Morten Moshagen

Ulm University | UULM · Institute of Psychology and Education

Many negatively connoted personality traits (often termed “dark traits”) have been introduced to account for ethically, morally, and socially questionable behavior. Herein, we provide a unifying, comprehensive theoretical framework for understanding dark personality in terms of a general dispositional tendency of which dark traits arise as specific...

Crime is an issue with severe consequences for individuals, economies, and society at large. Developing effective crime prevention strategies requires a clear understanding of who is likely to engage in crime and why. A promising approach in this regard likely is integrating established criminological theories with established models of basic perso...

Unlike the cognitions associated with depressive symptoms, little is known about those associated with antisocial personality and with its related traits (“dark traits”). Using the scrambled sentences task, an instrument from depression research, we investigated cognitions such as justifications (external blaming for one’s behavior) and harm to oth...

Socially aversive (“dark”) personality traits (e.g., Psychopathy, Narcissism, Machiavellianism, etc.) share many features which led Moshagen et al. (2018) to conceptualize D, the common core between them. This work aims to establish internal structure evidence for the validation of the Spanish version of its measure (D70) and to demonstrate measure...

Political orientation reflects beliefs, opinions, and values that are, at least in part, rooted in stable interindividual differences. Whereas evidence has accumulated with regard to the relevance of basic personality dimensions, especially concerning the sociocultural dimension of political ideology, less attention has been paid to the more specif...

Conceptual work integrating constructs from mainstream personality research (especially socalled “dark” traits) and clinical psychopathology research has been limited. Herein, we propose all socially and/or ethically aversive traits as “flavored” manifestation of the D-Factor of Personality (D). We argue that the D-framework provides the commonalit...

Structural equation modeling (SEM) is a widespread and commonly used approach to test substantive hypotheses in the social and behavioral sciences. When performing hypothesis tests, it is vital to rely on a sufficiently large sample size to achieve an adequate degree of statistical power to detect the hypothesized effect. However, applications of S...

The Dark Triad and Dark Tetrad are the constellation of aversive traits that are most commonly assessed to study their common (aversive) and unique (non-aversive) features. Nonetheless, it is unclear whether these particular traits (in combination) indeed closely approximate the common core of all aversive traits. A close approximation of the avers...

Ethically and socially aversive behaviors have been attributed to several personality traits, including characteristics collectively referred to under the umbrella term of impulsivity. It is an open question, however, whether such characteristics are an integral part of ethically and socially aversive personality. Relying on three large samples (to...

The weapon identification task (WIT) is a sequential priming paradigm designed to assess effects of racial priming on visual discrimination between weapons (guns) and innocuous objects (tools). We compare four process models that differ in their assumptions on the nature and interplay of cognitive processes underlying prime-related weapon-bias effe...

Objective: There is an ongoing debate in personality research whether the common core of aversive ("dark") traits can be approximated by or even considered equivalent to one of the constructs that have been labeled "Agreeableness". In particular, it has been suggested that the low pole of (what we term) AG+, a broad blend of Big Five Agreeableness...

Unlike those associated with depressive symptoms, little is known about cognitions associated with antisocial personality and with its related traits (“dark traits”). Using the Scrambled Sentences Task, an instrument from depression research, we investigated cognitions such as justifications (external blaming for one’s behavior) and harm to others...

The college years can be accompanied by mental distress. Internet- and mobile-based interventions (IMIs) have the potential to improve mental health but adherence is problematic. Psychological guidance might promote adherence but is resource intensive. In this three-armed randomized controlled trial, “guidance on demand” (GoD) and unguided (UG) adh...

In the light of the potential negative consequences of dishonest behaviors for individuals and societies, researchers from different disciplines have aimed to investigate situation and person factors shaping the occurrence and extent of such behaviors. The present study investigates the roles of a situation factor, the baseline probability of obser...

Individuals differ in how they weigh their own utility versus others'. This tendency codefines the dark factor of personality (D), which is conceptualized as the underlying disposition from which all socially and ethically aversive (dark) traits arise as specific, flavored manifestations. We scrutinize this unique theoretical notion by testing, for...

The reliability of a multidimensional test instrument is commonly estimated using coefficients omega_t (total) and omega_h (hierarchical). However, point estimates for the coefficients are rarely accompanied by uncertainty estimates. In this study, we compare bootstrap and normal-theory confidence intervals. In addition, we develop Bayesian version...

Objective: To explain and predict unethical behavior, much attention has been devoted to the "Dark Triad of Personality", a set of three socially aversive personality traits: Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy. Despite its popularity, research on the Dark Triad has been beset by recurring concerns surrounding the distinctiveness of its...

