Anti-Semitism as a Dark-Ego Vehicle

According to the dark-ego-vehicle principle (DEVP), individuals high in dark personality traits (e.g., narcissism, psychopathy) tend to be attracted to some kinds of (political) ideologies they can use to their own unpolitical personal advantage. This pre-registered longitudinal study investigated the DEVP in the context of anti-Semitism. Individuals from the US and the UK (N = 3,981) completed validated psychometric measures of anti-Semitic attitudes. This data was correlated with several variables which had already been assessed previously: individuals’ dark personality traits (e.g., narcissism, psychopathy), specific dark-ego needs indicators (e.g., aggression, dominance, virtue signaling), and political variables (e.g., left- and right-wing authoritarianism). The results showed a pattern consistent with the DEVP: 94.7% of the 76 relationships between anti-Semitic attitudes and dark-personality traits (especially their antagonistic aspects) were positively related. All but one of the specific dark-ego needs indicators were to some extend associated with higher anti-Semitism. Finally, in support of the dark-ego-horseshoe hypothesis, different forms of anti-Semitism were associated with left- and/or right-wing authoritarianism.