Gripping insights into the dark side of human nature.

DARK FACTOR
by Benjamin E. Hilbig, Morten Moshagen & Ingo Zettler
Artiston/PRH Germany, October 2025

What do people with a tendency to steal, incite hatred, bully and lie have in common? Studies conducted over the past 10 years by international teams of researchers suggests that what they all share is a quality called ‘the dark factor’. It exists in each of us to a greater or lesser degree, and can actually be measured. For the first time ever, DARK FACTOR provides comprehensive answers to some key questions, based on data obtained from more than 2 million people.

What makes us do bad things? What do our negative personality traits – such as narcissism, psychopathy and sadism – have in common? How do gender, age and level of education affect the dark factor, and how does it, in turn, shape our relationships, career choices and political views? Does it lead to success and happiness, or is it more likely to make you lonely, or even ill? And can its levels change, or is it a case of ‘once bad, always bad’?

The D-Factor: The general tendency to maximize one’s individual utility – disregarding, accepting, or malevolently provoking disutility for others –, accompanied by beliefs that serve as justifications

An analysis of the nine classic personality traits: egoism, malice, Machiavellianism, moral disengagement, narcissism, psychopathy, sadism, self-centeredness and excessive entitlement.

Prof. Benjamin E. Hilbig, PhD, has a degree in psychology and obtained his PhD in 2009. He then joined the Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods before moving to an assistant professor role at the University of Mannheim, where he specialised in judgement and decision-making. In 2014, he joined the University of Kaiserslautern-Landau, where he heads up the experimental psychology and personality research group. He specialises in ethical and social decision-making, personality traits and research methods.

Prof. Dr. Morten Moshagen has a PhD in psychology. Following a postdoc at the University of Mannheim, he became professor of psychology at the University of Kassel in 2014, specialising in research methods. After a spell at the University of Copenhagen as visiting researcher, he joined the University of Ulm in 2016. He now heads up Ulm’s Department of Research Methods in Psychology, specialising in mathematical modelling and socially problematic personality traits.

Prof. Dr. Ingo Zettler is professor of personality and behaviour at the University of Copenhagen’s Institute of Psychology and Center for Social Data Science (SODAS). Before moving to Denmark, he did a degree in psychology, and after graduating worked at the RWTH in Aachen (obtaining his PhD there) and at the University of Tübingen. He is part of a research team specialising in personality traits and their significance in different contexts, including anti-social, pro-social, workplace and environment-related behaviour.