Narcissism has been associated with persistent sexual persuasion, coercion, aggression, and rape ... more Narcissism has been associated with persistent sexual persuasion, coercion, aggression, and rape conducive beliefs. However, the majority of research has concentrated on male samples. The present study (N = 329) investigated narcissism and sexually coercive tactics, varying in severity, in both males and females. Males scored significantly higher on total narcissism and sexual coercion. However, when narcissism was investigated in relation to sexually coercive tactics, it was found that narcissistic females were just as likely to engage in serious and aggressive sexually coercive behaviour. In addition, sexual coercion in males related to more socially desirable aspects of narcissism (adaptive narcissism), whereas in females, sexual coercion was associated with socially toxic components of the construct (maladaptive narcissism). Our results demonstrate that gender differences in narcissism can differ significantly when investigating the impact narcissism has on a specific type of behaviour such as sexual coercion. These new findings contribute to the very little we already know about narcissism in females, suggesting that both sexes should be included in future research on narcissism.
Although there has been much interest in psychopathy and risk-taking, not many studies have looke... more Although there has been much interest in psychopathy and risk-taking, not many studies have looked at primary and secondary psychopathy in evolutionarily relevant domains. In the present questionnaire study, relationships between sex, domain-specific risk-taking, and primary and secondary psychopathy were investigated in an online sample of 373 (75 male) participants. Secondary psychopathy related to more diverse risk-taking than primary psychopathy, supporting the competitive disadvantage-theory of psychopathy . In men, primary psychopathy had an association with between-groups risk, and in women, secondary psychopathy correlated with withingroup risk. The results are discussed with regard to sex differences in psychopathy and risk from evolutionary perspective.
Evolutionary psychology : an international journal of evolutionary approaches to psychology and behavior, 2015
Paternal uncertainty has shaped human behavior both in evolutionary and cultural terms. There has... more Paternal uncertainty has shaped human behavior both in evolutionary and cultural terms. There has been much research investigating parenting as a function of genetic relatedness to the child, with a focus on male behavior, but the nature of these sex differences is hard to evaluate. We devised a hypothetical scenario that was as similar as possible for men and women to test whether, even in such a scenario, sex differences would remain strong. Participants were presented with the discovery that a child that s/he believed to be theirs was not carrying their own genes. Irrespective of sex, participants (n = 1007) were more upset when the baby was not genetically related to them than when the child was genetically related but the sex gamete was not from a chosen donor. Women were more upset than men in both scenarios, but were more likely to want to keep the baby. The results are discussed with reference to evolved and rational mechanisms affecting parenting.
Previous research on the Dark Triad traits (i.e., Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and narcissism) ... more Previous research on the Dark Triad traits (i.e., Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and narcissism) has focused solely on the role the Dark Triad traits played in mate choice of actors. The current study (N = 336) extends this by manipulating the apparent levels of Dark Triad traits in targets and correlating mate choice in these targets with individual differences in the Dark Triad traits in actors. As expected, both sexes preferred partners low in the Dark Triad traits for long-term mating, while those high in these traits were preferred for one-night stands. However, women high in psychopathy considered the Dark Triad traits in potential male partners more physically attractive and desirable for an one-night stand, as well as a potential husband. Men who were high on psychopathy were likewise attracted to psychop-athy in potential mothers. Our findings are discussed from an evolutionary personality paradigm.
Previous research on the Dark Triad traits (i.e., Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and narcissism) ... more Previous research on the Dark Triad traits (i.e., Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and narcissism) has focused solely on the role the Dark Triad traits played in mate choice of actors. The current study (N = 336) extends this by manipulating the apparent levels of Dark Triad traits in targets and correlating mate choice in these targets with individual differences in the Dark Triad traits in actors. As expected, both sexes preferred partners low in the Dark Triad traits for long-term mating, while those high in these traits were preferred for one-night stands. However, women high in psychopathy considered the Dark Triad traits in potential male partners more physically attractive and desirable for an one-night stand, as well as a potential husband. Men who were high on psychopathy were likewise attracted to psychopathy in potential mothers. Our findings are discussed from an evolutionary personality paradigm.
