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Antisocial Personality Traits

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Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences
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Synonyms

Dissocial personality; Malevolent personality; Socially aversive personality; Socially undesirable personality; Toxic personality

Definition

The term “antisocial personality traits” is an umbrella term to capture a number of different personality traits that are broadly considered socially undesirable or socially unacceptable by the dominant culture.

Introduction

Antisocial personality traits are by definition antisocial or socially undesirable. Although they are considered antisocial, and at the extreme end will correlate strongly with a clinical diagnosis of antisocial personality disorder (APSD; American Psychiatric Association 2013), they range in the extent to which they are expressed from low or “normal” levels through to clinical levels with some commentators suggesting that these types of traits convey an evolutionary advantage (Jonason et al. 2016).

The most commonly recognized antisocial traits are psychopathy and narcissism, with these two at the severe end of the...

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Correspondence to Phillip S. Kavanagh .

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Kavanagh, P.S. (2020). Antisocial Personality Traits. In: Zeigler-Hill, V., Shackelford, T.K. (eds) Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-24612-3_2299

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