Lost amid the hype of the recent Ashley Madison hack and personal consequences to the discovered is a larger question. What types of people sign up for such a website? While the question is a difficult one to answer, evidence points towards the typical Ashley Madison member having some similar personality traits to that of the psychopath. While the media will have you believe that those who signed up for Ashley Madison were quite similar to you and me, the reality is that individuals who signed up for Ashley Madison were quite likely to have certain psychopathic personality traits. While this might seem somewhat alarming, as the typical lay person views the psychopath as a sadistic killer with homicidal tendencies, the truth is that psychopathy is a cluster of interrelated personality characteristics. These characteristics can help us better understand the personality profile of the Ashley Madison user.
Who Looks For Their Lovers Online?
While psychopathy is traditionally viewed as looking something like Jason from Friday the 13th, the reality is far more complex, and hidden. Based upon the seminal work of Hervey Cleckley in his book, The Mask of Sanity, the psychopathic individual is actually a normally appearing individual (at least at face value) who is deeply pathological. A clinical assesment tool created by Lynam and a host of other researchers in 2011 known as the Elemental Psychopathy Assessment speaks completely and definitively to the psychopathic personality, and those who got caught up in the Ashley Madison hack. The psychopathic individual has a different personality constellation than the rest of us. The EPA contends that each of us as individuals have certain levels of the following personality traits: Disinhibition, Narcissism, Antagonism, and Emotional Stability. The psychopathic personality has an overabundance of the aforementioned personality traits with the exception of emotional stability, of which they have very little, or more accurately, none at all!
It's All About The Academics Of Sex
So what you say? What does this academic jargon have to do with Ashley Madison? A lot, if you really think about it. Take the first charcteristic or personality trait, Disinhibition. One has to be mighty uninhibited to go on to a website that advertises the ability to have an affair. Think of people who jump out of airplanes, they possess a certain level of daring that many of us lack. A similar characteristic is in play for those on the Ashley Madison website. The psychopathic personality lacks the internal mechanism that says, "stop!," what you are about to do is really harmful to yourself and/or others. This lack of inhibition allows the psychopathic personality to live in excess and not fear every day consequences. These consequences often manifest themselves through risky activities such as skydiving or signing up for a website that allows one to have an affair.
Still not satisfied? Think about the second personality characteristic or trait, Narcissism. Narcissim refers to an individual's degree of self-absorbtion. How self-absorbed does someone have to be to have an affair in the first place? In the ultimate worst case scenario the two parties get caught and two additional innocent lives are potentially ruined. One has to be highly Narcissistic to allow themselves to not only accept, but participate in such a scenario. If you ever meet a psychopath, and based on a population prevalence of 1% of the total population being identified as psychopathic, you most likely have, you will find them to be unbelievably self-serving and self-absorbed. Think Kardashian level Narcissism with a little added on top, and that's the psychopathic individual.
It Is About A Little Power Too?
The third trait is a little more dicey, but equally as important. Antagonism or individual aggressiveness towards others. While at face value this might have nothing to do with having an affair, one could venture to say that one who does have an affair and is willing to carry out said affair is probably pretty antagonistic to their partner in life or they would not be having an affair. Think about Donald Trump in the recent presidential debate and you have a strong example of Antagonism in play (incidentally Donald cheated on his first wife). The typical psychopathic personality is hostile, and nasty. While they might appear charming at first glance, they have nothing but disdain for you, your moral character, and your lack of callousness.
Do Emotionally Stable People Cheat Online?
Finally, emotional stability. An emotionally stable person just does not do that kind of thing, do they? Think a labial constantly swinging personality like Ashley I. from the recent season of Bachelor Pad. The psychopathic personality lacks any sort of emotional stability, the emotions they display are extreme caricatures of what they perceive emotions to look like to the outside world . The psychopathic personality cannot feel anything, and could care less if you are sad, upset, or hurt. It's all about them!!
While we all hear stories on the news about highly disturbed individuals, we as human beings are able to compartmentalize and dismiss them as irrelevant to our own lives. The truth of the matter is that an individual with a psychopathic personality is undoubtedly surrounding you as we speak. The jerk at work, the friend who backstabs you and the sleeps with your fiancee, the guy you're dating who sends you pictures of his, well you know. Your feeling that something is off about them is correct. You are not imagining their lack of empathy, their self-centeredness, and that gut feeling you get deep down inside that something terrifying is going on. If millions people are on Ashley Madison, where else are they? And what else are they doing? The truth is right in front of you and its more terrifying than you could possibly ever imagine.