Model selection is an omnipresent issue in structural equation modeling (SEM). When deciding among competing theories instantiated as formal statistical models, a trade-off is often sought between goodness-of-fit and model parsimony. Whereas traditional fit assessment in SEM quantifies parsimony solely as the number of free parameters, the ability...

Based on an extensive Monte Carlo simulation study, Greene et al. (2019) investigated the behavior of various measures of model fit for competing types of confirmatory factor analysis models of psychopathology, the correlated factors model and the bifactor model. Greene et al. (2019) found that fit indices mostly favored a bifactor model over a cor...

Introduction It is unclear how internet-delivered cognitive-behavioural therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) can be integrated into healthcare systems, and little is known about the optimal level of therapist guidance. The aim of this study is to investigate three different versions of a stepped care model for insomnia (IG1, IG2, IG3) versus treatment as u...

Cyberchondria is characterized by excessive health-related online search behavior associated with an unfounded escalation of concerns about common symptomatology. It often co-occurs with health anxiety. We investigated whether base-rate neglect–the cognitive bias to ignore a priori probabilities (e.g., of serious diseases)–plays a significant role...

Introduction Living with diabetes can be burdensome and lead to serious emotional distress and impaired mental health. Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) can support people facing the challenges of living with diabetes. This trial aims to evaluate the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of the internet-based and mobile-based intervention (IMI...

Introduction: The integration of a web-based computer-adaptive patient-reported outcome test (CAT) platform with persuasive design optimised features including recommendations for action into routine healthcare could provide a promising way to translate reliable diagnostic results into action. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness and cost...

Whereas research focusing on stable dispositions has long attributed ethically and socially aversive behavior to an array of aversive (or ‘dark’) traits, other approaches from social-cognitive psychology and behavioral economics have emphasized the crucial role of social norms and situational justifications that allow individuals to uphold a positi...

Evolutionary Psychology has considered a Fast Life History Strategy (FLHS), denoting an individual’s tendency to invest more resources in proliferation than in child-rearing, to be responsible for the emergence of aversive traits. Empirical evidence for this notion has been inconsistent, however. Herein, we tested whether FLHS is an adequate repres...

Despite the widespread application of bifactor models, little research has considered required sample sizes for this type of model. As universal sample size recommendations are often misleading, we illustrate how to determine sample size requirements of bifactor models using Monte Carlo simulations in R. Furthermore, we present results of an extens...

Following the invasion of the Ukraine by the Russian Federation, NATO and European countries implemented immediate, strong, and extraordinary unified policies sanctioning Russia. Given that the degree of unity that can be upheld in the longer term arguably also depends on citizens’ reactions and opinions in such countries, the present study sought...

In clinical psychopathology research, up to seven traits have been suggested as instances of antagonistic psychopathology. Those antagonistic traits, in turn, are commonly viewed as reflections of low Agreeableness as per the Big Five (BF‐AG). However, specific theoretical differences between antagonistic traits suggest that other broad and basic d...

In structural equation modeling, several corrections to the likelihood-ratio model test statistic have been developed to counter the effects of non-normal data. Previous robustness studies investigating the performance of these corrections typically induced non-normality in the indicator variables. However, non-normality in the indicators can origi...

Individuals and institutions around the world have been affected by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Herein, we investigate the role of basic (Big Five and HEXACO) and specific (Dark Factor of Personality, Narcissistic Rivalry, and Narcissistic Admiration) personality traits for 17 criteria related to COVID-19, grouped into (i) personal per...

Structural equation modeling (SEM) is a widespread approach to test substantive hypotheses in psychology and other social sciences. However, most studies involving structural equation models neither report statistical power analysis as a criterion for sample size planning nor evaluate the achieved power of the performed tests. In this tutorial, we...

The Dark Factor of Personality (D)—the underlying disposition of aversive traits—has been shown to account for various ethically and socially aversive behaviors. Whereas previous findings support the reliability and validity of the original English item sets suggested to measure D, a thorough psychometric examination of their German translation is...

Many constructs in personality psychology assume a hierarchical structure positing a general factor along with several narrower subdimensions or facets. Different approaches are commonly used to model such a structure, including higher-order factor models, bifactor models, single-factor models based on the responses on the observed items, and singl...

Models of basic personality structure are among the most widely used frameworks in psychology and beyond, and they have considerably advanced the understanding of individual differences in a plethora of consequential outcomes. Over the past decades, two such models have become most widely used: the Five Factor Model (FFM) or Big Five, respectively,...

Recent research suggests that the common core of all aversive traits can be understood through the Dark Factor of Personality (D). Previously, the overlap among aversive traits has also been described as the low pole of HEXACO Honesty-Humility. Relying on longitudinal data and a range of theoretically derived outcome criteria, we test in four studi...

