A study linked the purchase of cryptocurrencies to narcissism, machiavellianism and psychopathy

A survey developed by a group of researchers from the University of Queensland and Macquarie, Australia, aims to investigate between the possible correlation of certain personality traits known as “dark tetrads” and bitcoin investments.

Since it broke into the market in 2009, Bitcoin has stood out as the quintessential cryptocurrency, although so many have been developed today that it is almost impossible to count them all.

Since then, the global cryptocurrency market has gone from being worth absolutely nothing to an estimated value of 2 trillion dollars. Bitcoin, in particular, was trading 1 US dollar in 2011 and reached a historic peak that exceeded $63,000 in April 2021; today its value is around 42 thousand dollars.

These large fluctuations in cryptocurrency prices are often common, so investing in them is highly volatile and speculative. That is why the researchers behind the survey set out to profile the type of people willing to take these risks, and to inquire about their motivations.

“In particular, we wanted to know about the relationship between personality traits and attitudes towards cryptocurrencies, the so-called 'dark tetrads',” the researchers say in an article published in The Conversation and signed by Di Wang, senior lecturer at Queensland University of Technology; Brett Martin, professor of Marketing, from the same university; and Jun Yao, Senior Lecturer in Marketing, from Macquarie University.

In psychology, the “dark tetrad” refers to a group of four personality traits. These are Machiavellianism, narcissism and psychopathy (collectively known as the “dark triad”), plus sadism.

They are called “dark” because of their “evil” qualities: extreme selfishness and taking advantage of others without empathy. Dark tetrad is also often related to risky behaviors.

With this in mind, the researchers identified two main areas of appeal: the high risks and the potential high returns of cryptocurrency trading. They found that this combination of attributes made cryptocurrencies attractive to the type of people who like to gamble.

Second, cryptocurrencies are not issued or endorsed by governments like traditional or “fiat” currencies. This makes them attractive to people who are wary of the government.

But to go further and determine the cryptocurrency buyer's personality type, they asked 566 people to complete online personality surveys and answer questions about their attitudes towards cryptocurrencies and whether or not they planned to invest in them.

“Of our participants, 26 percent reported that they own cryptocurrencies and 64 percent showed interest in investing in cryptocurrencies,” the researchers said.

To measure their dark tetrad traits they used standard psychological tests. They also measured the traits that could connect dark tetrad to judgments about cryptography: fear of missing something (FOMO; the feeling that others are experiencing better things than you), positivity (the tendency to be positive or optimistic in life), and belief in conspiracy theories.

Why do people want to buy cryptocurrencies? It's not just about making money

A common reason for investing in cryptocurrencies is the hope of high returns. Beyond the desire to generate wealth, research shows that dark personality traits also drive the purchase of cryptocurrencies.

Machiavellianism is named after the Italian political philosophy of Nicholas Machiavelli. People who rate high on this trait are good for deception and interpersonal manipulation.

Machiavellians take a calculated approach to achieving goals and avoid impulsive decisions. They are less likely to participate in gambling problems.

Machiavellians also tend to believe strongly in government conspiracies. For example, they often believe that politicians generally do not reveal their true motives and that government agencies closely monitor all citizens.

“We found that Machiavellians like cryptography mainly because they are wary of politicians and government agencies. Many crypto supporters believe that governments are corrupt and cryptocurrencies prevent government corruption,” the researchers explained.

Narcissism is an egocentric personality trait, characterized by feelings of privilege and dominance over others. Narcissists are overly confident and more willing to do things like making risky investments in the stock market and gambling.

Narcissists tend to focus on the positive side of life.

“We found that narcissists buy crypto because of their great faith in the future and because of their confidence that their own lives will improve,” they noted about this group.

Psychopathy is an insensitive, impulsive and antisocial personality trait. Psychopaths often find it difficult to perceive, understand, or address emotions due to lack of emotional intelligence and empathy.

The reckless nature of psychopaths makes them more resilient to stress and anxiety. As a result, psychopaths like the pursuit of stimulation and risk-taking. They are prone to gambling and gambling addiction.

“We found that impulsive psychopaths like cryptocurrencies because they fear losing the investment rewards that others are experiencing,” they said about it.

On the other hand, everyday sadism is related to a personality that enjoys the suffering of another. Sadists often show aggressive and cruel behavior. For example, sadists troll others on the Internet for fun.

At first glance, buying cryptocurrencies is unlikely to harm others. However, they found sadists buying crypto because they don't want to miss out on investment rewards either. For them, perhaps both the pleasure of seeing someone else's pain and the fear of missing something are related to selfishness.

“Unlike narcissists, we find that both psychopaths and sadists lack positivity about their prospects, which negates their taste for cryptocurrencies,” the researchers added.

For the team of researchers, studying cryptocurrencies through the psychological lens of the dark tetrad offers an idea of why people want to buy cryptocurrencies, but in no case does it suggest that everyone interested in crypto shows dark tetrad traits.

“We studied only a subset of people interested in crypto who have these traits. If you are a holder of Bitcoin or another crypto, you can display them or not,” they clarified.

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