mean correlations are psychopathy and mach, lowest are narcissism and mach.

Study: harsh environment as a source of DT

-Following a group of delinquent teens, and then a follow up ten years later -Did not ask dark triad specifically, but similarA lot of questions about family and community to start (i.e. Seeing violence) -Inadequate care - children are not having their basic parental needs taken care of. - "survivalist" worldview - Coming into the world saying I must survive - must get what you can as you may be dead tomorrow. Nobody is safe, nobody is looking after me

Hate and the Mark of Cain

-Hate is almost evil because it is two thirds of the evil prototype; Wanting an individual to experience harm - Is the desired harm seen as justifiable? -"Real" hate simply wants a target to experience harm. It does not require action, it can linger, and it can include the idea that karma will get them

Sadism (what it is and what it isn't)

-It is pleasure from inflicting pain -It is an instrumental form of hate; Means: desire to harm another (physical, psychosocial), Goal: positive affect (for self) -Sadism is: "want" without behaviour, "want" without payoff, It does not matter of the action is not gratifying, only if they hoped it would be gratifying - Sadism is when the want is there, action is not necessary -Sadism is not: "want" without an emotional goal, Coerced harmful behaviour, Harming to gratify the target

Serial Killers

-Minimum: 2 motivationally distinct murders/ 2 episodes, in order to distinguish them from mass murderers (Limits of this perspective: what about those who got caught during the second, or didn't get to the second, or failed with one of the killings) - Motive: personal gratification - more of C in MioMa -motivation can often involve money; 3/4 of female serial killers were motivated by money -The umbrella should be a broad one because not all motivations are pure. Some contract killers feel a rush before the kill and give false reasons for motivations (ex. demons telling to do it and then retracted 25 years later)

mythology and serial killers

-Mythology obscures motivation -Incomprehensible = I can't understand them, they must be insane - In a legal context, few claim they are insane, even fewer win - FAR from 100% have a mental disorder (Less than half of female SKs, Less than 20% for another study of SKs) -We expect a monster, so in a way we want PURE evil and are disappointed by the mundane and prosocial

Case Study: Elizabeth Wettlaufer

-Ontario Nurse from Stratford, minimum 8 deaths, 2007-2016 -"red surge" -intense desire to kill immediately prior to doing so); felt "put upon", provoked, but not threatened -harm (insulin injection) and then experienced positive emotions "the laughter" (she would hear intense laughter every time and it made her feel good) - Multiple justifications, such as: Mercy and Retribution -Not psychotic, not legally insane, not an outlier - Found because she went in substance abuse, and decided to tell them about it -Got a job offer to work with kids, did not want to end up killing them when she had just killed the elderly before

Is Sadism Evil?

-Part of the MOPE (myth of pure evil) -It's the worst excuse for harm, the least acceptable motivation for inflicting harm on others - The ultimate MioMa - it is necessary for you to suffer because it is an essential part of my gratification - Mark of Cain: Assert invulnerability or minimize/justify. I am stronger than you, you can't hurt me, AND I enjoy it

DT appetite for more study findings

-Same participants doing survey 6 months apart - Do they predict changes over time? - Initial appetitive strength predicts dark triad changes - Initial dark triad strength does NOT predict appetite changes

Sadism: boosting the self via pranking

-Set up a situation, premeditated setup, and a "gotcha" goal - failed if "gotcha" doesn't work; Combination of humiliation and physical pain that someone is exposed to -Measuring Sadism > Disrespect sensitivity + anger rumination >With pranking, its easy to feel disrespected and feel upset for a long time after. Measured with a lot of questions about feelings before and after pranking -Those with high disrespect sensitivity and anger rumination were more likely to display dispositional sadism - Positive (sadistic) emotions- Giddy, excited, happy - This is caused by feeling chronically disrespected and pissed off. - Justifications: they deserved it

hate and love

-Similar brain regions are involves in the experience of both hate and love - a strong link between the two sentiments suggests that one can easily transmute into the other (no data to confirm transmutation) -love is not a basic emotion, love is a doparninergic goal-directed bonding motivation involving subcortical reward systems and higher-order cortical brain areas

study: normalized admission and subliminal primes

-Someone you know is engaging in some sort of unethical behaviour -Rated the acts their friend and considered their justifications, then answer questions about you doing something unethical - I'm no worse than anyone else - Subliminal flash, four primes, one of them hate for the unethical behaviour of the self -After seeing hate, the "you would, too/I'm no worse than you" was emphasized - Other primes such as anger, dislike, discomfort, did not produce the response

The interpersonal circumplex

-The axes are commonly labeled Agency (striving for autonomy and superiority) and Communion (connecting with and helping others) -All three parts of the dark triad are in quadrant II (high agency and low communion) -Psychopathy is higher on impulsivity -Narcissism is high on superior identity

