Psychopaths are most likely to live in these 4 states, a frightening new study reveals
As it turns out, our personalities are, in fact, shaped by the environments we grow up in, and Nevada, New York, South Dakota, and Texas contain the highest percentages of those in possession of 'dark personality traits.'
A recent study conducted by Ingo Zettler, Lau Lilleholt, Benjamin E. Hilbig, Morten Moshagen, and Martina Bader at the University of Copenhagen found that humans display different levels of dark personality traits depending on their location and the concentration of aversive societal conditions (ASC) that place possesses.
Dark personality traits, or the dark triad, are recognized by psychologists as psychopathy, narcissism, and Machiavellianism — the desire or urge to exploit others.
Meanwhile, ASC can be defined as societal circumstances that occur on a large, collective scale, such as exploitation, fraud, corruption, inequality, and violence, among others.
'It is relatively well known that both genetic and socio-ecological factors shape individuals' personality. However, respective research has hardly considered ethically or socially aversive personality characteristics,' Ingo Zettler, co-author and point-person on the study, told Newsweek.
The study, published in 2025, took place across a period of 20 years, in which researchers studied global correlations between general living conditions and the percentage of the population that possesses dark traits.
The study probed 183 countries across the world with a total of 1,791,542 participants.
In their exploration of the correlation between dark personality traits and aversive social conditions, the researchers examined the U.S. through the lens of individual states.
Data was gathered via survey, and for the U.S.-focused portion of the study, used Census data on socioeconomic disparity and poverty, FBI homicide rates, and Justice Department corruption sentences to draw conclusions.
Within the U.S., researchers looked into all 50 states and compiled responses from 144,576 Americans.
'The more adverse conditions in a society, the higher the level of the dark factor of personality among its citizens,' Zettler summarized. 'Aversive personality traits are associated with behaviors such as aggression, cheating, and exploitation — and thus with high social costs. Therefore, even small variations can lead to large differences in how societies function.'
Urban areas of the United States tend to house extraordinarily economically diverse populations — cities like Los Angeles, New York City, and San Francisco — in close concentration, which can lead to tensions and concerns over quality of life and equal access to essential resources, resulting in higher D levels.
On the other hand, rural areas — like much of Vermont, Utah, Maine, and Oregon, the four states with the lowest probability of producing individuals as a result of living conditions — are more likely to be geographically isolated and relatively economically balanced, per findings from the study.
'Because you might grow up in a country with a high ASC, you're not necessarily fated to become an immoral, exploitative, and self-centered individual,' wrote Susan Krauss Whitbourne in Psychology Today. 'What the findings suggest, instead, is that consistent with the adaptational hypothesis, people may acquire a tendency toward high levels of D if that's what they see around them, or if their own economic deprivation and hardship are particularly pronounced.'
'Our findings substantiate that personality is not just something we are born with, but also shaped by the society we grew up and live in,' Zettler concluded.
