We hear a lot about the rich and inequality. The 1% and the 0.1%.
We also have people society would be better of without who fit a roughly 10% statistic. What if all of these are the same people, with all the traits in common?
Australia:
- 10% believe in political violence (assassination over voting)
- 10% of men have been charged with domestic violence
- 5-15% of men are interested in sex with children
- 25% of people have witnessed animal mistreatment in the last year
There is a strong correlation between abusing pets (kicking dogs) and violence towards human partners. I think it is reasonable to think all of the above (use of power and strength) can be accurately conflated into one personality type
AI tells me this is the overall personality type, although not everyone will exhibit all the behaviours above.
The Dark Tetrad Traits
- Narcissism: Grandiosity, entitlement, and a severe lack of empathy.
- Machiavellianism: A manipulative, cynical attitude and a willingness to exploit others for personal gain.
- Psychopathy: Impulsivity, callousness, thrill-seeking, and a lack of remorse.
- Sadism: Deriving pleasure or enjoyment from inflicting pain, humiliation, or discomfort on others.
Numbers are sparse and categorisation is difficult. Personality diagnosis often includes thoughts and feelings more than actually acting on them. Even so, in a large validation study of the Short Dark Tetrad scale, 11.2% of participants had elevated overall Dark Tetrad scores; among men, the figure was 25%, compared with 6% among women.
My proposal is simple. Just like 10,000 steps per day, or X alcoholic drinks per week are made up numbers, we call it the 10%. Of men. A simplistic way to describe men who are dickheads and prone to using force and power to get what they want.
Barry, over there, he’s a 10% – probably best to avoid him