Empathy in dark and vulnerable personality traits: a multimethod study from self-reported, performance-based, and electrophysiological empathy correlates.

Abstract

Deficits in empathic functioning are a hallmark of dark personality traits, such as psychopathy, narcissism, Machiavellianism, and sadism, which form the Dark Tetrad construct (D4). The Vulnerable Dark Triad construct (VDT; borderline symptomatology, vulnerable narcissism, and secondary psychopathy) shares antagonism with the D4 but also includes emotionally vulnerable facets. Maheux-Caron et al. (2024) uncovered meaningful profiles based on D4 and VDT traits using Latent Class Analysis and found significant differences across profiles on self-reported empathy. The current study aimed to investigate differences in empathy and emotional face processing across profiles from Maheux-Caron et al.'s (2024) work-adopting a multimethod approach in which dispositional, behavioral, and electrophysiological empathy correlates were examined. An empathy task based on the Affective and Cognitive Measure of Empathy (ACME; Vachon & Lynam, 2016) was developed and preliminary construct validity data for the task are reported in the present paper. Significant differences were found across profiles on dispositional affective empathy and behavioral cognitive empathy. Although differences across profiles on electrophysiological data were not found, exploratory supplemental analyses showed associations between the personality measures of borderline and Machiavellian traits and a reduced N170 amplitude. The present study highlights how the operationalization of empathy and its related measures play a paramount role in understanding empathic functioning. Our findings support the idea that self-reported cognitive empathy measures are not valid proxies for actual empathic ability, and this should be carefully considered in research and clinical practice settings.