Model of Sadism

-The drive for sadism: perceived insult to the self, so we have an unconscious motivation to restore the self which can be displaced intent to harm (sadism) - You don't retaliate against the person who hurt you, you pick somebody else - (Temporary) Elevation of the Self, Positive Affect- but we may not be aware that this is the payoff, or that this is the goal -Evidence for the model: 1. Boosting the self via Pranking 2. Boosting the self via watching pranks

The consequences of hating and being hated

-The intense emotions that fuel the experience of hate signal to the body that the person needs to take action through the ANS and fight or flight system -When any relationship endures a period of labelled hate, there are significant long-term consequences -victims of hate in the context of close relationships experience a range of negative outcomes including elevated distress, decreased relationship satisfaction, and negative emotionality, and these difficulties may be exacerbated by personal/sociodemographic factors.

Serial Killers and the common deflection strategies

-They use the same menu of deflection strategies 1. Minimize harm? Not really. 2. Decreased perceived intent? Sometimes. Visionary in particular 3. Invoke justifications? YES. Especially missionary killers 4. Asserting power/invulnerability? YES. Not immune to MoC *The SK Difference? The "what," not the want, More of C, rather than less of D, like most killers -They want recognition, the joy, something to take pride in, an impact on people, and killing is what they are willing to do to increase their wants

Study: Harm and Alternatives

-What came to mind when looking at 50 or so statements - Read through and rate how close you think it is to hate -3 themes: weak emotions, strong emotions, want to harm - Want to harm at the top, strong emotion below, weak emotion lower - similar study: Thought quotes and gave them a hate rating -similar study: Comparing the want hurt vs revenge, Is this hate? Why or why not? Found that people were more likely to say it was hate when there was intention to hurt and if they spontaneously mentioned hurt in their explanation (People zeroing in on the end, not the means) -similar study: Hate was more likely when the hurt as seen as necessary and wanted, less so if it was just necessary but don't want it

4 Strategies for Justifying Hate/ Justified Denial

-What the people tell themselves and others to make the case that they are not really hating or not really haters 1. Redefinition: We tell ourselves that true hate is more or different from what I am experiencing -True hate is behaviour, not what you want, so its not hate if I don't act on it -> Research shows that the opposite seems to be true: If the number of harmful thoughts exceeded the number of harmful acts, people said the hate was unresolved; Not acting, kept the switch on -Hate is long lasting -> research shows that impulsive harm is still hate. Before, during, and after assault, how much did the victim hate the assailant. They were more hateful when the assault is seen as premeditated after. During the actual act, the levels of hate were not seen as different from each other May not have had hate before or after, but during the act you hated them 2. Diverted Attention: focus on the ultimate goal, the noble sounding goals that makes it necessary to hurt them -society is better if justice is served; You have to focus on the harm, to make the relation to hate -tethering -can be mislabelled as love - American high school students in violent relationships (both abuser and victim) said the reasons for the behaviour were roughly 30% love (the rest is anger, confusion, and hate) -love is when you want to better one another, therefore harm of any kind is not love. 3. Justified Admission - either "I hate X because" or "X is evil, how can I be evil when I am hating evil" 4. Normalized Admission - "everyone would do what I did" or "I am no worse than you"

Hodgkinson SK Article: Main ideas

-advocate the need to move away from speculation about individual motivations alone, to consider the broader social, cultural and historical context.. -the media is a HUGE part of the "serial killer problem", it affects not just our understanding of SK, but is also reflected in the way that these perpetrators view and construct themselves -there are macro level factors make things like serial killing inevitable -The serial killer comes in many forms and mental disorder may or may not be present, and although a label of 'personality disorder' or 'psychopathy' may be all too readily applied to these individual -there is not enough academic debate in this area which allows for reductionist and sensationalist narratives that ignore the complexities of the cases.

Implications for a theory of hate

-aka. reasons why genuine declarations of hate are reserved for times when the motivational drive reaches a self-defined threshold of intensity 1 Motivational desire -desire for harm is the key psychological mechanism underlying the hate process. 2 Motives as conscious and deliberate 3 Types of hate - can function as either an ultimate or instrumental goal 4 Hate as a label - To truly hate someone implies want to see them suffer harm. When the hate label is genuinely invoked it has the potential to resonate throughout the relationship and reshape how each partner approaches their interactions going forward. If you are hated, you are a potential victim, and if you hate, you are a potential perpetrator.

