Identifying with the “bad” guy: A novel account for apparent moral-judgment deficiencies in antagonistic personality

Abstract People higher in antagonistic personality are believed to have impaired moral judgment that can be traced to psychopathological conditions or enjoyment of cruelty. We suggest that this phenomenon can be partially understood as a normative process of leniency toward more similar others. An online study had participants (N = 250, Mage = 38.47; 56.8% female; 78.8% Caucasian) complete measures of antagonistic personality and then read about agents who engaged in intentional or unintentional harm toward others. Participants reported their moral outrage, feelings of relatedness to the agent, and affect. Effects mentioned below had less than 5% chance of occurring as the result of sampling error. As anticipated, antagonistic personality related to reduced moral outrage and more positive affect in the intentional condition but enhanced moral outrage in the unintentional condition. Moreover, antagonistic personality related to enhanced relatedness to agents in the intentional harm but not unintentional harm situations, which partially explained its relations to less outrage and enhanced positive affect in response to intentional-harm situations. The findings suggest that an apparent instance of moral-judgment deficiencies in antagonistic personality could reflect the basic human tendency to identify with and be lenient toward similar others.