Canada’s St. Paul’s University have found that personality traits unique to adaptive psychopaths are associated with higher levels of happiness. Among them: desire for social dominance, fearlessness, low stress response and extroversion. The research was published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences.
Psychopathy encompasses a number of features associated with both antisocial traits; for example, diminished empathy, inability to sincerely repent for hurting other people, cheating, egocentrism, and others. Although psychopathy is often associated with violent behavior, recent research suggests that some people who display these traits do well in society. These are called adaptive psychopaths.
According to scientists, people with high levels of psychopathic and adaptive traits will show the highest levels of happiness. To test this hypothesis, the authors recruited 2209 students. All underwent a series of tests to assess their personality traits and happiness levels.
Analyzing the data collected, the research team found that adaptive traits were associated with higher levels of long-term happiness, life satisfaction, and self-esteem. At the same time, according to scientists, the absence of adaptive traits and the presence of psychopathic ones are associated with a low level of happiness.