'This means that reforms that reduce corruption and inequality not only create better living conditions just now, they may also contribute to mitigating aversive personality levels among the citizens in the future.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Post
4 hours ago
- New York Post
Bill Gates shares ‘next phase of Alzheimer's fight' as he speaks about his father's personal battle
Bill Gates is speaking out about his personal experience with Alzheimer's — and his hope for progress in fighting the disease. In an essay published this week on his blog at the Microsoft co-founder and tech billionaire, 69, reflected on the difficulty of spending another Father's Day without his dad, Bill Gates Sr. Advertisement The elder Gates passed away in 2020 at the age of 94 after battling Alzheimer's. 'It was a brutal experience, watching my brilliant, loving father go downhill and disappear,' Gates wrote in the blog post. Today, motivated by his own experience with the common dementia, Gates — who serves as chair of the Gates Foundation — is committed to working toward a cure for the common dementia, which currently affects more than seven million Americans, or one in nine people over 65. In his blog, Gates expressed optimism about the 'massive progress' being made in the fight against Alzheimer's and other dementias. Advertisement Last year, Gates said he visited Indiana University's School of Medicine in Indianapolis to tour the labs where teams have been researching Alzheimer's biomarkers. 5 Bill Gates (left) is speaking out about his personal experience with Alzheimer's — and his hope for progress in fighting the disease. Brian Ach 'I also got the opportunity to look under the hood of new automated machines that will soon be running diagnostics around the world,' he wrote. 'It's an exciting time in a challenging space.' One of the biggest breakthroughs in Alzheimer's research, according to Gates, is blood-based diagnostic tests, which detect the ratio of amyloid plaques in the brain. (Amyloid plaques, clumps of protein that accumulate in the brain, are one of the hallmarks of Alzheimer's.) Advertisement 'I'm optimistic that these tests will be a game-changer,' Gates wrote. 5 The elder Gates passed away in 2020 at the age of 94 after battling Alzheimer's. Bloomberg via Getty Images Last month, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the first blood-based test for patients 55 years and older, as Fox News Digital reported at the time. Traditionally, Gates noted, the primary path to Alzheimer's diagnosis was either a PET scan (medical imaging) or spinal tap (lumbar puncture), which were usually only performed when symptoms emerged. Advertisement The hope is that blood-based tests could do a better job of catching the disease early, decline begins. 5 Last month, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the first blood-based test for patients 55 years and older, as Fox News Digital reported at the time. – 'We now know that the disease begins 15 to 20 years before you start to see any signs,' Gates wrote. 'A simple, accurate and easy-to-run blood test might one day make routine screening possible, identifying patients long before they experience cognitive decline,' he stated. Gates said he is often asked, 'What is the point of getting diagnosed if I can't do anything about it?' Start and end your day informed with our newsletters Morning Report and Evening Update: Your source for today's top stories Thanks for signing up! Enter your email address Please provide a valid email address. By clicking above you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Never miss a story. Check out more newsletters To that end, he expressed his optimism for the future of Alzheimer's treatments, noting that two drugs — Lecanemab (Leqembi) and Donanemab (Kisunla) — have gained FDA approval. 'Both have proven to modestly slow down the progression of the disease, but what I'm really excited about is their potential when paired with an early diagnostic,' Gates noted. Advertisement He said he is also hopeful that the blood tests will help speed up the process of enrolling patients in clinical trials for new Alzheimer's drugs. 5 The hope is that blood-based tests could do a better job of catching the disease early, decline begins. Monkey Business – To accomplish this, Gates is calling for increased funding for research, which often comes from federal grants. 'This is the moment to spend more money on research, not less,' he wrote, also stating that 'the quest to stop Alzheimer's has never had more momentum.' Advertisement 'There is still a huge amount of work to be done — like deepening our understanding of the disease's pathology and developing even better diagnostics,' Gates went on. 5 Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates, his wife Melinda, far left, his father Bill Gates Sr., and his step-mother Mimi Gates pose for a photo in 2007. AP Gates pointed out that when his father had Alzheimer's, it was considered a 'death sentence,' but that is starting to change. Advertisement 'I am blown away by how much we have learned about Alzheimer's over the last couple of years,' he wrote. 'I cannot help but be filled with a sense of hope when I think of all the progress being made on Alzheimer's, even with so many challenges happening around the world. We are closer than ever before to a world where no one has to watch someone they love suffer from this awful disease.'
Newsweek
13 hours ago
- Newsweek
New IVF Tool Allows Parents To Screen Genetics of Embryos: Is It Ethical?
