Die Studie liefert Beweise dafür, dass Personen mit außergewöhnlich vertrauensvollen und freundlichen Persönlichkeiten nicht aktiv nach manipulativen oder grausamen Partnern suchen. Stattdessen neigen sie einfach weniger dazu, diese Art von Menschen abzulehnen als der Durchschnittsmensch.

>A recent [study](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/pere.70058) published in Personal Relationships provides evidence that individuals with exceptionally trusting and kind personalities do not actively seek out manipulative or cruel partners. Instead, they simply tend to be less likely to reject these types of people compared to the average person. This dynamic suggests that a strong tendency to see the good in others can sometimes reduce a person’s selectivity in romantic contexts.

>The authors behind the new study sought to better understand how contrasting personality traits interact during the very early stages of romantic attraction. In the study of relationships, there is an idea known as complementarity. This concept suggests that people might be drawn to partners who possess different characteristics than their own, such as a submissive person seeking a dominant partner.

>“Finding the ‘perfect match,’ a romantic partner, is something many people aspire to. One might assume that we all simply want to be happy and, ideally, not alone. A substantial body of research shows that similarity in certain traits (e.g., values, beliefs, etc.) is beneficial for long-term relationship satisfaction. At the same time, dissimilarity in other traits, such as social dominance, may also have advantages,” said study author Jana Sophie Kesenheimer, postdoctoral researcher at the University of Innsbruck.

>The researchers aimed to test whether this idea of opposites attracting applies to extreme personality profiles. Specifically, they looked at the interaction between the dark tetrad and the light triad of personality. The dark tetrad is a group of four traits associated with manipulation, callousness, and a desire for power.

>The four dark traits are narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and everyday sadism. Narcissism involves a sense of superiority and a need for admiration, while Machiavellianism describes emotionally distant people who use strategic manipulation to exploit others. Psychopathy is characterized by impulsive behavior and a lack of empathy, and sadism involves experiencing pleasure from inflicting harm on other people.

>On the other hand, the light triad consists of three positive traits that focus on altruism and empathy. These include humanism, which means valuing the dignity of others, and a belief in the basic goodness of people, known as faith in humanity. The third trait is Kantianism, which involves a preference for honesty and treating people with inherent worth rather than as tools for personal gain.

>“We wanted to examine the ‘extremes’ of human personality (though still within the subclinical range): the dark and the light sides,” Kesenheimer explained. “Kaufman and colleagues (2019) proposed that individuals with light personalities may be particularly vulnerable to exploitation by those with dark traits. Bringing these assumptions together, we aimed to test whether this dynamic would emerge in a real dating context.”

Moral of the story: do not treat people like you’d want to be treated. Treat them like walking talking landmines even when proved otherwise.

They are more easily manipulated

I’d be interested in a study of how many many people think others share the same worldview. I’m not even sure if that’s, er, traceable? But anecdotally, I have always assumed that everyone tries their best with the information they have, and act in good faith. Sonder, and all that.

It was a massive shock to finally understand that no, not everyone has that worldview.