Research Feed

In this experiment, 1,904 U.S. adults imagined being pulled over by an officer who behaved in one of five ways, from fully respectful to openly rude. Higher vulnerable narcissism (shame-prone, sensitive to criticism) went with less favorable reactions, including satisfaction, seeing the officer as legitimate, and willingness to obey, unless the officer was rude. Higher grandiose narcissism (entitled, self-important) went with more favorable reactions when the officer was respectful or gave no ticket. A rude officer drew uniformly negative reactions.

To gather diverse perspectives, the GAO collaborated with the National Academies to survey experts across multiple disciplines, including criminology, economics, public health, and statistics. This interdisciplinary approach was paired with a comprehensive literature review of 27 major studies published over a twenty-year period. By synthesizing these varied academic and professional viewpoints, the GAO sought to identify the most persistent methodological gaps in how the United States calculates the financial and social impact of criminal activity.

This study questions whether the Five-Factor Model fully captures traits relevant to criminal behavior. It finds that only agreeableness and conscientiousness consistently predict offending, while additional criminogenic traits (such as deception and self-deception) add substantial explanatory power beyond the FFM. These traits significantly improved prediction of offending in both student and prisoner samples, suggesting important limits to the model’s coverage and to assumptions about accurate self-reported personality.

This meta-analysis of 59 studies demonstrates that personality research provides a powerful lens for understanding criminology. By comparing four major structural models—PEN, the three-factor model, the FFM, and the seven-factor model—the authors found that antisocial behavior consistently correlates with specific traits. Regardless of the framework used, the strongest predictors of antisocial behavior are low Agreeableness and low Conscientiousness. These results suggest that the 'core' of criminal and antisocial tendencies lies in a lack of empathy, poor impulse control, and a disregard for social norms, providing a unified psychological profile for future criminological research.

This research clarifies that altruism and antisocial behavior are independent dimensions rather than opposite ends of one spectrum. Altruism is primarily shaped by familial environments and positive emotionality, while antisocial behavior stems from genetics and negative emotionality combined with low constraint. Because these tendencies arise from distinct etiologies, they can coexist within an individual, functioning as uncorrelated personality expressions rather than mutually exclusive traits.

Research identifies three replicable personality types among adolescents (Resilients, Overcontrollers, and Undercontrollers) that generalize across different racial backgrounds. Resilients are characterized by high intelligence and ego resiliency, leading to academic success and low delinquency. Overcontrollers are also successful but prone to internalizing problems like anxiety, while Undercontrollers face a broad spectrum of academic and behavioral challenges. These findings emphasize that the unique constellation of an individual's traits, rather than just isolated dimensions, significantly shapes their life outcomes and susceptibility to psychopathology.