It’s something most people do on a daily basis.
Now, it appears the way you text could reveal if you have any dark personality traits.
That’s according to Charlotte Entwistle, a psychologist at the University of Liverpool, who claims it’s possible to spot personality dysfunction through everyday word use.
‘Whether in a quick text message, a long email, a casual chat with a friend, or a comment online, the words people choose quietly reveal deeper patterns in how they think, feel, and relate to others,’ she explained in an article for The Conversation.
If you’re messaging someone and they use lots of swear words, this should raise alarm bells for you.
Equally, if they regularly vent about their hatred for things, this could also be a red flag.
‘Those with darker personality traits often use more hostile, negative and disconnected language, including more swear words and anger words, such as “hate” or “mad”,’ Ms Entwistle explained.
‘At the same time, they use fewer socially connected terms like “we”.’
It’s something most people do on a daily basis. And it appears your texting habits could reveal if you have any dark personality traits (stock image)
The dark personality traits are also referred to as the Dark Tetrad by psychologists.
Each of the four Dark Tetrad traits – narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy and sadism – are made up of particular undesirable attributes.
Machiavellianism is characterised by manipulation and exploitation of others, a cynical disregard for morality, and a focus on self–interest and deception.
Narcissism is characterised by grandiosity, pride, egotism, and a lack of empathy, while psychopathy is characterised by enduring antisocial behaviour, impulsivity, selfishness, callousness, and remorselessness.
Sadism, meanwhile, is characterised by the tendency to be cruel toward others for pleasure or dominance, by inflicting pain, suffering or humiliation.
Previous studies have identified links between the Dark Triad and several traits – including not liking animals, humiliating others, and being single.
According to Ms Entwistle, your texting habits can also shed light on any dark traits.
‘Many people you meet – at work, when dating, or online – may show milder difficulties, such as mood fluctuations, negativity, rigid thinking or darker traits like manipulation and callousness,’ she explained.
Psychopathy is characterised by enduring antisocial behaviour, impulsivity, selfishness, callousness, and remorselessness. Pictured: Christian Bale in American Psycho
‘These patterns often slip into how people speak or write long before they show up in more explicit behaviour.
‘Noticing these patterns can help us learn about and understand others, support those who may be struggling, and navigate our social lives safely – online and offline – with greater awareness.’
As an example, the psychologist highlights the personal letters of Austrian serial killer Jack Unterweger.
Linguistic analysis of these letters found unusually high levels of self–focused language, such as ‘I’ and ‘me’.
‘He also had a notably flat emotional tone,’ Ms Entwistle added.
The psychologist hopes this knowledge will help people to navigate everyday situations.
She said: ‘In everyday situations – dating, befriending, online interactions – recognising patterns of hostility, extreme negativity, and emotional and cognitive rigidity can help people spot early signs.
‘This is particularly for dark personality styles, such as psychopathy or narcissism.
‘For instance, noticeably high use of self–references (“I”, “me”), anger words (“hate”, “angry”), and swear words, combined with a lack of terminology indicative of social connection (“we”, “us”, “our”), may be important language patterns to look out for.’
WOULD YOU KNOW HOW TO SPOT A PSYCHOPATH?
Psychopaths display different traits depending on their disorder.
Common signs include superficial charm, a grandiose notion of self-worth, the need for stimulation and impulsiveness, pathological lying, the ability to manipulate others and a lack of remorse and empathy.
But despite the popular association, not all psychopaths become killers.
Experts claim people usually find psychopaths intriguing, but can’t put their finger on why.
This is down to incongruous behaviour because psychopaths tend to do a lot of acting to deceive, or mimic normal reactions, sometimes changing their views and reactions quickly.
For example, Self-professed psychopath Jacob Wells said that upon meeting someone, he tries to become ‘the most interesting person they know’ and presumably adopts suitable interests and responses to do this.
His response also gives away another common trait – a grandiose notion of self-worth – in that he can be the most interesting person in the room.
Psychopaths occasionally tend to exhibit unconvincing emotional responses, with slip-ups including tone of voice or body language.
This may be because they are unable to understand emotions such as fear and love, but can mimic them.
Psychopaths display different traits depending on their disorder, but common signs include superficial charm and the ability to manipulate others. Despite the popular association, not all psychopaths become killers (stock image)
Generally psychopaths’ ’emotions’ are shallow and short-lived and there is a manipulative ulterior motive to showing them.
For example, Mr Wells said he offers to do favours and tells false secrets to people to gain their complete trust.
He also displays insincere charm – another trait associated with psychopaths.
He says: ‘I keep secrets, and tell them fake secrets to further gain their trust, and once they trust me enough, I ask for favours, reminding them of the favours I did them. I can get literally anything from them, which is incredibly useful.’
Psychopaths typically display an incredible ability to manipulate others and sometimes take pleasure in doing so.
Psychopaths often have an air of superiority about them, perhaps shown by Mr Wells’ belief he can spot other psychopaths
Even expert Dr Hare, who came up with the Hare Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) used as a diagnostic tool to determine where someone lies on the psychopathy spectrum, warns that anyone can be duped during a short interaction with a psychopath.