Friendships present Machiavellian men and women with a number of opportunities for emotional mani... more Friendships present Machiavellian men and women with a number of opportunities for emotional manipulation. The current study investigated the influence of Machiavellianism and friendship competition on self-disclosure within same-sex friendship dyads. Male (N = 65) and female (N = 171) participants aged 16 -61 years (M = 21.58, SD = 6.01) completed a questionnaire containing preliminary demographic questions, Mach IV (Christie & Geis, 1970), Self-disclosure Scale , and an amended Interpersonal Competition Index . The analyses revealed that Machiavellianism and friendship competition predicted the honesty -accuracy of self-disclosure but not the amount or postiveness -negativeness of information disclosed. Machiavellianism and competition predicted intent to self-disclose and depth of information disclosed amongst women only.
Previous research on the Dark Triad traits (i.e., Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and narcissism) ... more Previous research on the Dark Triad traits (i.e., Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and narcissism) has focused solely on the role the Dark Triad traits played in mate choice of actors. The current study (N = 336) extends this by manipulating the apparent levels of Dark Triad traits in targets and correlating mate choice in these targets with individual differences in the Dark Triad traits in actors. As expected, both sexes preferred partners low in the Dark Triad traits for long-term mating, while those high in these traits were preferred for one-night stands. However, women high in psychopathy considered the Dark Triad traits in potential male partners more physically attractive and desirable for an one-night stand, as well as a potential husband. Men who were high on psychopathy were likewise attracted to psychopathy in potential mothers. Our findings are discussed from an evolutionary personality paradigm.
The present study (N = 462) examined the relationship between the Dark Triad traits (i.e., narcis... more The present study (N = 462) examined the relationship between the Dark Triad traits (i.e., narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy) and deception in domain-general and domain-specific contexts. As predicted, psychopathy and Machiavellianism were linked to the propensity to lie in different contexts, including mating and academic dishonesty. Psychopathy was related to experiencing more positive emotions associated with lying and Machiavellianism was associated with increased amount of cognitive effort associated with deception. Sex differences in deception were partially mediated by individual differences in the Dark Triad traits. Our findings have important implications for the interpersonal strategies employed by those high on the Dark Triad.
We investigated primary and secondary psychopathy and the ability to detect high-stakes, real-lif... more We investigated primary and secondary psychopathy and the ability to detect high-stakes, real-life emotional lies in an on-line experiment (N = 150). Using signal detection analysis, we found that lie detection ability was overall above chance level, there was a tendency towards responding liberally to the test stimuli, and women were more accurate than men. Further, sex moderated the relationship between psychopathy and lie detection ability; in men, primary psychopathy had a significant positive correlation with the ability to detect lies, whereas in women there was a significant negative correlation with deception detection. The results are discussed with reference to evolutionary theory and sex differences in processing socio-emotional information.
There has been much recent interest in inequality as a causal predictor of mental distress . Howe... more There has been much recent interest in inequality as a causal predictor of mental distress . However, research has not yet investigated the relationship between objective and subjective social rank and schizotypy, a personality trait that is associated with vulnerability to mental distress. In the present study, we looked at the relative contribution of childhood objective and subjective social rank in relation to schizotypy in adulthood. In an on-line sample of 365 volunteers based in the United Kingdom, we used postcode information in reconstructing an index of socio-economic status in childhood, as well as asking the participants subjective recollections of their childhood status in relation to others. We found that the subjective, rather than the objective measure of status was a significant predictor of all the dimensions of schizotypy. Individuals who had high objective, and low subjective status had higher scores in Cognitive Disorganisation. Our results highlight the importance of psycho-social route in the development of vulnerability to mental distress, and can be interpreted in light of the social rank theory.
