Blunted startle reactivity in everyday sadism and psychopathy

Two studies examined the amplitude of the startle response as a function of the Dark Tetrad of personality (narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and sadism). We measured electromyographic activity of the orbicularis oculi muscle evoked by a startle stimulus while participants viewed images on...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Scientific reports 2023-08, Vol.13 (1), p.14216-14216, Article 14216
Main Authors: Buckels, Erin E., Williams, Douglas A., Trapnell, Paul D., Kermani Koosheh, Siavash, Javra, Owen M., Svenne, Sasha C.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
631/1647/2198
631/477/2811
Antisocial personality disorder
Electromyography
Humanities and Social Sciences
multidisciplinary
Personality
Risk taking
Sadism
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Social behavior
Startle response
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Summary:Two studies examined the amplitude of the startle response as a function of the Dark Tetrad of personality (narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and sadism). We measured electromyographic activity of the orbicularis oculi muscle evoked by a startle stimulus while participants viewed images on a computer screen. Both studies revealed a negative correlation between general startle reactivity (averaged across positive, negative, and neutral images) and sadistic tendencies. In Study 2, all four dark traits were negative correlates of general startle reactivity. Study 2 also examined the personality correlates of aversive startle potentiation (ASP; indexed by greater reactivity while viewing negatively-valenced images than positive or neutral images). ASP correlated negatively with a variety of personality measures of psychopathy and sadism, their facets, and related personality tendencies (callousness, risk-taking, and restricted affect). These findings suggest that ordinary people with high levels of callousness and antagonism display physiological evidence of non-reactivity (i.e., blunted acoustic startle in general), whereas psychopathy and sadism are preferentially associated with reduced ASP.
ISSN:2045-2322
2045-2322
DOI:10.1038/s41598-023-41043-2