Machiavellian & Sadistic individuals were less likely to be members of sororities and fraternities; narcissistic individuals were more likely to be members; psychopathy was not associated with membership in sororities/fraternities

Animal House: The Dark Tetrad traits and membership in sororities and fraternities. Cameron S. Kay. Acta Psychologica, Volume 222, February 2022, 103473. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actpsy.2021.103473

Highlights

• Machiavellian individuals were less likely to be members of sororities and fraternities.

• Narcissistic individuals were more likely to be members of sororities and fraternities.

• Sadistic individuals were less likely to be members of sororities and fraternities.

• Psychopathy was not associated with membership in sororities or fraternities.

Abstract: Very little is known about the relationship between antagonistic personality traits and membership in Greek-letter organizations (GLOs). The present study (N = 2191) examined the association between the Dark Tetrad traits—Machiavellianism, grandiose narcissism, psychopathy, and everyday sadism—and membership in sororities and fraternities. Participants who were high in grandiose narcissism were more likely to be in sororities and fraternities, whereas participants who were high in Machiavellianism and everyday sadism were less likely to be in these organizations. Psychopathy was not significantly associated with membership in GLOs. Taken together, the present results suggest that members of GLOs are not necessarily more manipulative, cold-hearted, or cruel than their non-GLO counterparts, but they may be more entitled, domineering, and status-seeking.

Keywords: MachiavellianismGrandiose narcissismPsychopathyEveryday sadismSororityFraternity

4. Discussion

Previous research has examined the association between various general personality traits and membership in GLOs (e.g., Armstrong & Grieve, 2015). The present study extends our knowledge of the personality correlates of membership in such organizations by examining the association of four antagonistic personality traits—Machiavellianism, grandiose narcissism, psychopathy, and everyday sadism—with membership in sororities and fraternities. The results indicate that individuals high in grandiose narcissism are more likely to be members of GLOs, whereas those high in Machiavellianism and sadism are less likely to be members of GLOs. Psychopathy was not associated with membership in either sororities or fraternities.

The finding for grandiose narcissism may not come as much of a surprise. Grandiose narcissism is associated with both a need to reinforce a grandiose sense of self (Back et al., 2013; Jones & Paulhus, 2011) and a need for affiliation (Jonason & Ferrell, 2016; Jonason & Zeigler-Hill, 2018). Narcissistic individuals may, therefore, gravitate to GLOs because they see these organizations as a way to acquire status and expand their social networks. The present finding also aligns with previous work on general personality traits. Of the Five-Factor Model traits, extraversion demonstrates the greatest associations with membership in GLOs (Armstrong & Grieve, 2015; Cole et al., 2003a, Cole et al., 2003b; Park et al., 2009), and narcissism is defined, in part, by agentic extraversion (Miller et al., 2016).

The elevated levels of narcissism among GLO members may provide some benefits to these organizations. Narcissistic individuals tend to be more charismatic (Deluga, 1997), innovative (Kashmiri et al., 2017), influential (Goncalo et al., 2010), and, at least at zero-acquaintance, likeable (Back et al., 2010) than their non-narcissistic counterparts (see Campbell et al., 2011, or Fatfouta, 2019, for a review). These characteristics may prove beneficial when trying to establish new sorority or fraternity chapters, as well as when trying to recruit new members to existing chapters. That said, having narcissistic individuals in one's organization also carries numerous risks. For example, narcissistic individuals are more likely to exploit and abuse other members of their organizations (O'Boyle et al., 2012), defraud their organizations (Blickle et al., 2006), and make risky policy decisions (Buyl et al., 2019), all of which could be disastrous for organizations that are often already in a precarious position with their home institutions. The present study takes an important first step in establishing an association between narcissism and membership in GLOs, but additional work will be required to understand the consequences that this has for these organizations.

The negative association between Machiavellianism and membership in GLOs also does not come as much of a surprise given the existing literature. Machiavellianism is negatively associated with both a need for affiliation (Jonason & Ferrell, 2016; Jonason & Zeigler-Hill, 2018) and—at least after accounting for narcissism and psychopathy—extraversion (Muris et al., 2017). It could be the case that Machiavellian individuals are too cold, aloof, and socially withdrawn to either want to join a GLO or be recruited into a GLO. Alternatively, Machiavellian individuals—given their penchant for manipulation (Rauthmann & Will, 2011)—may be seen as too conniving and duplicitous to be invited into these organizations. This could be because these behaviours make them unlikeable or because these behaviours are seen as a liability to the organization.

The negative association between sadism and membership in GLOs is a bit harder to make sense of, especially given the association between sadism and hazing (Arteta-Garcia, 2015). That said, those high in everyday sadism may feel less of a desire to join these organizations because they feel less of a need to affiliate with others (Jonason & Zeigler-Hill, 2018). Similarly, the psychological and physical cruelty typical of these individuals may make them unattractive as potential members of these organizations. There is, in fact, some evidence to suggest that sadistic individuals are viewed as less likeable than their non-sadistic counterparts (Rogers et al., 2018).

4.1. Limitations and future directions

The present study is not without its limitations. First, many of the effects identified here are quite small (Chen et al., 2010). We would encourage researchers to examine whether there are potentially more important determinants when it comes to membership in these organizations. Second, the present study was cross-sectional (i.e., measurement only occurred at one time), making it impossible to determine whether participants in sororities and fraternities are more narcissistic to begin with or whether they became more narcissistic after joining their respective organizations. Future longitudinal research could be undertaken to examine such possibilities. Third, narcissistic individuals have been known to engage in impression management (Kowalski et al., 2018). It is possible that a narcissistic individual who did not receive an invitation to join a sorority or fraternity may, nevertheless, report that they are part of a sorority or fraternity to give the impression that they are more popular or more desirable than they actually are. Future efforts should make use of other sources of data—such as sorority and fraternity membership records—to avoid this possibility. Fourth, the present study used only a single measure of the Dark Tetrad traits (i.e., the Short Dark Tetrad; Paulhus et al., 2020). It is yet unclear whether the relations identified in the present study would hold for other conceptualizations of the Dark Tetrad traits. For example, it seems plausible that measures of psychopathy that include less content related to irresponsibility and recklessness and more content related to fearlessness and social potency (e.g., the Psychopathic Personality Inventory-Revised; Lilienfeld & Widows, 2005) would show positive associations with membership in GLOs. Finally, the Dark Tetrad traits were assessed as unidimensional constructs in the present study. It is, therefore, impossible to examine whether the effect of the Dark Tetrad traits on membership in GLOs varies depending on the exact aspect of the Dark Tetrad trait involved (e.g., narcissistic leadership/authority versus narcissistic entitlement/exploitativeness). Future research could use multidimensional measures of the Dark Tetrad traits to provide insight into these relations.