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A new study claims to have identified the U.S. states where you are more likely to find yourself living next to psychopaths, narcissists, and sadists.
Data on 1.8 million people in 183 countries, including 144,000 people in the U.S., was analyzed as part of the study, published in the scientific journal PNAS, and linked with information on adverse social conditions, such as poverty, inequality, and violence.
The study aimed to explore why some people are more inclined to cheat, manipulate, or harm others for their own gain, revealing that one contributing factor is the societal conditions in which they grow up.
Researchers used World Bank data for countries, while for U.S. states, data sets were gathered from Census Bureau statistics on inequality and poverty, Justice Department corruption convictions, and FBI homicide rates.
Ingo Zettler, one of the researchers behind the study, told the University of Copenhagen that where these conditions were observed, people behaved accordingly: “The more adverse conditions in a society, the higher the level of the ‘Dark Factor of Personality’ among its citizens. This applies both globally and within the United States.”
He added: “In societies where rules are broken without consequences and where the conditions for many citizens are bad, individuals perceive and learn that one should actually think of oneself first.”
The study reveals that countries such as Indonesia and Mexico, as well as U.S. states like Louisiana and Nevada, exhibit higher “Dark Factor” levels compared to countries like Denmark and New Zealand, or states like Utah and Vermont, which experience better societal conditions characterized by lower corruption, inequality, poverty, and violence.
As to which states had a higher number of “dark” personalities, Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, Nevada, South Dakota, and New York came out on top.
If you are planning to move soon, you are less likely to encounter psychopaths, narcissists, and sadists in Utah, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Oregon, and Alaska.
Researchers acknowledged that the study has some limitations, notably that the data does not include how long participants have lived in certain countries or states before personality tendencies developed — a sadistic neighbor in New York may have only recently arrived from Oregon.
Although there is only a moderate link between social conditions and the development of disagreeable personality traits, the findings support the idea that personality is not something you are born with; it is also shaped by the society in which you live.
As to whether anything can be done to address this, Zettler notes: “Aversive personality traits are associated with behaviours such as aggression, cheating, and exploitation – and thus with high social costs. Therefore, even small variations can lead to large differences in how societies function.”
He adds that if reforms can reduce corruption and inequality, they could not only improve living conditions now but also prevent the development of “dark” personalities in the future.
