Personality traits, such as psychopathy and narcissism are replacing the old notion of ‘evil’. It’s hard to think of acts more despicable than the brutal attacks, kidnappings, rapes and murders carried out by the psychopath Ted Bundy, for example. Especially as when he faced justice for them, he did it with a wink and a matinée idol smile.
Psychology offers a way to understand why people commit such acts. While evil definitely can’t be pinpointed in the brain, research has started uncovering neural structures and patterns of activity linked to psychopathy and narcissism. Science shows us that people with such traits simply think and feel differently, enabling them to act in morally corrupt ways.
Alack of empathy has long been seen as a hallmark feature of psychopathy and, to some extent, narcissism. But psychologists have recently discovered a group of people with so-called ‘dark personality traits’, such as psychopathy and narcissism, but also above average levels of empathy, dubbed dark empaths. This could make them dangerous in everyday situations as they could use their empathy to mask selfish intentions.