New research reveals that women may express dark personality traits differently than men, making them harder to detect. Experts warn that the focus on male narcissism and psychopathy in diagnostic manuals may lead to underreporting of these traits in women.
Research into 'dark personality traits' has always focused on men. But some experts believe standard testing misses the ways an antisocial personality manifests itself in women. \Think of a psychopath. Who do you see in your mind’s eye? Chances are it’s a man. And chances are your answer would be similar if you were asked to picture a narcissist.
From Charles Manson and Ted Bundy to Joseph Stalin, Adolf Hitler and Donald Trump, most famous people we consider psychopathic or narcissistic are male. That’s even the case for fiction – think, according to Ava Green from City St George’s, University of London. But research over the past few decades is increasingly suggesting women can have a dark streak, too. Much like in autism or ADHD, such traits just express themselves slightly differently in women – making them harder to spot with diagnostic tests that were essentially developed for men.\Most of us have some level of the dark personality traits. These are often combined into what scientists call the 'trio' of psychopathy, narcissism and machiavellianism (that is, striving for control and power by being manipulative and unethical). While only about 1-5% and 1% of people have clinical levels of narcissism and psychopathy respectively – and many of them are in prison – people with sub-clinical levels can cause damage too. You’ve probably come across a few, given that about 40% have above-average levels of dark traits. Such people have a hunger for power and control and are often selfish, unempathetic, manipulative, deceptive and remorseless to some degree.\Recent research by Antonella Somma at the Vita-Salute San Raffaele University in Milan and her colleagues investigated dark traits and other personality features in nearly 1,000 Italian women. They found that women with elevated levels of such traits engage in more rumour-spreading and backstabbing among females and more direct aggression among males,” says Somma. Narcissism, for example, is often seen as a rather male trait – think the scarf-wearing cad in Carly Simon’s song You’re So Vain. But “the core of narcissism is the same in men and women: they express entitled expectations, grandiose fantasies and a lack of empathy,” says Green. Narcissistic women are abusing in ways that society allows. They often leverage their femininity, present themselves as soft-spoken, but it is cunning; it’s premeditated: grandiose and vulnerable. And Green has shown that while men are more likely to have grandiose narcissism, boasting high self-esteem and extroversion, women more commonly display the vulnerable form, involving a need for admiration and a deep fear of abandonment. \Green believes this is because bragging and chest-thumping simply aren’t socially acceptable for women. “Narcissistic women are abusing in ways that society allows,” she argues. “They often leverage their femininity, present themselves as soft-spoken, but it is cunning; it’s premeditated.” They may still lie, cheat and control others. In Somma’s study, women with high levels of psychopathy, machiavellianism and grandiose narcissism scored low on agreeableness (how friendly you are) and high on social deviance (breaking rules or norms). With vulnerable narcissism, however, were less socially deviant and more agreeable than women with other dark traits. They also had more paranoid thoughts and the worst mental health of all. This is potentially because they are more insecure and eager to fit in. “They’re often better at faking empathy,” says Green. But we may fail to recognise these traits as narcissistic. “Female leaders with narcissistic traits can cause as much reputational damage, staff turnover, bullying, as male ones – they just go about it in a more sneaky way,” says Green. “Male leaders can be more aggressive and socially dominant to establish authority. But female leaders may blame the higher-ups for why they had to fire you – even if they orchestrated it.” \Experts say that women's dark traits may be underreported in research. For instance, the DSM-5 is skewed towards men, focusing on grandiose narcissism. Female narcissism is therefore often misdiagnosed, according to Green. The European diagnostic manual, International Classification of Diseases 11 (ICD-11), she says, is actually better at capturing the spectrum of female narcissism. Green is planning a new study in British prisons to assess how the system fails to capture female inmates’ vulnerable narcissistic traits. Research also suggests that women may score higher than men on machiavellianism and its more severe cousin, psychopathy. These traits are similar, but machiavellian people tend to have better impulse control and ability to play the long game compared with their psychopathic peers. The same could be true for psychopathy, but more research is needed to understand the nuances of these traits in women
DARK PERSONALITY TRAITS WOMEN NARCISSISM PSYCHOPATHY MACHIAVELLIANISM DIAGNOSIS RESEARCH
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