Individuals with traits like narcissism and psychopathy may be drawn to antisemitic ideologies, according to a new study published in the journal Current Psychology. Researchers found that people who score higher on measures of these dark personality traits also tend to express stronger antisemitic views, suggesting these ideologies can serve as a way for them to satisfy their selfish needs. This research sheds light on the psychological underpinnings of antisemitism and offers a novel perspective on why some individuals are attracted to this form of prejudice.
The new research was grounded in a psychological concept known as the dark-ego-vehicle principle. This idea suggests that individuals who display dark personality traits, such as certain forms of narcissism and psychopathy, are inclined to adopt ideologies that help them meet their inner needs. In other words, these personality characteristics may lead people to embrace beliefs that allow them to express aggression, assert dominance, and seek attention—all while appearing to stand for a moral or righteous cause.
“Consistently, we have found dark personality traits (especially narcissism and psychopathy) to be related to different forms of prosocial activism,” explained study authors Ann Krispenz, a postdoctoral associate, and Alex Bertrams, the head of the Educational Psychology Lab at the University of Bern.
“In our previous studies, higher grandiose narcissism was related to environmental activism, feminist activism, LGBQ activism , and anti-sexual assault activism. We are interpreting these findings to show that prosocial movements are being hijacked by people with dark personalities who use them as a vehicle to act out their selfish dark needs (e.g., moralistic self-exaltation, virtue signaling).”
“From a theoretical point of view, it was reasonable to assume that antisemitism may also be a dark-ego vehicle and should be associated with dark personality styles; however, what mainly motivated us to apply the dark-ego-vehicle principle to antisemitism was the terror of October 7, 2023,” the researchers continued. “Since then, there has been an increase in directly observable antisemitism in countries such as the USA, UK, Germany, and Switzerland. The fact that a horrific massacre became the basis for protests in favor of the perpetrators and the aggressive behaviors at these protests indicated to us that emotionally dark motives are at work.”
“We had the opportunity here to test the dark-ego-vehicle principle on a very serious current situation. We consider our study on the one hand as a test of our theoretical approach and on the other hand as our entry into psychological research for a better understanding of antisemitism.”
To investigate this idea, researchers conducted a longitudinal study, meaning they looked at data collected from the same individuals over time. They invited participants from 14 previous studies, focusing on political attitudes and the dark-ego-vehicle principle, to participate in a new study. This resulted in a large sample of 3,981 individuals from the United States and the United Kingdom.
In these earlier studies, participants had already completed questionnaires measuring various aspects of their personality, including dark personality traits like different forms of narcissism (grandiose and antagonistic narcissism), psychopathy, Machiavellianism, and sadism. They also assessed indicators of dark personality needs, such as aggression, the desire to dominate others, sensation seeking, virtue signaling (publicly displaying moral virtue without genuine moral conviction), and selfishness (measured as low altruism).
In the new study, these same participants were asked to complete questionnaires designed to measure antisemitic attitudes. One questionnaire, called the Generalised Antisemitism Scale, measured both general antisemitism and two specific types: Judeophobic antisemitism, which reflects traditional stereotypes about Jewish people related to dishonesty and greed, and antizionist antisemitism, which focuses on prejudice directed towards the state of Israel as a Jewish entity.
Another questionnaire, called the “Pro-Palestinism” Scale, was also used to assess antisemitism. Despite its name, the scale was included to focus on radical antizionist views, even those that might condone violence.
“We must emphasize that political pro-Palestinian attitudes exist that do not fall under the definition of antisemitism,” the researchers explained. “The measure of ‘pro-Palestinism’ in our study comes from a previous research paper in which the authors used this term regarding this measure. We did not want to change the given term because whatever name we would choose ourselves could be perceived as biased.”
“We therefore decided to keep the term but to put it in quotation marks. We included this measure because, according to the previous research mentioned above, it captures antisemitism rather than pro-Palestinianism. It has complemented our other antisemitism measures as it also includes very explicit aggressive attitudes such as the approval of terrorist attacks. We wanted to include this aspect.”
The study’s findings largely supported the idea that dark personality traits are linked to antisemitism. The vast majority of the relationships examined – over 94% – showed a positive direction, meaning that higher scores on dark personality measures were associated with higher scores on antisemitism measures.
Specifically, when looking at the pre-registered hypothesis, the researchers found that antagonistic narcissism and psychopathy showed particularly strong positive relationships with antizionist antisemitism. This suggests that individuals with these more hostile and manipulative personality traits were more likely to endorse antisemitic views targeting Israel. Grandiose narcissism, characterized by an inflated sense of self-importance, also showed a positive association with antizionist antisemitism, although the relationships were generally weaker than those seen with antagonistic narcissism and psychopathy.
