Autumn 2020
The Dark Factor
Put your hand up if you agree with any of the next following statements. When you do, make note of the number each statement is listed next to:
It is hard to get ahead without cutting corners here and there.
I like to use clever manipulation to get my way.
People who get mistreated have usually done something to bring it on themselves.
I know that I am special because everyone keeps telling me so.
I honestly feel I'm just more deserving than others.
I'll say anything to get what I want.
Hurting people would be exciting.
I try to make sure others know about my successes.
It is sometimes worth a little suffering on my part to see others receive the punishment they deserve.
(Kaufman, 2018).
For those who may be familiar with psychological theories and principles, you may recall Charles Spearman’s g-factor (AKA General Intelligence). The g-factor, simply put, is responsible for one’s overall performance on mental ability tests. So when testing intelligence, if you were to score highly on one type of intelligence test, you will likely also score highly on other tests of intelligence.
Moshagen et al., (2018) suggested that the very same principle may apply to human malevolence:
Moshagen, M., Hilbig, B. E., & Zettler, I. (2018). The dark core of personality. Psychological Review, 125, 656–688. (doi: 10.1037/rev0000111).
We may demonstrate, or know people who demonstrate various ethically, morally, or socially questionable behaviours to different extents. Such unpalatable traits are referred to by psychologists as ‘dark traits’, or The D-Factor.
The 9 traits that comprise the D-factor are:
Egoism. The excessive concern with one's own pleasure or advantage at the expense of community well-being.
Machiavellianism. Manipulativeness, callous affect and strategic-calculating orientation.
Moral Disengagement. A generalized cognitive orientation to the world that differentiates individuals' thinking in a way that powerfully affects unethical behaviour.
Narcissism. An all-consuming motive for ego reinforcement.
Psychological Entitlement. A stable and pervasive sense that one deserves more and is entitled to more than others.
Psychopathy. Deficits in affect, callousness, self-control and impulsivity.
Sadism. Intentionally inflicting physical, sexual or psychological pain or suffering on others in order to assert power and dominance or for pleasure and enjoyment.
Self-Interest. The pursuit of gains in socially valued domains, including material goods, social status, recognition, academic or occupational achievement and happiness.
Spitefulness. A preference that would harm another but that would also entail harm to oneself. This harm could be social, financial, physical or an inconvenience.
(Kaufman, 2018).
Take a moment now to look back at the statements you looked at earlier in this article, and see which of your answers correspond to the above traits. So for example, if you agreed with statement 1 and 8 at the beginning of this letter, you can see from this list that you may demonstrate dark traits of egoism and self-interest (to greater or lesser extents of course).
Are you shocked by your results? I am. No, I won’t tell you which ones I scored.
These kind of tests or scoring sheets can be quite fun, interesting, and for the most part harmless when used outside of clinical or research settings. They can start to get a little bit more interesting and macabre however, when showcased within frameworks of ‘True Crime’ documentaries and others alike. But how about when parallels are drawn from these kind of criterions to people in our lives that we look up to, respect, invite into our schools, call on to protect us, and pay?
Do you want to open up about an assault? Better call a sadist!
Erm, absolutely not right? If something terrible had happened to you, or someone you knew, an individual with such traits is precisely not the kind of person you would call on for help, let alone want anything to do with or defend.
Yet, when people with these traits (to greater or lesser extents) hold a gun, ride in pairs, wear blue, or own a badge – if they, without cause break someone’s arm, shoot someone in their sleep…or kneel on someone’s neck for 8 minutes whilst they beg for their life, exclaim how they can’t breathe and fear being killed…it takes a viral video, international outrage, movements, protests, riots, letters, petitions, demonstrations, marches, social media campaigns, fundraising, celebrity support, social media posts and so much more, for the justice system and the government in the U.S.A to even consider doing anything about it.
"The problem of police killings of unarmed black victims should not be viewed merely as a problem of flawed action on the part of individual police officers, but more as a consequence of the broader problem of structural racism,"
- Mesic et al., 2018.
@snoopdogg - “Endangered species is what we starting to become so how long u think we gone stand for this 🤬we the grandkids of the slaves y’all couldn’t kill 🇺🇸🤬. Cz. N. BZ. N 🇲🇽. It’s go time 👊🏾. We all we got 🙏🏾”
Let’s just be honest, cops killing black people isn’t a unique situation. The murder of George Floyd isn’t a special case - it’s been happening for decades and it’s disgusting.
‘13th’ (2016) by Ava DuVernay explains our societal situation perfectly; unpacking and exploring the intersection of race, justice, and mass incarceration in America. The documentary highlights exactly how the abolition of slavery was actually just covertly remodelled into a loop-hole since the end of the American Civil War by criminalising the most basic behaviour of black people; giving police the power and audacity to feel able to arrest people of colour and force them into slave labour for the state, under convict leasing. But no, the suppression of African Americans by disenfranchisement, lynching, claiming a bogus war on drugs (that just so happens to weigh more heavily on minority groups than white people) is not enough. Now they’re just straight up killing people? And for what?
I’ll tell you what for:
The murders of unarmed black victims at the hands of the police, have been recorded and scattered across social media over the last couple years, where it has seemingly become more and more prolific. Most of the time, these occurrences have just disappeared into the ether – or the corrupt cops simply receive no more than a “slap on the wrist”. There appears to be little, if any, accountability. Can you imagine living in such a world? And why does some element of our current situation not feel as urgent as it really is? Because it has been normalised and we have all been made to feel powerless, and more than that – to resent each other. Well, please rest assured that our situation is absolutely NOT normal.