Previous research indicates that people identify the sexual orientation of a target quickly and m... more Previous research indicates that people identify the sexual orientation of a target quickly and mostly accurately. We investigated the influence of the sex and sexual orientation of the observer on the accuracy of detecting homosexual men and women. Additionally, we examined observer confidence when rating a target as heterosexual or homosexual. Homosexual and heterosexual male and female observers (N = 619) were presented with 80 facial photographs (20 homosexual women, 20 heterosexual women, 20 homosexual men, and 20 heterosexual men). Participants were asked to identify whether the target was "gay" or "straight" and rate how confident they were with their judgement. The results showed that pictures of women were judged more accurately than pictures of men by all observers, and there was a general tendency for homosexual observers to use the "gay" category more frequently than heterosexual observers, although this bias was qualified by sex of picture. Finally, confidence ratings were more closely related to response bias than rating accuracy.
Although the Dark Triad personality (i.e., Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy) has bee... more Although the Dark Triad personality (i.e., Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy) has been researched widely, only few studies have investigated women's preferences for men who present high and low Dark Triad features. With an on-line two-alternative forced choice questionnaire we investigated the interaction between preferences of 1962 Finnish women for facial stimuli that differed in the intensity of the Dark Triad traits, accounting for mating context, contraceptive use, and sexual openness (sociosexuality). Among noncontraceptive-using women, unrestricted sociosexuality was positively correlated with preference for high narcissistic male faces, whereas in contraceptive-using women, sociosexuality correlated negatively with preference for high Machiavellian male faces. We suggest that i) facial cues to Dark Triad traits are detectable by women, but ii) their effect on the judgments of attractiveness may vary depending on sociosexuality and contraceptive use, and that iii) preference for narcissism follows similar variation trends as masculinity preference, depending on sociosexuality and the use of hormonal contraception.
Despite a rapid increase of interest in the Dark Triad of personality (i.e., psychopathy, narciss... more Despite a rapid increase of interest in the Dark Triad of personality (i.e., psychopathy, narcissism and Machiavellianism), very little research has focused on links between the Dark Triad and internal body awareness (i.e., interoception). In an on-line study (N=323),we investigated the relationship between the Dark Triad and different facets of interoception, such as awareness and trust in body sensations, the capacity to regulate attention, and an awareness of mind–body integration. When we controlled for shared variance between the Dark Triad traits, narcissism emerged as a positive predictor for all but one facet of interoception. Primary psychopathy was a positive predictor of attention regulation, whereas secondary psychopathy was a negative predictor of awareness of body sensation and attention regulation. Machiavellianism emerged as a negative predictor of trusting body sensations. The findings are discussed within an evolutionary framework.
Although there has been much interest in psychopathy and risk-taking, not many studies have looke... more Although there has been much interest in psychopathy and risk-taking, not many studies have looked at primary and secondary psychopathy in evolutionarily relevant domains. In the present questionnaire study, relationships between sex, domain-specific risk-taking, and primary and secondary psychopathy were investigated in an on-line sample of 373 (75 male) participants. Secondary psychopathy related to more diverse risk-taking than primary psychopathy, supporting the competitive disadvantage-theory of psychopathy (Mealey, 1995). In men, primary psychopathy had an association with between-group risk, and in women, secondary psychopathy correlated with within-group risk. The results are discussed with regards to sex differences in psychopathy and risk from evolutionary perspective.
Narcissism has been associated with persistent sexual persuasion, coercion, aggression, and rape ... more Narcissism has been associated with persistent sexual persuasion, coercion, aggression, and rape conducive beliefs. However, the majority of research has concentrated on male samples. The present study (N = 329) investigated narcissism and sexually coercive tactics, varying in severity, in both males and females. Males scored significantly higher on total narcissism and sexual coercion. However, when narcissism was investigated in relation to sexually coercive tactics, it was found that narcissistic females were just as likely to engage in serious and aggressive sexually coercive behaviour. In addition, sexual coercion in males related to more socially desirable aspects of narcissism (adaptive narcissism), whereas in females, sexual coercion was associated with socially toxic components of the construct (maladaptive narcissism). Our results demonstrate that gender differences in narcissism can differ significantly when investigating the impact narcissism has on a specific type of behaviour such as sexual coercion. These new findings contribute to the very little we already know about narcissism in females, suggesting that both sexes should be included in future research on narcissism.