The researchers were surprised to find that these dark personality traits were linked not only to antizionist antisemitism but also to Judeophobic antisemitism, the more traditional form of prejudice against Jewish people. This suggests that dark personalities may be drawn to antisemitism in general, regardless of its specific form.
“Prior to analyzing the data, we assumed that Judeophobic antisemitism was not as suitable as a dark-ego vehicle because it may be less easy to justify with moralism and rationalize than antizionist antisemitism,” Bertrams and Krispenz told PsyPost. “In the future, we will have to examine Judeophobia more closely regarding dark needs.”
Furthermore, the researchers found that indicators like aggression, dominance, sensation seeking, virtue signaling, and selfishness were also generally associated with higher levels of antisemitism. While some of these relationships were weaker than others, the overall pattern indicated that individuals driven by these dark needs were more likely to express antisemitic attitudes.
“Our research focuses on psychological incentives and rewards of being antisemitic,” the researchers said. “Such incentives and rewards may arise only for certain individuals but not for others—depending on individuals’ personalities. One implication of this view is that some antisemitic individuals may actually not be cognitively convinced by antisemitic content but may see the expression of antisemitic sentiment as an opportunity to live out dark needs and to receive the positive affect that arises when such needs are currently met.”
“In the context of the DEVP, we basically think that any ideology, prejudice, and activism that can help satisfy dark needs is attractive to individuals high in dark personality variables. For instance, studies have found that both left- and right- wing authoritarianism are related to dark personality variables. Which specific ideological vehicles dark-ego individuals use may depend on which ideas and narratives they come into contact with in their specific life contexts and whether they recognize the opportunity of dark needs satisfaction.”
“In the case of left- and right-wing authoritarianism, one comes additionally into contact with the prejudices against certain social groups that are common in the respective political sphere,” Bertrams and Krispenz told PsyPost. “Regarding authoritarianism and antisemitism, there is empirical evidence that on the left-wing authoritarian side one is more likely to endorse antizionist antisemitism while on the right-wing authoritarian side one is more likely to endorse Judeophobic antisemitism.”
As with all research, there are limitations to consider. Firstly, the study relied on self-report questionnaires to measure both personality traits and antisemitic attitudes. While these are standard tools in psychology, they are subject to potential biases, as individuals may not always accurately report their own traits or beliefs. Future research could benefit from using a wider range of methods, including observing actual behaviors, to gain a more complete picture. Secondly, the study primarily focused on samples from the US and the UK. Antisemitism is a global issue, and its expression and underlying motivations may vary across different cultures and countries.
Looking ahead, researchers are interested in investigating the question of cause and effect more directly. Longitudinal studies that track individuals over time and experimental designs could help to determine if these traits actually lead to the adoption of antisemitic beliefs.
“To investigate the causal relationship between dark personality traits such as psychopathy and antisemitism, a longitudinal study with several measurement points and a large sample will be needed,” Bertrams and Krispenz said. “At the moment we are trying to acquire funds for such an extensive study.”
The researchers argue that it is less important to study every possible ideology associated with dark personality traits and more valuable to understand how individuals with these traits shift between different belief systems over time.
“From our point of view, it seems not as useful to continue researching the multitude of ideologies with more and more studies,” they explained. “The attraction of certain ideologies and forms of activism for individuals with dark personalities is likely to change again and again depending on societal processes anyway. That is why we call it a vehicle; as individuals with dark egos can hop from one to the other when the old one has had its day, or another one better meets their dark needs.”
“It appears therefore not so important to ask which are all the ideologies that are related to dark personality traits at present. A more important research question may be whether the described vehicle leaps exist. If one looks at climate activism, it now seems to be less widely represented on the streets and in social media, whereas antisemitic protests are very present now. It is possible that some activists have switched from the topic of climate change to manifest antisemitism.”
The researchers also addressed the pushback they experienced from exploring the links between dark personality traits, activism, and ideology.
“Prior to our study, there was a case at our own university where an academic employee openly celebrated the October 7 massacre in an X-tweet,” Bertrams and Krispenz told PsyPost. “When the public and the university leadership became aware of this, he was dismissed and the structures of the institute he was employed at were investigated and changed. We are therefore aware that antisemitism also exists here in Switzerland and even very close to us, but that it is not tolerated at our university. Therefore, when we began our research on antisemitism, we felt largely protected from inappropriate attacks against our research in our immediate environment.”
“However, we know that antisemitism exists in certain parts of the academic system. Therefore, we expected attempts to cancel our research within the anonymous review process and, in our personal experience, this expectation was realistic. Since starting the DEVP research, it has become normal for us to sometimes receive clearly unscientific reviews or rejections without any substantive justification—as it was the case with our antisemitism study; however, it is then also easy to raise an objection because it is so blatantly unscientific. Nevertheless, we also experience a lot of approval and encouragement from colleagues.”
The study, “Antisemitism as a dark-ego vehicle,” was published December 26, 2024.
