The D factor and the 9 traits that define human evil

Apparently, human beings are biologically oriented towards sociability, towards empathy and caring for their loved ones. Only in this way do we allow ourselves to survive as a group and advance as a species. However, If there is one thing we know, it is that human evil exists. and in fact, now we even know that common origin that explains it and that scientists have categorized as factor D.

Evil has many faces. Philip Zimbardo, social psychologist and former president of the American Psychological Association (APA), points out that There is more to this behavior than the simple desire to degrade, humiliate, control and cause harm. to our own fellow men.

In history, for example, we undoubtedly have characters as dark as Ted Bundy or Andréi Chikatiloto mass murderers such as Hitler or Stalin and also to those who, like Charles Manson, were perpetrators of evil, characters who encouraged others to commit violent crimes.

Now, evil is sibylline, silent and often not as striking as the dramatic stories that these already mythical names left us in criminal literature. Because if there is something that we all know, it is that evil is also seen in certain closer figures: in company managers, in political spheres, in those fathers or mothers who mistreat their children and even in those children who harass, humiliate and attack their classmates.

We are clear, however, that there may be various conditions capable of mediating these aggressive dynamics. However, neurologists, psychiatrists and psychologists have always wondered if there may be a common axis that explains a good part of these behaviors.

Seems that if. In fact, just a few weeks ago scientists from the University of Ulm and the University of Koblenz-Landau, in Copenhagen, published an interesting study introducing into specialized literature a term that we will undoubtedly hear about (if we haven’t already): the D factor. This concept would collect and describe all those behaviors of the darkest core of the human personality. Let’s see more data.

From Charles Spearman to the theory of human evil

More than 100 years ago, psychologist Charles Spearman made an essential advance in the understanding of human intelligence.. Thus, and according to this approach known as the two-factor theory, each of us has what is known as the g factor, understood as that general intelligence that includes all of our cognitive abilities.

No matter what test we are given or what exercise we carry out, this construct is the basic essence of intelligent behavior in any situation, no matter how particular it may be. Now, starting from this same idea, the cognitive psychologist Morten Moshagen from the University of Ulm, decided together with his colleagues, to go a little further…

They decided to find out if in the field of human evil, as with intelligence, there is also a general factor present in each of us. A factor where there are people who score higher and others lower. Thus, after carrying out a detailed and thorough study with a large sample of 2,500 people, the results were significant. There seems to be, indeed, a general component that they called factor D, made up of what they called 9 dark traits.

Those that only score higher in people with evil and aggressive behavior.

The D factor and human evil

Factor D defines the psychological tendency to place one’s own interests, desires or personal motivations above any other aspect, whether people or any other type of circumstance. Likewise, it also contains the entire broad spectrum of behaviors that make up human evil.

It should be noted that, in addition to the study carried out by the aforementioned team of psychologists from the universities of Copenhagen, four more analyzes were carried out to support or not the reliability and validity of factor D. In all of them, their usefulness was demonstrated when it came to measuring the degree of darkness in each of us.

At our disposal, therefore, we have another resource to measure human evil that can also be complemented with Michael Stone’s scale., that well-known tool to measure the 22 degrees of evil in people’s behavior. Let’s see, however, those 9 factors that determine factor D.

The 9 dark traits of factor D

Selfishness. Understood as excessive concern for one’s own interests.Machiavellianism. It defines the person with manipulative behaviors, emotional coldness and a strategic mentality in search of their own interests.Absence of ethics and moral sense. Narcissism. It refers to excessive admiration for one’s own person and continued search for one’s own benefit.Psychological law. It refers to the conviction by which a person feels worthy of more rights and concessions than others.Psychopathy. Affective deficit, low empathy, insensitivity, tendency to lie, impulsiveness.Sadism. Behaviors where there is no hesitation in inflicting pain on others through any type of aggression, whether sexual or psychological. These acts also generate pleasure and a feeling of mastery.Social and material interest. Constant search for gains, whether social reinforcements, material objects, recognition, success…Malevolence. Preference for doing evil, whether through aggression, abuse, theft, humiliation…

Ingo Zettler, co-author of this research, points out that Factor D can be understood as that dark personality where a large part of these traits are integrated. Thus, the fact that most characterizes human evil is that it does not He only seeks his own benefit at all times without taking into account the rights of others.

People characterized by this factor also find justification in their own actions. As we see, All these ideas leave aside possible neurobiological and social explanations. that can determine these acts. Therefore, it would be a valuable psychological tool to identify and measure evil.

However, to conclude, it is worth remembering a quote from Fyodor Dostoevsky here: Nothing is easier than identifying the figure of the evil one, but nothing is more difficult than understanding him.

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