…and is absolutely not ok. And needs to be met with outright horror, disgust, and for good people to step up and demand better - of not just the police and government, but of each other.
“Oh, he's got more friends there than here. America's chock-full of Nazis. If anything, they're more rabid than they are here, more... insidious, because they're all pretending otherwise.”
― Matt Killeen, Orphan Monster Spy.
“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”
No more excuses. If during this critical moment in history we fail to unite and to ACTIVELY seek equality and justice for all, our future will lay waste. We need each other now, possibly more than we ever have. We need no more finger-pointing at someone’s white, black, or Asian neighbour. The fingers belong towards those who continuously exchange the bricks, cementing in the foundations that hold up the structure of oppression, division, and hatred. We need to look at our government. We need to look at our “leaders”.
A faulty and hateful leader gives the sewer rats permission to wriggle out of the drains and feel important, and entitled to ‘cleanse’ everything with their own stench. It’s time to lay the rat traps and be the pest control.
This isn’t about politics. This is about crimes against humanity.
Dear Government…
You fucking owe us and you have a duty. Do better and protect us.
Dear Police…
Murdering innocent people isn’t ok because you’re wearing blue and own a badge. Shooting someone, bludgeoning someone, strangling someone, or snapping their bones isn’t ok because you “felt threatened”. Your paycheck and temporarily inflated ego won’t save you from your thoughts. Your memories and actions will stay with you for the rest of your life and your face will remain in the history books for the rest of ours. What side of the page do you want to be on?
Dear Reader…
Consuming ethnic food, enjoying ethnic music, getting ethnic tattoos, braids, getting lip injections and butt-implants or adopting any other kind of aesthetic, attitude, or enjoyment from another culture or race is not ok if you are not speaking and standing up for that group during critical times such as now. This does NOT just apply to white people.
Although standing up may be intimidating, we need to be on the right side of history, fighting for a future that promotes and enjoys fairness, justice and freedom over one that wants to hem-in individuality, diversity, beauty and uniqueness for some white-washed KKK sponsored version of Gilead. What am I talking about? Watch this and reflect on how the messaging from this series can be very much observed today, in various regards…
Also…Elisabeth Moss is the most bomb actress if you weren’t aware.
So, how can we help?
Personally abolish and reject any kind of racist undertones (or overtones) that you may pick up on in symbolism, music, clothing, advertisements, film, action, or in language.
Sign petitions that fight for the prosecution of those who commit hate crimes or racially motivated murders. Research the petition(s) you find and make sure that any money they are asking for isn’t being used for anything sinister or for an unrelated agenda.
Educate yourself, friends, and family on the current issues in society. Do not be ignorant. If you do not know something or understand something, look it up. If you are a teacher, or are involved with the youth in any way, speak to your employer and demand better education on these social issues and campaign for teachings of acceptance to be put into your school/facility/place of work.
VOTE. Our current situation is not about politics, we are in the midst of battling crimes against humanity and we need your sword.
Don’t inspire/co-sign/take part in/ignore further hatred and division through counter/reverse racist messaging or discrimination on social media or in real life. It is not black people against white people (or vice versa), it is everyone against racism.
Whilst we are all feeling the weight of COVID-19 looming behind our backs; trying to ignore and manage that subtle bubble of panic, stress, and hopelessness lapping at our ankles as we wade through the next and the next horrific incident in the news - I urge you this month (and every month), to remember that we are all on the same team and we must all together stand against violence.
We have the power and the intelligence to have the future that we want and deserve. We all in our personal life strive for happiness, health, wellbeing, abundance, confidence, and opportunity. Use that same passion and discipline to fight for that on a larger scale. You are just as present and valid in this world as anyone else, and we need your positive influence.
- Samantha
Thank you for reading this month’s ‘Letter from the Editor’. Although I initially wanted to cover why The Room – Psy took a break and introduce some of the brand new content we have in store for you; I couldn’t miss this opportunity to say my piece and encourage us all to reflect and not feel hopeless in our current situation. Nevertheless, we are back from our hiatus! As some of you may have seen from our Instagram post, unfortunately I had to take a break over the last couple months for some personal reasons – however we are back in business and The Room – Psy team and I are really excited to share with you our upcoming content as we enter our next year of www.theroompsy.com !
Thank you so so much for sharing the journey with us the last 365 days. It has been so wonderful reading each and every one of your comments and seeing where all of you are from too. We are really excited to see where this next year will take us, and how much further we can grow the platform. You inspire us to create every day and we couldn’t and wouldn’t be doing this without you.
Thank You.
Xx
References
13th (2016). Netflix. [Viewed November 2019]. Available from: https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/80091741
Edmund Burke, Thoughts on the Cause of the Present Discontents 82-83 (1770) in: Select Works of Edmund Burke, vol. 1, p. 146 (Liberty Fund ed. 1999).
Kaufman, S. B., (n. d). The Dark Core of Personality [online]. Pocket. [Viewed 1 June 2020]. Available from: https://getpocket.com/explore/item/the-dark-core-of-personality?utm_source=pocket-newtab-global-en-GB
Moshagen, M., Hilbig, B. E., & Zettler, I. (2018). The dark core of personality. Psychological Review, 125, 656–688. (doi: 10.1037/rev0000111).
Moshagen, M., Hilbig, B. E., Zettler, I., (2020). THE DARK FACTOR OF PERSONALITY. [Viewed 1 June 2020]. Available from: http://www.darkfactor.org/