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. A new tool allows parents undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF) to screen their embryos for health issues, but is it ethical? Genetic disease is believed to be linked to 41 percent of U.S. infants' deaths, while more than 2 million children in the country have a genetic condition. U.S.-based company Nucleus is offering people having IVF the chance to select their embryos by using software that highlights various genetic markers linked to health. Technology that tries to prevent genetic diseases like sickle cell disease, where patients have unusually shaped red blood cells, is already in use. Newsweek/Getty Images/Newsweek/Getty Images "This type of selection of specific embryos as a result of IVF is already occurring in sickle cell care," Dr. Crawford Strunk, vice chief medical officer of the Sickle Cell Disease Association of America, told Newsweek. Parents are able to choose an embryo which tests negative for sickle cell disease, he said, and from which stem cells can also be taken for transplant to help cure children with the condition. However, two experts raised concern over embryo selection, with one telling Newsweek that there are "deeply troubling ethical aspects" of IVF. Preventing Genetic Disease and Improving Embryo Health Nucleus Embryo is described as "the first genetic optimization software that helps parents pursuing IVF see and understand the complete genetic profile of each of their embryos." With the tool, users can check for more than 1,000 traits and conditions, from single gene disorders like cystic fibrosis to complex conditions like heart disease and cancer risks, and mental health conditions like anxiety and ADHD, the company's CEO Kian Sadeghi told Newsweek. The technology is able to do this by not only detecting specific genetic markers for certain diseases but by also calculating polygenic scores, which combine up to a million genetic markers into a single number to determine someone's genetic predisposition for a condition or trait. This includes coronary artery disease, breast cancer, type 2 diabetes and more. "These integrated models further enable Nucleus to identify risk in embryos and adults as accurately as possible," Jerry Lanchbury, a member of Nucleus' scientific advisory board, told Newsweek. According to a 2023 study by Rady Children's Institute for Genomic Medicine, the deaths of five out of seven infants from genetic disease could have been prevented had "rapid, diagnostic [whole genome sequencing] been performed at the time of symptom onset or intensive care unit admission." In the U.K., whole genome sequencing has been brought in as a routine part of medical care, in order to increase "early detection and treatment of high-risk conditions." "The power of genetic prediction also goes beyond rare diseases. Genetic testing can lead to lifesaving preventive care," Lanchbury said. He added that genetic instances of high cholesterol, breast cancer and colon cancer cause a substantial number of deaths in the U.S. every year, with more than 3 million cases contributing to over 750,000 deaths per year. "Each of these conditions are preventable," he said. Lanchbury also said that "the environment, parenting and chance play profound roles in how genetic predispositions manifest," so Nucleus ranks its predictions by strength so that parents can understand the range of likely outcomes for their embryos. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, U.S. representative for Florida, told Newsweek that IVF can be a "godsend" for those with a BRCA gene mutation—which can increase the risk of breast cancer in women by 80 percent, Lanchbury said. A breast cancer survivor herself, Wasserman Schultz added that IVF treatment "can help end generational genetic cycles of deadly disease in a family's future." Technology that can test for a BRCA gene mutation in embryos and determine which embryos should be implanted as a result is "one of many incredible, life-saving benefits of genetic research," she said. However, while Sadeghi told Newsweek that "people have the right to genetically optimize their children," various groups and experts say the technology raises a number of ethical questions. A photo of a Nucleus kit, used to screen embryos for genetic conditions. A photo of a Nucleus kit, used to screen embryos for genetic conditions. Uncredited/Nucleus Choosing Embryos Based on Characteristics While giving parents the opportunity to select their embryos based on a number of traits and conditions could help to reduce the prevalence of genetic disease, it could also allow them to make their choices based on other factors. "If we are talking about screening and selecting certain human embryos over others based on a host of characteristics and risks, then we are not talking about preventing harm to future human beings but making a choice as to which human lives are most worth living," Jason Thacker, assistant professor of philosophy and ethics at Southern Seminary and Boyce College, told Newsweek. He added that from the very moment of fertilization, "a unique human being is made which has inherent dignity, value and rights." "This is one of the deeply troubling ethical aspects of IVF in general, where children are often treated as mere commodities and not fully human in the embryonic stage," he said. He added that while modifying genes to prevent disease "may have some tangible