Latest news with #UniversityofCopenhagen
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Study identifies where psychopaths are most likely to live
(NewsNation) — People with so-called 'dark' personalities — including psychopaths, narcissists and sadists — are more common in U.S. states with the most adverse conditions, new research found. The comprehensive study, published in the scientific journal PNAS, analyzed data on 1.8 million people in 183 countries and 144,000 people across the United States. It linked averse social conditions, including poverty, inequality and violence, with 'The Dark Factor of Personality.' Watch: Guest sits on 'Van Gogh chair' at Italy museum, breaking it Researchers used World Bank data for worldwide corruption estimates, while the U.S. was formulated using Census Bureau data on inequality and poverty, Justice Department corruption convictions and FBI homicide rates. Ingo Zettler, one of three researchers behind the study, told the University of Copenhagen that where these conditions were observed, people behaved accordingly. 'In societies where rules are broken without consequences and where the conditions for many citizens are bad, individuals perceive and learn that one should actually think of oneself first,' Zettler said. Some of the standout states for 'dark' personalities included: Louisiana Mississippi Texas Nevada South Dakota New York The least were observed in: Utah Vermont New Hampshire Maine Oregon Alaska Countries that topped the list included Indonesia, Mexico and the U.S. Man finds out he was married without his knowledge, ex arrested Researchers acknowledged that the study has some limitations. It's impossible for them to know how long participants have lived in certain countries or states before personality tendencies developed, and some data was collected using self-selection services, which could result in inaccurate answers. But Zettler said their work shows a connection between personality and circumstance and could prove important in shaping the world. '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,' he told the university. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Mint
2 days ago
- Politics
- Mint
Iranian exiles watch Israel's attacks with joy tainted by fear
BERLIN—Expatriates flock to the Hedayat bookstore, a hub of Iranian culture on Berlin's busy Kantstrasse, to sample saffron lemonade and sticky pistachio cake, read Persian poetry and criticize the Islamic Republic. But Israel's strikes on the regime and its nuclear program have driven a wedge into Germany's 300,000-strong Iranian community, exposing a spectrum of hopes and fears for Iran's future. One young woman who came to Berlin six years ago said the strikes filled her with optimism that the regime might fall. A friend discussing the strikes with her at Hedayat's cafe disagreed. 'I'm certainly no friend of the regime, but I have very little hope anything good will come out of Israel's aggression," said Sahar Mohammadi, a 29-year-old graduate student in architecture. The Iranian community in Germany is Europe's largest, and while many of its members hope the Islamic regime could finally be collapsing, others are concerned about escalating civilian casualties, a repressive backlash if the regime survives, and civil war if it doesn't. This ambivalence marks a strong departure from 2022, when 80,000 gathered in the German capital to protest the death in Iranian police custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini—the biggest such protest outside Iran at the time. Today, there is no such singular focus among the diaspora. 'You have to picture essentially three groups," says Ebrahim Afsah, a law professor at the University of Copenhagen. 'There is a minority who support the regime…There are those who are hostile to the regime but don't like their country being attacked…And there is a third group who see themselves as more or less aligned with Israel in that they have a common enemy." Afsah, born to a German mother and an Iranian father, added: 'If you ask me, the third position is the most logically convincing." Many Iranians in exile cheered when Israeli strikes killed the chief of staff of Iran's armed forces and leaders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. There was exhilaration at the lackluster extent of the regime's response to Israel's volley. Others were terrified their families could become collateral damage. Some say they struggle to comprehend aerial bombardments hitting Tehran. One woman at Hedayat said images of the devastated Gaza Strip after 20 months of Israeli bombardment are seared on her mind, making her question what Israel has planned for her birthplace. Fatima Mokhtari, another Iranian expat in Berlin, was awakened at 5 a.m. on Friday by a text message from her sister in Tehran saying the family was OK. The 37-year-old architect and interior designer couldn't find news about the extent of the Israeli bombardment and began to panic. She spent the weekend texting her parents and siblings while compulsively refreshing a Telegram channel offering news of the attacks. She alternated between crying and stress-eating ice cream. On Sunday night, she and a dozen emotionally exhausted friends gathered around a large table at a burger restaurant. The war was the only topic of discussion. 'Something like this was always going to happen as long as this regime is in power," said Mokhtari, whose family has left Tehran for the countryside. 'There was some excitement mixed with fear when the attack started. But as time goes by, I'm growing more fearful." The contradictory feelings can coexist in the same person, said Danial Ilkhanipour, who was born to Iranian parents and is now a lawmaker in Hamburg's state parliament. 'Sometimes you cycle through them—concern, fear, anger, hope—every minute." Ilkhanipour thinks the regime, almost devoid of public support and exposed as weak, could collapse. The biggest mistake the West could make, he said, is to stabilize the Islamic Republic by offering its leaders a diplomatic off-ramp. 'Either the regime goes or it will exact a gruesome revenge on its enemies at home—all Iranians who want freedom and democracy," he said. 'And it will end in war anyway." At Hedayat, three friends said it took a while to get used to discussing politics in public places, because doing so at home could be deadly. Iranian writer Abbas Maroufi opened the bookstore after he was arrested, was banned from publishing and escaped from Iran in 1996. His daughter, Mehregan Maroufi, took it over after his death in 2022. It is one of the first ports of call for newly arrived expats and exiles. There are signs the diaspora is mobilizing around the unfolding war. Mohammadi describes one group as left-wingers: opponents of the regime, critical of Israel's attacks and distrustful of the supporters of Reza Pahlavi, the U.S.-based son of Iran's last monarch. On Sunday, Mohammadi had joined some 20 to 30 of these regime opponents at Café Kardamom, a Persian restaurant in the district of Schöneberg, she said. On Tuesday night, Mohammadi and others at the gathering at Hedayat were planning to later attend a protest under the slogan 'No to War, From Palestine to Iran." Before leaving Hedayat, she showed the gold pendant on her necklace: a tiny map of Iran. 'Every Iranian is a nationalist, but nationalism means something quite different for us," Mohammadi said. 'It isn't aggressive, it just means we defend our country when attacked." Write to Bertrand Benoit at
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Science
- Yahoo
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.'