Although there has been much interest in psychopathy and risk-taking, not many studies have looke... more Although there has been much interest in psychopathy and risk-taking, not many studies have looked at primary and secondary psychopathy in evolutionarily relevant domains. In the present questionnaire study, relationships between sex, domain-specific risk-taking, and primary and secondary psychopathy were investigated in an online sample of 373 (75 male) participants. Secondary psychopathy related to more diverse risk-taking than primary psychopathy, supporting the competitive disadvantage-theory of psychopathy . In men, primary psychopathy had an association with between-groups risk, and in women, secondary psychopathy correlated with withingroup risk. The results are discussed with regard to sex differences in psychopathy and risk from evolutionary perspective.
Evolutionary psychology : an international journal of evolutionary approaches to psychology and behavior, 2015
Paternal uncertainty has shaped human behavior both in evolutionary and cultural terms. There has... more Paternal uncertainty has shaped human behavior both in evolutionary and cultural terms. There has been much research investigating parenting as a function of genetic relatedness to the child, with a focus on male behavior, but the nature of these sex differences is hard to evaluate. We devised a hypothetical scenario that was as similar as possible for men and women to test whether, even in such a scenario, sex differences would remain strong. Participants were presented with the discovery that a child that s/he believed to be theirs was not carrying their own genes. Irrespective of sex, participants (n = 1007) were more upset when the baby was not genetically related to them than when the child was genetically related but the sex gamete was not from a chosen donor. Women were more upset than men in both scenarios, but were more likely to want to keep the baby. The results are discussed with reference to evolved and rational mechanisms affecting parenting.
Previous research on the Dark Triad traits (i.e., Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and narcissism) ... more Previous research on the Dark Triad traits (i.e., Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and narcissism) has focused solely on the role the Dark Triad traits played in mate choice of actors. The current study (N = 336) extends this by manipulating the apparent levels of Dark Triad traits in targets and correlating mate choice in these targets with individual differences in the Dark Triad traits in actors. As expected, both sexes preferred partners low in the Dark Triad traits for long-term mating, while those high in these traits were preferred for one-night stands. However, women high in psychopathy considered the Dark Triad traits in potential male partners more physically attractive and desirable for an one-night stand, as well as a potential husband. Men who were high on psychopathy were likewise attracted to psychop-athy in potential mothers. Our findings are discussed from an evolutionary personality paradigm.
Previous research on the Dark Triad traits (i.e., Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and narcissism) ... more Previous research on the Dark Triad traits (i.e., Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and narcissism) has focused solely on the role the Dark Triad traits played in mate choice of actors. The current study (N = 336) extends this by manipulating the apparent levels of Dark Triad traits in targets and correlating mate choice in these targets with individual differences in the Dark Triad traits in actors. As expected, both sexes preferred partners low in the Dark Triad traits for long-term mating, while those high in these traits were preferred for one-night stands. However, women high in psychopathy considered the Dark Triad traits in potential male partners more physically attractive and desirable for an one-night stand, as well as a potential husband. Men who were high on psychopathy were likewise attracted to psychopathy in potential mothers. Our findings are discussed from an evolutionary personality paradigm.
Friendships present Machiavellian men and women with a number of opportunities for emotional mani... more Friendships present Machiavellian men and women with a number of opportunities for emotional manipulation. The current study investigated the influence of Machiavellianism and friendship competition on self-disclosure within same-sex friendship dyads. Male (N = 65) and female (N = 171) participants aged 16 -61 years (M = 21.58, SD = 6.01) completed a questionnaire containing preliminary demographic questions, Mach IV (Christie & Geis, 1970), Self-disclosure Scale , and an amended Interpersonal Competition Index . The analyses revealed that Machiavellianism and friendship competition predicted the honesty -accuracy of self-disclosure but not the amount or postiveness -negativeness of information disclosed. Machiavellianism and competition predicted intent to self-disclose and depth of information disclosed amongst women only.