benefits worth cautiously pursuing," it is also important to be aware of how those decisions will affect the child and subsequent generations. There has also been some concern raised about the implications of parents selecting embryos with a higher IQ screening. "Parents can select for an average difference of 2.5 IQ points," Sadeghi told Newsweek. However, intelligence has been found to be linked with schizophrenia, ADHD, OCD, Alzheimer's disease and autism, he added. "When you analyze genes for disease risk, you're also uncovering insights into traits, since both share a common genetic foundation," Sadeghi said. "What matters most to us is helping parents understand these genetic connections—so they can make informed choices based on what matters most to them." Thacker, however, warned that this technology was leading society into territory where "we will not always be able to accurately predict the downstream effects of our biomedical decisions, and we must be extremely cautious and seek wisdom as we go about techniques that affect real human lives—both in the embryonic stage, at birth and into future generations." A photo of a computer screen showing the results from an embryo assessment done by the company Nucleus. A photo of a computer screen showing the results from an embryo assessment done by the company Nucleus. Uncredited/Nucleus IVF Treatment and Unused Embryos Some concern, particularly from religious groups, has been raised over the fact that this technology could result in unused embryos being destroyed. According to calculations by the Catholic television network EWTN, more embryos are likely destroyed during IVF treatment than via abortion each year. Catholic belief determines a new human life begins at the point of conception or fertilization, meaning the loss of these embryos equates to a loss of human life, making IVF itself an ethical issue. "IVF is morally condemned because it replaces, rather than assists, the sexual act of the couple in conceiving children and creates human life in a lab where the embryos are easily mistreated and even killed," Joseph Meaney, a past president and current senior fellow of the National Catholic Bioethics Center, told Newsweek. Meaney said gene therapy for embryos could be ethical as long as it was done to "treat or cure a genetic or medical defect." However, "It is not ethically acceptable to make genetic modifications to normal human beings with the intention of enhancement—defined as trying to create better than healthy human capacity," Meaney said, pointing to those who may wish to select embryos based on higher intelligence for example. Aware of these concerns, Sadeghi told Newsweek that Nucleus intends to overcome the issues "openly, transparently, and always guided by individual choice." "Everything we do is guided on the principle of responsible use of modern genomic science, and reproductive freedom," he added. Sadeghi said that until now, this sort of technology "has been discussed only behind closed doors—not in public." This means that Americans now have the opportunity to "listen to each other, hear each other out, and use this information to establish their views to ensure the insight Nucleus Embryo can provide is put to good use."
The Hill
19 hours ago
- The Hill
ChatGPT use linked to cognitive decline: MIT research
ChatGPT can harm an individual's critical thinking over time, a new study suggests. Researchers at MIT's Media Lab asked subjects to write several SAT essays and separated subjects into three groups — using OpenAI's ChatGPT, using Google's search engine and using nothing, which they called the 'brain‑only' group. Each subject's brain was monitored through electroencephalography (EEG), which measured the writer's brain activity through multiple regions in the brain. They discovered that subjects who used ChatGPT over a few months had the lowest brain engagement and 'consistently underperformed at neural, linguistic, and behavioral levels,' according to the study. The study found that the ChatGPT group initially used the large language model, or LLM, to ask structural questions for their essay, but near the end of the study, they were more likely to copy and paste their essay. Those who used Google's search engine were found to have moderate brain engagement, but the 'brain-only' group showed the 'strongest, wide-ranging networks.' The findings suggest that using LLMs can harm a user's cognitive function over time, especially in younger users. It comes as educators continue to navigate teaching when AI is increasingly accessible for cheating. 'What really motivated me to put it out now before waiting for a full peer review is that I am afraid in 6-8 months, there will be some policymaker who decides, 'let's do GPT kindergarten.' I think that would be absolutely bad and detrimental,' the study's main author Nataliya Kosmyna told TIME. 'Developing brains are at the highest risk.' However, using AI in education doesn't appear to be slowing down. In April, President Trump signed an executive order that aims to incorporate AI into U.S. classrooms. 'The basic idea of this executive order is to ensure that we properly train the workforce of the future by ensuring that school children, young Americans, are adequately trained in AI tools, so that they can be competitive in the economy years from now into the future, as AI becomes a bigger and bigger deal,' Will Scharf, White House staff secretary, said at the time.