Preemptive strike

-example of B->D (anticipated relief from negative state of fear) -the idea of "get them before they get you" -Example: in a gaming context. Both people have the opportunity to press a button to get X money. They cannot communicate with eachother. If one person presses the button, X happens, and the other person gets nothing. It is in our collective best interest to not press any buttons. If you press first, it will only cost you a little bit and it will cost them a lot, but they cant retaliate. When the participant was lead to believe that the other person was being given the same opportunity, 50% pressed the button in less that one second. There was also a timing condition, I didn't catch it. In another condition, the other person couldn't press the button first, only 4% pressed it. -Consider the implications of this study on missiles -> less trivial; we want to do what will make us feel less afraid.

clinical vs. subclinical samples

-important for studying the dark triad -clinical samples comprise individuals those currently under clinical or forensic supervision; Subclinical samples refer to continuous distributions in broader community samples.

Moral drift due to others' control

-interpersonal processes (other people's influence) can provide ''magnetic material'' that causes our moral compasses to deviate from their true North -three categories: 1. moral neglect - Individuals are better equipped to make moral decisions if they are aware of the relevant moral values and implications of the decisions they are facing 2.moral justification - individuals distort their understanding of their actions ; allows us to reframe immoral actions as defensible; Even when individuals are aware of the ethical dimensions of the choices they are making, they may still engage in unethical behavior as long as they recruit justifications for it. 3. moral inaction/ immoral action - social processes create obstacles to doing the right thing or motivation to do the wrong thing;

Evolutionary theory and the dark triad

-life history strategies involve a continuum of mating strategies from emphasizing mating/fast to emphasizing parenting/slow; DT emphasize fast strategies. -Particularly, psychopaths increase their mating possibilities with an impulsive, aggressive mating strategy, Machiavellians benefit from a more strategic and regulated mating style that maintains the relationship.

Familicide literature review findings

-mass murders in which a spouse children are killed -The main thing was shame tied all cases together Two types: 1. "livid coercive": perpetrator had a history of being controlling, physical and emotional abuse happening in family, sense of romantic obsession with partner - I might lose them, I might lose the kids, I'm going to lose it all and if I can't have this, no one can - ends in murder -Afterwards, most try to kill themselves - and many succeed 2. "civil reputable": on the surface, has all the factors of stability, no violence, happy -Often a hidden secret, such as substance abuse or a gambling addiction that will bring it to a tipping point - They feel as though they have failed - Sometimes takes on a very gendered aspect, the man feeling as though he failed as a provider - To save them from the disgrace of a failure killing himself and leaving them with the mess, I'll kill both/all of us and then it will be fine - Often try to keep up appearances of normalcy right up until the end

Moral Justification: Psychological consequences

-moral disengagement - cognitive mechanisms that deactivate our desire to behave morally by reducing the cognitive dissonance individuals experience and enabling immoral behaviour without the typically negative cognitive or emotional consequences. -moral hypocrisy - When people have moral justifications at hand, they can more easily engage in immoral actions without detrimentally affecting their self-image as a moral person. (becomes more automatic over time). -moral licensing/ compensatory ethics - using prior moral actions as a credential or license to commit later unethical actions

Moral Neglect: Psychological Consequences

-moral fading (moral blindness, inattentiveness to moral content of decisions)- when we fail to recognize the moral consequences of a decision, it is easier for us to make unethical choices free from psychological distress, guilt, or regret.

The nature of social morality

-morality emerged as a means of regulating our social relationships ; human survival depends on finding ways to live together; we are moral because we are social. -much of our immorality can also be attributed to the fact that we are social animals ; the common experience of an inner voice that usually motivates us toward ethically sound action can be defective -The "inner voice" = the moral compass; unethical behavior stems more often from a misdirected moral compass than a missing one; a present but misdirected moral compass could seduce us with the belief that we are behaving ethically when we are not, while allowing us to maintain a positive moral self-image.

Theories of hate and motivation

-motives and emotions represent two interactive systems that evolved because they provide survival and reproductive advantages. -The situations that these systems are designed to address are organized along two motivational goals systems: one to acquire that which promotes their well-being and the other to avoid or eliminate that which might threaten or cause harm (similar to the approach or appetitive system - focused on opportunities and acquisition, and the avoidance or defense system is focused on crises or threats) -Four levels of brain activity: sensorimotor, schematic, association, conceptual. -Emotions prompt physiological changes that prepare the organism for action through the autonomic nervous system and hormonal changes

The intersection of emotion and motivation (Rempel Article)

-motives are generally regarded as more deliberate (although some of that "deliberation" may still be unconscious), whereas emotions tend to be more impulsive. -the extent that emotions act as rapid alert systems to unexpected changes, there may not always be time for the level of processing needed for a more deliberate response. -emotions are designed to rapidly narrow the range of response options that the organism has to choose from before responding, especially in cases where an immediate reaction is required. -When refining the appraisal of a situation, people will take into account the personal importance of the situation, which is generally dictated by the significance of the appetitive or defense goals that are invoked.