New York Post
3 days ago
- Health
- New York Post
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. 4 Human rights conditions and gender inequalities were also considered as factors within the study. Christopher Sadowski Advertisement 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. Advertisement 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. 4 States with high rates of both poverty and crime, large income disparities, and minimized healthcare access tend to produce people who exhibit more dark personality traits as a result of individual hardship. Bloomberg via Getty Images 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. Advertisement 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. 4 (A) Aversive Societal Conditions Index (ASCI) across countries. (B) Differences in mean levels of D across countries with at least 100 participants. (C) Scatterplot of ASCI and mean levels of D by country with at least 100 participants. (D) ASCI across US states. (E) Differences in mean levels of D across US states with at least 100 participants. (F) Scatterplot of ASCI and mean levels of D by US state with at least 100 participants. Except for panels (A) and (D), we excluded countries/states with fewer than 100 participants to avoid potentially misrepresenting a country/state based on very few participants only. The theoretical range of the ASCI is 0 to 100, and the theoretical range of D is 1 to 5. The means of the ASCI were 38.26 (SD = 23.24) for the worldwide and 46.26 (SD = 17.09) for the US analyses, and the means of D were 2.52 (SD = 0.74) for the worldwide and 2.17 (SD = 0.74) for the US analyses. Zettler et al., PNAS '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.' Advertisement 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. 4 Often, studies of personality view dark traits as predominantly genetic, or inborn, but these findings suggest it can be more flexible. Design Pics Editorial/Universal Images Group via Getty Images 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.'
Daily Mail
3 days ago
- Health
- Daily Mail
The four US states where psychopaths are most likely to live... are YOU living near one?
Scientists have uncovered the US states where people are more likely to have 'dark' traits. Researchers measured four traits — narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy and sadism — across all 50 states, using data from at least 100 participants in each. Nevada, Louisiana, New York and Texas scored among the highest when it came to these devious characteristics. The study suggested that higher levels of dark traits in certain areas may be influenced by unfavorable societal conditions, such as poverty, crime, inequality, and scarcity of resources, which can foster dark traits. Nevada scored the highest likely due to its gambling culture linked to risky behavior, while South Dakota suffers from high poverty and inequality, poor health care and limited resources. New York and Texas experience stark economic inequality, with extreme wealth right next to poverty, which may have attributed to the high score. However, Vermont, Massachusetts, New York and Maine are among the states that scored the lowest in dark traits. These states typically enjoy more favorable societal conditions, such as higher education and income, better healthcare and strong social services. The study was conducted by researchers at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark, who asked thousands of people to answer a survey via their own website. The data of 144,576 Americans was collected from February 2, 2019 to February 19, 2024. To measure aversive societal conditions (ASC), the team creator an indicator based on corruption, inequality, poverty and violence. They used Census Bureau data on inequality and poverty, homicide rates and Justice Department corruption convictions, Newsweek reported. Other states that scored high included Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi, states with high crime rates, poverty and worse access healthcare. California also made the list as it has some of the widest income gaps in the country, especially in major urban areas like Los Angeles and San Francisco, where wealthy tech and entertainment sectors coexist with large populations facing poverty and homelessness. Certain areas in California also struggle with higher crime rates, gang activity and drug-related issues, which may contribute to increased suspicion, aggression or defensive behaviors among residents. The team found a small but significant link between a state's ASC score and the average Dark Factor of Personality (D) score of its people. The study suggested that higher levels of dark traits in certain areas may be influenced by unfavorable societal conditions, such as poverty, crime , inequality, and scarcity of resources, which can foster dark traits Alaska, Oregon and much of the Rocky Mountain states scored the opposite. Experts have suggested that the lower D scores in Alaska, Oregon, and many Rocky Mountain states can be attributed to a confluence of geographical isolation, cultural heritage emphasizing individualism and resilience and social environments that promote cooperation and adaptability. This pattern remained nearly the same after we controlled for age and gender, researchers said. The team also found that the conditions in US state, measured by the ASC index, are related to people's aversive personalities about 20 years later. This supports the idea that a society's environment can help shape a person's traits and adds to what is known about how aversive personalities develop. 'This is to be expected as both genetic and other socioecological factors likely also affect individuals' aversive personality,' researchers shared in the study published in . Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 'Moreover, even relatively small effects can be cumulative in nature, so the relation between ASC and D may have important consequences at scale, especially because higher aversive personality levels imply notable costs for others and/or society.' Professor Ingo Zettler told Newsweek that he and his team were curious if 'adverse societal conditions contribute to the proliferation of selfish, egoistic and other traits.' 'Aversive personality traits are associated with behaviors such as aggression, cheating and exploitation, and thus with high social costs,' he added. 'Therefore, even small variations can lead to large differences in how societies function.'