Previous research on the Dark Triad traits (i.e., Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and narcissism) ... more Previous research on the Dark Triad traits (i.e., Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and narcissism) has focused solely on the role the Dark Triad traits played in mate choice of actors. The current study (N = 336) extends this by manipulating the apparent levels of Dark Triad traits in targets and correlating mate choice in these targets with individual differences in the Dark Triad traits in actors. As expected, both sexes preferred partners low in the Dark Triad traits for long-term mating, while those high in these traits were preferred for one-night stands. However, women high in psychopathy considered the Dark Triad traits in potential male partners more physically attractive and desirable for an one-night stand, as well as a potential husband. Men who were high on psychopathy were likewise attracted to psychopathy in potential mothers. Our findings are discussed from an evolutionary personality paradigm.
The present study (N = 462) examined the relationship between the Dark Triad traits (i.e., narcis... more The present study (N = 462) examined the relationship between the Dark Triad traits (i.e., narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy) and deception in domain-general and domain-specific contexts. As predicted, psychopathy and Machiavellianism were linked to the propensity to lie in different contexts, including mating and academic dishonesty. Psychopathy was related to experiencing more positive emotions associated with lying and Machiavellianism was associated with increased amount of cognitive effort associated with deception. Sex differences in deception were partially mediated by individual differences in the Dark Triad traits. Our findings have important implications for the interpersonal strategies employed by those high on the Dark Triad.
We investigated primary and secondary psychopathy and the ability to detect high-stakes, real-lif... more We investigated primary and secondary psychopathy and the ability to detect high-stakes, real-life emotional lies in an on-line experiment (N = 150). Using signal detection analysis, we found that lie detection ability was overall above chance level, there was a tendency towards responding liberally to the test stimuli, and women were more accurate than men. Further, sex moderated the relationship between psychopathy and lie detection ability; in men, primary psychopathy had a significant positive correlation with the ability to detect lies, whereas in women there was a significant negative correlation with deception detection. The results are discussed with reference to evolutionary theory and sex differences in processing socio-emotional information.
There has been much recent interest in inequality as a causal predictor of mental distress . Howe... more There has been much recent interest in inequality as a causal predictor of mental distress . However, research has not yet investigated the relationship between objective and subjective social rank and schizotypy, a personality trait that is associated with vulnerability to mental distress. In the present study, we looked at the relative contribution of childhood objective and subjective social rank in relation to schizotypy in adulthood. In an on-line sample of 365 volunteers based in the United Kingdom, we used postcode information in reconstructing an index of socio-economic status in childhood, as well as asking the participants subjective recollections of their childhood status in relation to others. We found that the subjective, rather than the objective measure of status was a significant predictor of all the dimensions of schizotypy. Individuals who had high objective, and low subjective status had higher scores in Cognitive Disorganisation. Our results highlight the importance of psycho-social route in the development of vulnerability to mental distress, and can be interpreted in light of the social rank theory.
Previous research indicates that people identify the sexual orientation of a target quickly and m... more Previous research indicates that people identify the sexual orientation of a target quickly and mostly accurately. We investigated the influence of the sex and sexual orientation of the observer on the accuracy of detecting homosexual men and women. Additionally, we examined observer confidence when rating a target as heterosexual or homosexual. Homosexual and heterosexual male and female observers (N = 619) were presented with 80 facial photographs (20 homosexual women, 20 heterosexual women, 20 homosexual men, and 20 heterosexual men). Participants were asked to identify whether the target was "gay" or "straight" and rate how confident they were with their judgement. The results showed that pictures of women were judged more accurately than pictures of men by all observers, and there was a general tendency for homosexual observers to use the "gay" category more frequently than heterosexual observers, although this bias was qualified by sex of picture. Finally, confidence ratings were more closely related to response bias than rating accuracy.