Moral drift due to cognitive limitation

-our ethicality is bounded, such that we cannot reliably know when our moral compass is deviating from true North -we tend to have an overly rosy view of both our past behavior and the likelihood that we will behave virtuously in the future -we are motivated to ''forget' or fail to notice our own unethical actions -we use our prior good deeds as a psychological license for less ethical action later on -we assess an action's ethicality based on how it is framed -we use irrelevant information to evaluate unethical behavior -we unconsciously prioritize self-serving over pro-social interests -we value non-moral goals more than moral ones

Study: Hidden Observer

-participants asked to imagine that there is a hidden observer inside of them that knows all of their secrets. After being asked the question, ask the observer first before you answer -given a set of control vs. neutral instructions -Ask a sensitive question: have you ever hated anyone? -Neutral: 29% said no, Hidden observer: 13% said no - This works in sensitive topics, where people are more truthful -there is a reluctance to admit, and that sometime haters are evil -this supports the idea that hate and evil are linked through the "I am not a hater" pathway.

socio-cultural approach to understanding serial killers

-right now the dominant approach is very individual, this is a problem because it has generated a number of essentialist stereotypes concerning the killer's disposition or 'character' leading to simplifications -more research is required in order to build upon the broader focus -Rather than viewing the nature of the act and actor as being unrelated to context (i.e. culture and history), it is necessary to place these crimes within their own micro and macro contexts, and to identify the underlying factors involved in shaping the act. -more focus needs to be given to victim selection and the social creation of cultures of denigration and marginalization where particular social groupings lack protection and become vulnerable

sadism + the bug experiment

-sadistic personality traits uniquely predict the bug killing preference, i.e. the preference for a task that includes pain or damage infliction on other living beings. -no relation between sadism scores and dispositional proneness to disgust, this occurrence was also confirmed on the behavioral level. individuals with high sadism scores indeed chose assignments that include disgusting activities with the option of hurting other entities (i.e. killing bugs) over solely disgusting ones (toilet cleaning) -when sadism was controlled for, other dark traits lost their predictive power. -the bug killing sadists reported significantly greater pleasure, and this pleasure grew with the number of kills

Sexual Sadism

-sexual arousal as a result of psychological or physical suffering of another -used to be a DSM disorder as a part of sexual deviation -individuals who fantasize about torturing the innocent for their own sexual pleasure, and often put these fantasies into effect. - prevalence of sexual sadism ranges from 3 to 5% in the clinical context, while in sexually motivated homicide offenders amounts from 37 to 75%

Behavioural manifestations of sadism

-the bug experiment -linked to aggression (obviously.) -online trolling, i.e. deliberate cynical and offensive behavior (usually verbal) towards other individuals on the internet; all personality traits, sadism had the strongest relations with the composite "trolling score" but not with other online activities. sadism was the only dark trait that predicted trolling operationalized both through trolling enjoyment and averaged trolling score. -violent video game play - physical sadism - enjoyment in physically hurting and tormenting people - is a predictor of violent gaming, since violent gameplays specifically focus on physical violence, and thus could serve as a means for fulfilling the sadistic tendencies of individuals with prominent physical sadism scores. -sadistic traits were related to self-reported suicidality but only among more depressive individuals.

the personality core of the triad

-the elements of the triad may all be consistently positively correlated because of a common underlying factor. Arguments exist for: Agreeableness, Interpersonal agonism, Honesty-humility, Social exploitativeness

callousness + emotional processing (Bulut)

-the lack of empathy for others. -the core of the dark tetrad and the basis of antisocial, sadistic, and narcissistic personalities. -even though they lack empathy, they are capable of perceiving their own negative emotions and might be better at processing and perceiving emotions of others, in order to be more successful at inflicting damage -sadism is not associated with self-reported emotional dysregulation -when observing stimuli depicting violent interactions, sadists experience increased positive emotions; moreover, when observing pleasant interactions, they experience decreased positive emotions

Emovational tendency

-the tendency to decode a stimulus and immediately understand it in terms of an appetitive or a defensive goal; assists in quickly filtering out inappropriate responses from a wider array of options. -in brief spontaneous acts, the desire to harn may be emotivational (i.e., the more impulsive motivational component integrated into an emotional experience) and reflect a rapid response to goal attainment. -the human brain is constantly taking in information to form predictions about what will happen next. When these expectations are challenged the survival circuits are rapidly activated to prepare for defensive goals.