Prior studies investigating the effects of non-normality in structural equation modeling typically induced non-normality in the indicator variables. This procedure neglects the factor analytic structure of the data, which is defined as the sum of latent variables and errors, so it is unclear whether previous results hold if the source of non-normal...

The reliability of a multidimensional test instrument is commonly estimated using coefficients ωt (total) and ωh (hierarchical) based on a factor model approach. However, point estimates for the coefficients are rarely accompanied by uncertainty estimates. In this study we compare several methods to obtain confidence intervals for the two coefficie...

Aversive personality traits have been linked to risk-taking across various domains. Herein, we investigated whether the common core of aversive traits, the Dark Factor of Personality (D), is related to risk-taking. Whereas the conceptualizations of D (common core of aversive traits) and risk-taking (not inherently socially and/or ethically aversive...

The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) has strongly affected individuals and societies worldwide. In this review and meta-analysis, we investigated how aversive personality traits—i.e., relatively stable antisocial personality characteristics—related to how individuals perceived, evaluated, and responded to the COVID-19 pandemic. Across 34 studies...

The root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) with various corrections for non-normality is a common fit index in structural equation modeling (SEM). The present study analyzed the performance of the uncorrected, the “sample corrected”, and the “population corrected” RMSEA in misspecified models for both complete and incomplete data sets unde...

Objective: Many studies investigating age-related mean differences in life satisfaction disregard potential differences in the structure of the life satisfaction construct. Because developmental tasks at different life stages vary and thus the salience of specific life domains (e.g., health, finances, relationships, etc.) might differ, life satisf...

Enduring patterns of socially aversive behavior are ascribed to stable personality disorders (such as narcissistic or antisocial tendencies) in clinical psychology or to so called “dark” traits in personality psychology. As recently shown, the substantial overlap among the latter constructs is attributable to a single underlying disposition, called...

Popular measures of reliability for a single-test administration include coefficient alpha, coefficient lambda2, the greatest lower bound (glb), and coefficient omega. First, we show how these measures can be easily estimated within a Bayesian framework. Specifically, the posterior distribution for these measures can be obtained through Gibbs sampl...

Comparability of measurement across different cultural groups is an essential prerequisite for any cross-cultural assessment. However, cross-cultural measurement invariance is rarely achieved and detecting the source of non-invariance is often challenging. In particular, when different language versions of a measure are administered to different cu...

The strong overlap of personality traits discussed under the label of “dark personality” (e.g., psychopathy, spitefulness, moral disengagement) endorses a common framework for socially aversive traits over and beyond the dark triad. Despite the rapidly growing research on socially aversive traits, there is a lack of studies addressing age-associate...

Popular measures of reliability for a single-test administration include coefficient α, coefficient λ2, the greatest lower bound (glb), and coefficient ω. First, we show how these measures can be easily estimated within a Bayesian framework. Specifically, the posterior distribution for these measures can be obtained through Gibbs sampling – for coe...

The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) has strongly affected individuals and societies worldwide. In this review and meta-analysis, we investigated how aversive personality traits – that is, relatively stable antisocial personality characteristics – related to how individuals perceived, evaluated, and responded to the COVID-19 pandemic. Across 34...

b> Introduction: There is neither strong evidence on effective treatments for patients with chronic back pain (CBP) and depressive disorder nor sufficiently available mental health care offers. Objective: The aim is to assess the effectiveness of internet- and mobile-based interventions (IMI) as a scalable approach for treating depression in a rout...

Background College is an exciting but also challenging time with an increased risk for mental health issues. Only a minority of the college students concerned get professional help, a problem that might be improvable by internet- and mobile-based interventions (IMIs). However, adherence of IMIs is a concern. While guidance might be a solution, it i...

Objective: Although dark traits as studied in mainstream personality research and socially aversive psychopathology as studied in abnormal psychology intend to account for the same classes of behavior, their degree of conceptual and, consequently, empirical correspondence has remained limited at best. We aim to overcome this divide by demonstrating...

The Dark Factor of Personality (D) is conceptualized as the basic disposition out of which “dark” traits arise as specific manifestations. We herein critically test this conceptualization across nine dark traits in a 4-year longitudinal study with N = 1,261 ( n = 470 at the second measurement occasion, employing full information maximum likelihood...

Multinomial processing tree (MPT) models are a class of stochastic models for categorical data that have recently been extended to account for heterogeneity in individuals by assuming separate parameters per participant. These extensions enable the estimation of correlations among model parameters and correlations between model parameters and exter...

