Environmental activism, dark triad traits, and left-wing authoritarianism: A constructive replication study

Abstract

A recent cross-sectional study with 839 employed individuals in Germany, published in Personality and Individual Differences, found positive associations between three dimensions of environmental activism (i.e., environmental civic actions, participation in and support of environmental activist groups), two dark triad traits (i.e., Machiavellianism, narcissism), and two dimensions of left-wing authoritarianism (i.e., antihierarchical aggression, anticonventionalism; Zacher, 2024). The goal of the current study was to constructively replicate this previous study with a larger sample (N = 1998 employed individuals in Germany) and time-lagged panel data with baseline controls across one year. Consistent with pre-registered hypotheses on reciprocal relations among the focal constructs, Machiavellianism and civic environmental actions positively predicted each other over time. Antihierarchical aggression predicted greater participation in environmental activist groups, and participation in environmental activist groups predicted higher narcissism, but in both cases not vice versa. Anticonventionalism and support for environmental activist groups positively predicted each other over time. Exploratory results showed that civic environmental actions and participation in environmental activist groups predicted higher psychopathy. Civic environmental actions negatively, and support for environmental activist groups positively, predicted top-down censorship. Overall, these findings partially replicate and extend previous research on associations between environmental activism, dark triad traits, and left-wing authoritarianism.