3 parts of the development of a definition of hate

-there are similarities between hate (and?) 1. Emotions are the trigger - they are brought up, connected to hate. There is no specific emotion that triggers hate, there are many that may do so 2. Hate is durable, long lasting, enduring, lingering (like a switch that stays on) 3. Motivation -Hate makes people want to do something; wanting a target to experience harm -Motives are linked to goals, a goal of wanting someone to suffer, which is why people are reluctant to admit hate - May want the other to suffer for a means of and end (ex. Revenge; this may make it harder to see that it is there) -Just because they don't take action does not mean they do not hate. If they are blocked from taking action this can intensify the hate -fMRI study: when flashing a picture of someone the participant hates the aggression and motor plans areas of the brain light up

six aspects of the hate process in intimate relationships that can vary

1 Emotivational experiences of hate -disruption of expected outcomes engages the emotional system. The desire to harm is likely to dissipate as the emotion subsides and may fade entirely if the conflict is resolved and the episode is unlikely to be labeled by either- party as hate 2 Persistent hate in close relationships - long-term behaviours that elicit a more longstanding desire to harm one's partner (withdrawing, cheating, etc.) 3 Redress.- the proximal goal of harming the other is to realize an ultimate goal of attempting to restore order and justice to the relationship 4 Denigration - belittling or insulting 5 Mutiny- the desire to harm a close other emerges as a response to feeling trapped. 6 Tethering - an individual's desire to prevent an intimate partner from abandoning or betraying them by keeping the partner close and dependent.

Suggestions for regaining control of the moral compass: Intrapersonal processes

1 Increasing self-awareness - Individuals differ private self-consciousness, which can be improved with mindfulness. Mindfulness encourages an awareness of both oneself and one's cognitive biases, has been associated with improvements in ethical behavior 2 Increasing one's sensitivity to moral emotions - understanding the emotions we experience when we face ethical dilemmas (shame, guilt, envy), because emotions can override rational decision making and influence behaviour 3 Expanding one's circle of moral regard - dehumanization is a negative consequence of social categorization, then expanding one's circle of moral regard, and practicing other- focused positive emotions may help reverse this outcome 4 Practicing self control - better understand why unethical decisions are often tempting and activate resources to resist those temptations - benefits of immoral behaviour commonly consist of gains that advance one's self-interest in the short term. - acting honestly brings long-term rewards, such as social acceptance and consistency with one's desire to be ethical and viewed positively by others.

Moral Neglect: organizational aggravators

1 Organizational socialization - sets up role expectations for individuals, communicates which organizational goals are important, and establishes appropriate ways to achieve them; organizations can exacerbate social facilitators of moral neglect -Socialization to unethical practices can happen both consciously (individual resists objectionable practices until finally surrendering) and unconsciously (individual becomes seduced by the positive material or psychological benefits of participating in corrupt behavior) 2 Roles - sets of behavioral expectations that often surround one's position within an organization or profession; direct behavior in ways that also facilitate moral neglect through the organizational scripts they provide 3 Goals -goal shielding- people are better at meeting goals when other aspects of a situation, or potentially competing interests, have been ''shielded'' from immediate relevance; more cognitive room to focus on specific goals, allows employees to omit additional factors - such as the ethical implications -Reinforcement theory - goals lead us to neglect other (often desirable) behavior; Goals can telescope our attention toward an outcome and blind us to the reasons the goals were set up in the first place.

Suggestions for regaining control of the moral compass: Interpersonal processes

1 Promoting moral exemplars or referents - choosing the right exemplars of moral behavior (either positive in-group members to emulate or negative out-group members from which to differentiate oneself) 2 Monitoring as a reminder of one's best self - Individuals' sense of anonymity facilitates unethical behavior. This is undermined when they believe they are being monitored. 3 Careful and cognizant goal setting - Setting overly narrow or ambitious goals can blind individuals to other important objectives (tunnel vision), and over-commitment to goals can motivate individuals to do whatever it takes to reach them. -carefully designed goals have the power to appropriately direct behavior toward ends that meet both business and moral obligations

Five human concerns involving DT

1 Workplace behaviour/ occupational - narcissists claim to use soft manipulation tactics, psychopaths chose hard tactics. As usual, Machs are the most flexible: They chose both soft and hard tactics; "successful psychopaths" involve contexts where DT can be advantageous (ex. It can help one get to a position of leadership) 2 Educational - education has a secondary function of evaluating a persons potential, those with DT personalities can be tempted to cut corners. Psychopathy predicts exam copying and machiavellianism can predict plagiarism. 3 Mating - higher DT scores often received by males; helps explain the fact that men are more likely than women to pursue a short-term impulsive mating strategy. Machiavellians show the most flexibility in their mating styles. 4 Interpersonal behaviour - prejudice against immigrants and, more generally, pro- claim a social dominance orientation; high in "ruthless self-advancement". 5 Antisocial behaviour - psychopaths are more likely than Machiavellians and narcissists to have confronted the justice system; Psychopaths more likely to bully/more aggressive and respond the most to physical threat, narcissists respond to ego-threat. Machs are more cautious and deliberate, but behave like psychopaths when ego-depleted (ex. White collar crime)