Objective To investigate associations between buying-shopping disorder (BSD) propensity and the performance in the Stroop Matching Task. This task measures stimulus interference, one specific component of behavioral impulsivity, using neutral (i.e. not buying related) stimuli. Deficits thus mirror a general rather than a specific deficit to resist...

People and institutions around the world have been affected by the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). Herein, we investigate the role of both basic (HEXACO and Big Five) and specific (Dark Factor of Personality, Narcissistic Rivalry and Admiration) personality traits for 17 criteria related to COVID-19, grouped into (i) personal perceptions in te...

The Dark Factor of Personality (D) has been suggested as the basic disposition underlying dark traits, thereby representing their common core. However, it has also been argued that such commonalities reflect the low pole of Agreeableness. The present study (N=729) employed five established inventories to model the Agreeableness construct and consid...

Based on lexical studies, the HEXACO Model of Personality has been proposed as a model of basic personality structure, summarizing individual differences in six broad trait dimensions. Although research across various fields relies on the HEXACO model increasingly, a comprehensive investigation of the nomological net of the HEXACO dimensions is mis...

Background: Adolescents and young adults (AYA) with chronic somatic conditions have an increased risk of comorbid depression and anxiety symptoms. Internet- and mobile-based cognitive behavioural therapy (iCBT) might be one possibility to extend the access to evidence-based treatments. Studies suggest that guided iCBT can reduce anxiety and depres...

Potential effects of demographics, personality, and ideological attitudes on the number of news sources consumed should be investigated. The number of news sources consumed, in turn, was seen as inverse proxy for the susceptibility to be caught in "filter bubbles" and/or "echo chambers" (online), which are hotly discussed topics also in politics. A...

Multinomial processing tree (MPT) models allow testing hypotheses on latent psychological processes that underlie human behavior. However, past applications of this model class have mainly been restricted to the analysis of main effects. In this paper, we adopt the interaction concept as defined in log-linear models and show why it is appropriate f...

The Dark Factor of Personality (D) is the basic disposition that gives rise to specific personality traits related to antagonistic, malevolent, or socially aversive behavior, thereby representing the common core of dark personality traits. Whereas existing evidence clearly supports the conceptualization and utility of D, the assessment of D was pos...

Exploratory factor analyses are commonly used to determine the underlying factors of multiple observed variables. Many criteria have been suggested to determine how many factors should be retained. In this study, we present an extensive Monte Carlo simulation to investigate the performance of extraction criteria under varying sample sizes, numbers...

The six dimensions of the HEXACO Model of Personality are most commonly measured via the HEXACO Personality Inventory(-Revised) (HEXACO-PI(-R)), which comes in three versions (60, 100, and 200 items) and is available as a self- and observer report form in several languages. The present study meta-analytically investigates the psychometric propertie...

Overclaiming is the degree to which individuals claim knowledge about factually nonexistent terms. Whereas overclaiming is often considered to reflect motivational misreporting, we argue that overclaiming involves biased (meta-)cognitive processing, i.e., sense-making and the misattribution of fluency. These processes also contribute to the hindsig...

Measures of self-favoring response biases such as impression management (IM) scales or the overclaiming technique (OCT) have been developed to detect distorted self-reports. However, the validity of these approaches has been questioned. In the present study ( N = 461), we further examined both IM (assessed by the respective subscale of the Balanced...

Background and aims: Pathological buying (PB) is often assumed to be related to deficits in impulse control. Distortions in judging elapsed time are one component of behavioral impulsivity. This study was set out to examine the hypothesis that PB propensity is associated with distorted time perception, such that time is perceived to pass more slow...

Previous research has established that higher levels of trait Honesty-Humility (HH) are associated with less dishonest behavior in cheating paradigms. However, only imprecise effect size estimates of this HH-cheating link are available. Moreover, evidence is inconclusive on whether other basic personality traits from the HEXACO or Big Five models a...

The randomized response (RR) technique was developed to improve the validity of measures assessing attitudes, behaviors, and attributes threatened by social desirability bias. The RR removes any direct link between individual responses and the sensitive attribute to maximize the anonymity of respondents and, in turn, to elicit more honest respondin...

Self-serving response distortions pose a threat to the validity of personality scales. A common approach to deal with this issue is to rely on impression management (IM) scales. More recently, the overclaiming technique (OCT) has been proposed as an alternative and arguably superior measure of such biases. In the present study (N = 162), we tested...

Recent developments in personality psychology led to the proposition of two alternative six-factor trait models, the HEXACO model and the Big Six model. However, given the lack of direct comparisons, it is unclear whether the HEXACO and Big Six factors are distinct or essentially equivalent, and whether corresponding inventories measure similar or...