A new study published in the Journal of Family Violence has identified a range of “dark” personality traits that could act as early warning signs that your partner is more likely to engage in gaslighting.
Gaslighting is a form of psychological manipulation that was initially inspired by a 1938 play called Gas Light. The manipulation works by planting seeds of doubt in another person, making them doubt their own thoughts and perspectives on a situation.
The signs of gaslighting
With the aim to shed light on who would be most likely to employ such manipulation tactics, researchers spent time looking at dark traits, and in particular, the notorious Dark Tetrad. The Tetrad refers to a group of personality traits including narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and sadism.
To conduct their study, they employed a range of psychometric tests including the Levenson Self-Report Psychopathy Scale, the Brief Pathological Narcissism Inventory, the Two-Dimensional Machiavellianism Scale, and the Short Sadistic Impulse Scale.
To relate the subjects to gaslighting, the researchers then asked them to fill in a questionnaire that called for specific scenarios to be ranked by acceptability.
They soon found that people with Dark Tetrad traits were more likely to accept gaslighting as okay, suggesting they could employ them within relationships. Interestingly, each of the traits was not created equally, with sadism emerging as a particularly strong predictor of gaslighting.
Gender also played a part
The study also showed that gender contributed to the likelihood of personality signs and the acceptance of gaslighting, with men generally more accepting than women due to increased primary psychopathy levels.
Though the study provided quality data to highlight the direct link between dark personality traits and gaslighting, the researchers said further work was needed to look into the actual behavior.
“These novel findings provide future researchers with a wealth of opportunity to replicate and expand the exploration of the understudied phenomena of gaslighting,” the researchers concluded.