Moral inaction/ immoral action: organizational aggravators

1 beurocracy and anonymity - bureaucracy and the anonymity it provides makes it more likely that we will diffuse responsibility in order to minimize our own feelings of moral agency. -When one is a member of a group. bureaucracy not only makes its members and their actions anonymous to outsiders, but also to each other. 2 Hierarchy - exacerbates obedience to authority and the displacement of moral agency onto organizational superiors; provides individuals a route through which they can absolve themselves of personal responsibility for acts undertaken either for themselves directly, or for their team or organization.

Moral inaction/ immoral action: Psychological consequences

1 delegation of moral agency - unethical behavior may elicit negative emotions such as guilt less often than expected, particularly when the harm resulting from it is unclear and personal responsibility for it ambiguous. 2 self deception - we go to great lengths to avoid viewing our actions as immoral. When one can delegate one's moral agency to someone else or somewhere else, it becomes possible to commit unethical acts or to avoid engaging in moral ones without commensurate feelings of personal responsibility

Two explanations for the moral compass moving away from "true north" (without our recognition)

1 individuals who are ethically adrift to be ''bad apples'' whose moral compasses are internally damaged - stable individual differences that demagnetize moral compasses, leading to unethical behavior 2 morality is malleable rather than stable - we can become ethically adrift due to intrapersonal reasons (caused by human cognitive limitations) and interpersonal reasons (caused by the influence of others).

Moral Justification: Organizational Aggravators

1 organizational identification - can work both ways: Maximizing unethical outcomes when institutions are corrupt and minimizing unethical outcomes when they are more virtuous. 2 group loyalty - loyalty toward those close to us inherently under- mines moral norms of fairness (ex. Nepotism, groupthink) 3 business framing and euphemistic language - frames how we view options and provides substance for the justifications of our choices. -Sanitizing terms - make harmful or otherwise prohibited business practices seem more okay -''legitimations''—official ways of blandly discussing morally questionable corporate decisions and gradually becoming comfortable repeating these excuses publicly -Can result in ''moral muteness'', or finding non- moral or pragmatic language to capture the value that the individual privately moralizes, such as calling layoffs ''right-sizing''.

Moral Justification: Social Psychological Facilitators

1 social comparison - we tend to use similar but superior others as our points of comparison; these processes drive negative emotions like envy, which create justification for immoral actions 2 self verification - causes individuals to seek out information that confirms their views of themselves as moral, which may trigger moral hypocrisy or moral licensing.

Moral inaction/ immoral action: Social psychological facilitators

1 social conformity - individuals tend to conform to the social agreement they perceive rather than to their own intuition about what is correct 2 diffusion of responsibility - the presence of others inhibits the impulse to help individuals in distress (bystander effect); When the cost of inaction can be shared among multiple parties, individuals are less likely to take responsibility for action themselves. 3 obedience to authority

Moral Neglect: social psychological facilitators

1 social norms - others help to establish a standard for ethical behavior through their actions or inaction (aka. local social norms) 2 social categorization -individuals differentiate between those who are like them/ingroup, and those who are unlike them/outgroup -amplifies the effect of social norms, as norms have a stronger effect on our behavior when we perceive those enacting them to be similar to ourselves. -In-group members' transgressions are perceived to be representative of descriptive norms (those that specify how most people behave in a given situation) -when assessing the immoral behavior of an out-group member, people highlight injunctive norms (those that refer to behaviors that most people approve or disapprove of) and distance themselves from this ''bad apple.''

3 Obstacles of collecting serial killer data

1. Adequacy of the sample: SKs are increasingly rare - Serial killers peaked around 1987, according to US data -2/3 of known serial killers from the 1980s -Many are restricted access, some are dead, etc. -Many myths are hard to prove because of this --field is dominated by individualistic biographical accounts, which offer a highly reductionist and distorted stereotype of the perpetrator, with little opportunity to learn from past case 2. Accuracy of the data: self-report reliance: Difficult to tap into motivations that a person may not even be aware of - Insight and truthfulness can be barriers - Serial killers are not immune to the Mark of Cain 3. Attitudes towards SKs: media-driven misconceptions of the serial killer dominate' knowledge and interest in the topic. - exaggerated threat; The news saying a nearby serial killer, made people feel unsafe of all crimes - Antihero/celebrity: trivializes victim's suffering

