ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the evidence that certain personality types are associated with trophy hunting. It also considers what science tells us about personality types drawn to the activity. Trophy hunting is extremely expensive and intended to persuade a social media or other audience to admire the skills, courage and wealth of the hunter. It is obvious that the postural arrangement of a hunter and a dead animal is an iconic signal of elevated status vis-a-vis the animal. Some evidence suggests that individuals with high levels of narcissism, psychopathy and Machiavellianism—often cited in the psychological literature as the Dark Triad—may be especially prone to engaging in trophy hunting. In the most basic language, people who are highly narcissistic think that they are better than others in many dimensions, including their looks, creativity, professions, and other areas but as J. M. Twenge and K. W. Campbell noted, they are not: Measured objectively, narcissists are just like everyone else.
