Scientists have recently discovered a new personality type previously unknown to medical researchers. Known as Dark Empaths, people with this personality type are able to combine the trait of empathy with dark triad traits such as machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy.
Machiavellianism is the personality trait expressed by an individual who only looks out for their own personal interests and will do anything to achieve their desires. This can range anywhere from subtle manipulation and exploitation to flat out murder depending on the individual.
Another dark triad trait is narcissism, a trait that humanity knows all too well. Narcissism is a trait where an individual cares only for themself; they see only themselves as great and everyone else as insignificant side characters, in the story that is their existence. Contrasting, machiavellianism, narcissistic individuals tend to not be as manipulative rather being self-centered and egotistical. This kind of egotistical attitude can cause them to go into things overconfident and end up defeated after an event.
The third dark triad trait is psychopathy, the most famous triad trait. Psychopathic people tend to be detached from the world and lack empathetic traits. It’s because of this lack of empathy, that we see the rise of serial killers, who most of the time, end up being broken individuals without any sense of sympathy or empathy. Because they are personality disorders, they don’t have any major effects on bodily functions and as such, people with psychopathy can move around and interact with the world just the same as you or me. That is what makes psychopaths so dangerous as they can kill without feeling a morsel of regret or sadness.
The trait of empathy is generally split into two types, cognitive and affective, cognitive empathy is the ability to see events from the point of view of another person, affective empathy is the ability to feel how others must be feeling in certain events. Although independent, both empathic abilities work side-by-side and are the reason why the human race is extremely social. Scientists from Hyem and Associates discovered people known as dark empaths who were actually able to combine the Dark Triad traits with empathetic feelings. Although this makes no sense considering that the dark triads are built off of a lack of empathy these so called dark empaths are high in cognitive empathy but not affective empathy. This means that they are capable of understanding what others are feeling but don’t have the ability to put themselves into that person’s shoes. Because of this, dark empaths are able to provide comfort and closure to mourning families but also set aside emotions to enter a state of complete serenity. This means that becoming detectives of missing persons and murders are perfect jobs for these dark empaths as they can remain calm even in the grimmest of times.
Likewise, becoming ER doctors is also a viable option for dark empaths as regular people would experience massive emotional detriment by being in harsh environments. Although being a dark empath can be dangerous as one would have no affective empathy, it is possible that these new types of people can provide us with necessary insights into our own minds and help further the advancement of other technologies such as Artificial Intelligence.
Sources
Brenner, Grant Hilary. Introducing the Dark Empath. 1 Aug. 2020, www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/experimentations/202008/introducing-the-dark-empath-0#:~:text=Dark%20Empaths%20have%20a%20greater,relationship%20between%20Empaths%20and%20Typicals.
2, Mary Grace Garis・September. “The Dark Empath Personality Merges Empathy With Dark Triad Traits-and That Spells Trouble.” Well+Good, 2 Sept. 2020, www.wellandgood.com/dark-empath/#:~:text=The%20Dark%20Empath%20Personality%20Merges,Traits%E2%80%94And%20That%20Spells%20Trouble&text=While%20it's%20common%20knowledge%20that,while%20caring%20about%20others'%20feelings.
Jacobson, Last reviewed by Sheri, et al. “What Is Machiavellianism in Psychology?” Harley Therapy™ Blog, 11 Oct. 2019, www.harleytherapy.co.uk/counselling/machiavellianism-psychology.htm#:~:text=Machiavellianism%20in%20psychology%20refers%20to,two%20being%20narcissism%20and%20psychopathy.
Anderson, Nathaniel E, and Kent A Kiehl. “Psychopathy: Developmental Perspectives and Their Implications for Treatment.” Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 2014,
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4321752/#:~:text=Psychopathy%20is%20a%20neuropsychiatric%20disorder,antisocial%20deviance%20and%20criminal%20behavior.
Neo, Perpetua. “Dark Empaths: The Personality Type That Uses Empathy As A Weapon.” Mindbodygreen, 20 Sept. 2020, www.mindbodygreen.com/articles/what-are-dark-empaths.
Comments