Evidence that Hate and Evil are Linked

1. Anecdotes: such as Charlottesville; Member of a hate group (white supremacist) did a hate crime (ran vehicle into a group of protestors) 2. Evil symbols - shows link between hate and evil, because those who are exposed to evil symbols more likely to put a "t" in "HA_E". 3. Israeli Interviews - The evil are hated; Reactions to a story of an evil person evoke hate or fear; groups biologically related to evil people are hated for being evil (?) 4. Reluctance to admit that one is hated/ "I am not a hater" - hate and evil motivation perception study, definition provided and no definition provided studies, hidden observer study

four types of sadistic personality

1. Explosive sadist - has explosive rage outbursts, and is the only of all sadists that doesn't use aggression instrumentally, but to relieve frustration 2. Tyrannical sadist - the most cruel personality disorder, has a feeling of deep satisfaction from intimidating and humiliating others, verbally or physically, and constantly seeking fragile victims 3. Enforcing sadist - individual who imposes his/her power in order to punish and feel more important 4. Spineless sadist - combination of sadistic and avoidant personality, deeply insecure; aggressive hostility serves as a means to overcome personal fears.

4 Classifications of Serial Killers

1. Hedonistic: excitement, comforts, material gain 2. Power and control: satisfaction, a job well done 3. Mission: pride, get rid of a problem group 4. Visionary: psychosis, VERY rare - men: 4% in one study of 250 SKs, women:23% or less - First 3 are positive affect affirmation, only the last is different - Case Study: Elizabeth Wettlaufer

mass killing vs. spree killing vs. serial killing

1. Mass killing: described as a number of murders (four or more) occurring during the same incident, with no distinctive time period between the murders. 2. Spree killing: involving two or more victims, with the murders taking place in two or more locations, within a close space of time (usually no more than 30 days), with no 'cooling off' period. 3. Serial killing: Two or more victims, with the murders taking place in two or more locations, with a 'cooling off' period. *limitation: -definitions neither exhaustive nor mutually exclusive, leading to confusion. -conceptual confusion exacerbated by inaccurate media construction of the 'serial killer' and a reluctance of academic professionals to properly engage with debates around 'evil' and extreme offending in a systematic and scholarly manner

Chasing Feelings: B->C (anticipated positive states)

1. Self-expansion (whatever the cost to others) -fundamental positive healthy human motive; the desire to grow and expand. We want to have new experiences and learn new things. -There are implications to others if self-expansion is pursued at any cost to others. "growth for growth's sake is the idiocy of the cancer cell" -Ex. Travel agent: Goal was to step up with the resources that he has available. -Example: the tube "prankster" - He was willing to harm because he anticipated a positive feelings of sadistic, psychological pleasure -Ex. Interview with pro assassin: he had killed at least 100 people over 30 years. He saw it as business, his emotions did not interfere with his general functioning or job performance. He became tearful when discussing his wife and kids. He tried to keep his family insulated from the terrible world, so he never discussed business. "It may not have been the right way, but for me it was the only way". He needed money so he did what he felt he had to in order to take care of his family. > Chasing feelings - reward (money and stability) outranked costs (minimized costs using "business as usual" mentality) > mind over matter: he found a way to not mind that he was killing people to focus on what matters to him. >Tunnel vision - focusing on anticipated positive outcomes. 2. Eliminating goal blockers - sometimes B is not action directly, but clearing the path and eliminating percived obstacles. -Ex. Lit review of contract killings in australia: about 1/3 was linked to a dissolving relationship (new partner, custody, etc.) -Ex. Road rage: more common for people who have a passion for driving - people blocking their ability to drive. Shows tunnel vision because road rage says tail them and attack them, how dare they interrupt your driving

definition of hate vs. no definition provided studies

1. When a definition of hate is provided followed by "according to this definition have you ever hated anyone?", 50% said no, never. 2. When no definition of hate is provided, only 24% said no. They typically explained that the term was too strong. -this supports the idea that hate and evil are linked through the "I am not a hater" pathway.

Sadisms Disconnect: 2 Problems

1. tunnel vision -> harmful fun 2. conscious goal vs. nonconscious trigger - May not know why they have a sadistic trigger, and we cannot expect them to - May not even realize it is sadistic - Address DSAR (disrespect sensitivity/anger rumination) in order to defuse sadism - for example, if someone feels disrespected and angry, address those issues -Whether it is a little harm or a lot of harm, the dynamics underlying the act are similar

Three sources of sadism

1. violent thrills - pursuit of excitement that incorporates the process of suspense and planning (sensation seeking); goal is to reduce boredom and, at the same time, enhance pleasure. 2. threatened egotism - perceived threat to one's self-image -Opponent process theory suggests that we must maintain homeostasis. Ego threat throws homeostasis out of balance. after repeated experiences, people will experience less disruption but feel like they need more pleasure to balance it out.

