“Nasty people” and their roles in

organizations, work, and society

Seth M. Spain, Ph.D.School of Management & Center for Leadership Studies,

Binghamton University

Bertrand Russell

1950 Nobel laureate in literature

Founder of analytic philosophy

“grandfather” of modern symbolic logic

Freethinker, pacificist Liberal, anti-Marxist

socialist The “patron Saint of

rationality”

Bertrand Russell

Also, a right bastard Cheated on at least

three of his wives May have had an

affair with his schizophrenic son’s wife

Dubbed the “amoral moralist”

Bertrand Russell

Still, morally courageous Spent 6 months in jail for

speaking out against conscription during WWI

Jailed again at 89 for protesting nuclear weapons

Denied teaching position at City College (NY) for his stance on sexual ethics

Bertrand Russell

Personally kind of a jerk

Socially, the world is probably a better place for having him live in it

All social groups are made up of interacting

individuals Individuals bring with them all of their

personal characteristics and dispositions Beliefs and interests Values and goals Biases Knowledge and skills

The social function of individuals

Personality describes what makes a person

unique “Personality” is basically a summary of a

person’s habitual behavior – especially interpersonal behavior “Bright Side” or Normal-range personality (Big 5) OCEAN (next slide)

Dark Side Not necessarily dysfunctional (for everyday life) “Dark triad”

“Personality” and what it does for us

Openness to experience – intellectual, artistic Conscientiousness – dutiful, achievement-

oriented Extraversion – positive, talkative, outgoing Agreeableness – nice, likeable Neuroticism – worrying, anxious

The Big Five

Openness to experience – intellectual, artistic Conscientiousness – dutiful, achievement-

oriented Extraversion – positive, talkative, outgoing Agreeableness – nice, likeable Neuroticism – worrying, anxious

The Big Five

Openness to experience – intellectual, artistic Conscientiousness – dutiful, achievement-

oriented Extraversion – positive, talkative, outgoing Agreeableness – nice, likeable Neuroticism – worrying, anxious

The Big Five

These two characteristics are generally socially useful – agreeable and conscientious people are likely to support others’ goals and work towards achieving them.

Narcissism – vain, self-focused, egotistical,

entitled Machiavellianism – distrustful, deceitful,

manipulative Psychopathy – unemotional, unempathetic,

impulsive

The Dark Triad

Narcissism – vain, self-focused, egotistical,

entitled Machiavellianism – distrustful, deceitful,

manipulative Psychopathy – unemotional, unempathetic,

impulsive Share a core of callous disregard for others;

strong preference for one’s own goals over those of others

The Dark Triad

We argue that these “traits” are mostly a

useful tool to organize what we know about other people

For instance, when deciding whom to hire for a job, knowing who is more conscientious is useful

Similarly, when meeting a potential friend, knowing how agreeable they are tells you something about how well they’ll “go along” with your plans/ideas

Why do people differ?

Milgram experiment

Nasty people can be socially useful, too.

Milgram experiment People lower in agreeableness have been

found to be more likely to resist the authority of the experimenter

Nasty people can be socially useful

Groupthink

High-level decision-making made by experts…should be few errors

However, group decisions can often suffer from serious, obvious errors

Janis (1972) analyses of decision fiascoes Groupthink is a phenomenon that occurs when

groups make decisions individual members know to be poor

Why Groupthink?

Pressure for conformity Strong Leader Isolation of the group Group Cohesiveness

Two ways

What can you, as an individual, do to improve your lot in life?

What can you, as a decision-maker in an organization, do to use the proclivities of darker individuals to do?

Learning to behave from “nasty people”

Narcissists may be more motivated to work

hard to become leaders Want to “be the best” at what they do May be domineering and competitive with

subordinates and peers, though Narcissists can be good at selling ideas

May “poison” the well in long-term relationships, though

Narcissism

Manipulators Liars Good at forming alliances Use lots of social influence tactics (“Protean”)

Engage in office politics Willing to use threats, intimidation Willing to beg and compromise “Do what needs to be done”

Machiavellianism

Core of Machiavellian personality Euphemism for “paranoid”

Described as “having a chip on [their] shoulders”

Suspicious People high in skepticism look for—and find!—

ulterior motives in interpersonal interactions Bad for development Bad for team-work

Skepticism

Psychopathy

Not prone to feeling guilt or shame Less anxiety than others Impulsive Willing to harm others to succeed

The Dark Triad

Narcissism Machiavellianism Psychopathy

Powerfully agentic Puts self ahead of

others “Not a team

player”

Bond, James Bond

Thanks!