Although the Dark Triad personality (i.e., Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy) has bee... more Although the Dark Triad personality (i.e., Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy) has been researched widely, only few studies have investigated women's preferences for men who present high and low Dark Triad features. With an on-line two-alternative forced choice questionnaire we investigated the interaction between preferences of 1962 Finnish women for facial stimuli that differed in the intensity of the Dark Triad traits, accounting for mating context, contraceptive use, and sexual openness (sociosexuality). Among noncontraceptive-using women, unrestricted sociosexuality was positively correlated with preference for high narcissistic male faces, whereas in contraceptive-using women, sociosexuality correlated negatively with preference for high Machiavellian male faces. We suggest that i) facial cues to Dark Triad traits are detectable by women, but ii) their effect on the judgments of attractiveness may vary depending on sociosexuality and contraceptive use, and that iii) preference for narcissism follows similar variation trends as masculinity preference, depending on sociosexuality and the use of hormonal contraception.
Despite a rapid increase of interest in the Dark Triad of personality (i.e., psychopathy, narciss... more Despite a rapid increase of interest in the Dark Triad of personality (i.e., psychopathy, narcissism and Machiavellianism), very little research has focused on links between the Dark Triad and internal body awareness (i.e., interoception). In an on-line study (N=323),we investigated the relationship between the Dark Triad and different facets of interoception, such as awareness and trust in body sensations, the capacity to regulate attention, and an awareness of mind–body integration. When we controlled for shared variance between the Dark Triad traits, narcissism emerged as a positive predictor for all but one facet of interoception. Primary psychopathy was a positive predictor of attention regulation, whereas secondary psychopathy was a negative predictor of awareness of body sensation and attention regulation. Machiavellianism emerged as a negative predictor of trusting body sensations. The findings are discussed within an evolutionary framework.
Although there has been much interest in psychopathy and risk-taking, not many studies have looke... more Although there has been much interest in psychopathy and risk-taking, not many studies have looked at primary and secondary psychopathy in evolutionarily relevant domains. In the present questionnaire study, relationships between sex, domain-specific risk-taking, and primary and secondary psychopathy were investigated in an on-line sample of 373 (75 male) participants. Secondary psychopathy related to more diverse risk-taking than primary psychopathy, supporting the competitive disadvantage-theory of psychopathy (Mealey, 1995). In men, primary psychopathy had an association with between-group risk, and in women, secondary psychopathy correlated with within-group risk. The results are discussed with regards to sex differences in psychopathy and risk from evolutionary perspective.
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Papers by Minna Lyons
very little research has focused on links between the Dark Triad and internal body awareness
(i.e., interoception). In an on-line study (N=323),we investigated the relationship between the Dark Triad
and different facets of interoception, such as awareness and trust in body sensations, the capacity to regulate
attention, and an awareness of mind–body integration. When we controlled for shared variance between the
Dark Triad traits, narcissism emerged as a positive predictor for all but one facet of interoception. Primary
psychopathy was a positive predictor of attention regulation, whereas secondary psychopathy was a negative
predictor of awareness of body sensation and attention regulation. Machiavellianism emerged as a negative
predictor of trusting body sensations. The findings are discussed within an evolutionary framework.
very little research has focused on links between the Dark Triad and internal body awareness
(i.e., interoception). In an on-line study (N=323),we investigated the relationship between the Dark Triad
and different facets of interoception, such as awareness and trust in body sensations, the capacity to regulate
attention, and an awareness of mind–body integration. When we controlled for shared variance between the
Dark Triad traits, narcissism emerged as a positive predictor for all but one facet of interoception. Primary
psychopathy was a positive predictor of attention regulation, whereas secondary psychopathy was a negative
predictor of awareness of body sensation and attention regulation. Machiavellianism emerged as a negative
predictor of trusting body sensations. The findings are discussed within an evolutionary framework.