Personality factor models and DT

5 factor model/big five -the dark triad is consistently associated with low agreeableness and low conscientiousness. 6 factor model/HEXACO - honesty-humility explicitly measures the triad.

Derivation of MioMa: Expected ≠ actual

Expected outcome: costs, benefits, etc. may not be what actually occurs Examples: ◊ Victims: ignored, minimized, justified Didn't think of it, or they knew there would be victims - but they would be minimal, not that bad, or justified ◊ Perpetrators: awareness of possible costs to self, plus the perceived likelihood of costs -Alternative: Manage Potential Costs 1 Interpersonal: evil personality (Peck) - persistent pattern of scapegoating Moving through the world in a way that any bad; consequences from my behaviour will not happen to me - deflection of blame, through blame, lies, manipulation, etc. to get out of those consequences 2. Organizational: negative externality - deflect For deflection of consequences, away from the organization, to reduce costs, or what needs to be dealt with 3. Managing costs can feel rewarding

Chasing Feelings: B -> D (anticipated relief from negative states

Big three things things that lead to avoidance behaviours: (when are people willing to engage in a course of action that may harm others with the end goal being releif from negative states) 1. Fear - people deal with fear through: -avoiding what they are afraid of -escape if confroned - Some people take a "once and for all" mentality (I need to eliminate the threat; if I destroy the source, I wont be afraid anymore"); preemptive strike example 2. Disgust - physical or moral contamination; involves a lot of rejection or purification. Dealing with disgust: -Avoid if you can- Do not engage, stay away from the ick -Attack if you must- If the only way to get rid of it, if you have to - Outsourcing is best- Someone else deals with it (You pay me, you vote for me, you support me, I'll take care of it for you) 3. Shame - people deal with shame through: -Initially, many seize up, try to protect themselves and make themselves a small target - Harming other - deny helplessness, assert power ("I'm sick of feeling like I am nothing, so I'll show you that I can do something, I'll show you how powerful I am.")

MioMa Trigger: Chasing Feelings

If I do A, then B will happen, If B, then I will feel either (1) more of C (positive feelings, or feelings we want - we want to feel good by increasing) and/or (2) less of D (negative feelings, or feelings we do not want - we want to feel better by reduction) ▪ B - C or D may not be consciously articulated ▪ Actor's perspective ≠ Other's perspective - Example: going to prison - Most people would say no, But what if you were homeless? - Example: contracting HIV: A group in Cuba would inject HIV, would then become HIV+, so they could go to the sanitarium and get treatment, and food and shelter and a community -Key idea: If you do not understand someone's behaviour, you need to ask what feelings they are chasing; are there things I am overlooking, are there things that are not obvious to me? -Basically, cost benefit analysis. If you are not in the same mental space, you may not perceive the same costs and benefits. This is why we behave, and why we sometimes struggle to understand the behaviour of others.

(Mis)understanding the serial killer: knowns and unknowns (Hodgkinson)

KNOWNS: -The public experiences disproportionate fear of victimization due to the media - The distorted image of serial murder increases public fear and sense that society is at risk, partly because the crimes are so vicious, and partly because the victim selection of this type of serial murderer seems so random. -circle of distortion': news values emphasize different aspects of serial killing for profit --nature: media narratives lead us to believe that serial killers are almost exclusively white and male, and that motivation is often sexual; serial killing is much more diverse in appearance and motivation. This can lead to both misidentification and missed opportunities to catch killers because they don't fit the usual description. UNKNOWNS: -prevalence: confusing and overlapping conceptual definitions and we do not know how many victims and killers go undiscovered

The lumping/splitting DT debate

Lumping them together implies a simplistic distinction between good and bad personalities. A second reason for lumping is the 'construct creep' noted in the introduction: Each literature has grown to include hundreds of published studies and the tendency in each field has been to gradually colonize more and more of the dark personality space. BUT some psychopathy measures are too broad

Analytic issues with DT

one cannot rely on raw correlations as the sole method of analysis. At a minimum, multiple regression or partial correlations should be reported. This is important because DT leads to the same behaviours but for different reasons.

Biological and environmental origins of the dark triad

all three parts have genetic components, mach has environmental component (most likely of the three to be modified by experience)

The Dark Triad as an engine

two possible "engines" 1. Power/dominance -Power domination linking up with dark triad - Correlational study showed that those who scored higher on the dark triad scored higher on power and dominance, and scored low on connectedness and belonging as important 2. Appetite for more - Simple greed, zeroing in on getting what they want - what are they willing to do to get it? -"No matter what I have, I want more." - eventually you are going to need to get what you need from other people -DT is a response to motivate us to get more (like a toolbox full of strategies and justifications)

Tunnel vision

we can become so focused on a goal and its benefits, at the cost of neglecting key things.