ABSTRACT
Not all manipulative characters of dubious morality are detected by the criminal justice system. Individuals with psychopathic and Machiavellian tendencies are well represented in the general population. Using McIlwain’s cascading constraints model of personality styles we suggest that the different affective deficits of psychopathically inclined and Machiavellian individuals are precursors to deficient and strategic empathy and that empathy deficits in turn predispose these individuals to develop strange moralities with little concern for harming another, for which we offer detailed evidence, including a new scale. We asked these dark personalities to make decisions in moral dilemma scenarios (our variants of the Trolley Problem) and to give their rationales. We show the role played by callous unemotionality and blunted, strategic empathy in the display of strange moralities where others are viewed as objects in self-serving accounts cloaked in moral language.
