How To Survive Malicious People — Dark Tetrad Personalities

4 Essential Tips to Avoid Falling Prey to Malevolent Characters

Joaquim M.
5 min readFeb 6, 2024

We have all seen horror movies and thrillers where the evil person kills innocent people.

Since the dawn of time, people have been keenly interested in scary movies. No matter the genre, be it horror, thrillers, sci-fi or drama. We all love the suspension and anticipation surrounding the innocent being chased and stalked by the killer.

When we think of a killer we often usually assume an evil person that is fearless and sadistic.

This is how you see this in your neighbors, on Tinder, at work, and in school.

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Essential Tip 1: Is He or She a Psychopath?

According to Howard and Zandt, the probability that a person is NOT a Psychopath is almost 51% when they are honest and humble.

One key indicator, that a person is a psychopath, is that he or she gets excited whenever there is danger. That is why they will describe a dangerous incident differently from normal people. The reason is, their affective empathy is very low but not zero.

Psychopaths have a hard time responding with an appropriate emotion. The emotion that works with other people's emotions in any given emotional situation.

A psychopath will therefore describe a train accident differently from normal people and here is an example.

If ten people are watching a train crash and one of them is a psychopath. The nine normal people will describe the train crash the same way. It was horrifying and people got hurt. However, the psychopath will describe something completely different that is more exciting and fun.

Because they see the world without affective empathy and focus on other people's money and possessions.

Yes, this is extremely Sadistic and that is also how you identify psychopaths in both Women and Men.

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Essential Tip 2: Is He or She Machiavellian?

When doing the HEXACO test the probability that you are machiavellian if you are low in honesty and humility is 53.8% according to Howard and Zandt.

Machiavellian is not a health disorder according to DSM-V. But is defined as a duplicitous interpersonal style, a cynical disregard for morality, and a focus on self-interest and personal gain. They are deceitful and manipulative and justify maintaining power and control.

Just like a psychopath is a subcategory of Anti Social Personality Disorder. Machiavellians are both sadistic and low in morality.

Morality is found in the personality traits of agreeableness Honesty & Humility.

It is defined in personality psychology as no need for pretense or manipulation when dealing with others. They are therefore candid, frank, and sincere. Low morality believes that a certain amount of deception in social relationships is necessary.

It should be made clear that low immorality is not unprincipled or immoral.

They are simply more guarded and less willing to openly reveal the whole truth.

Essential Tip 3: Is He or She a Narcissist?

There is good news when it comes to being dishonest and callous with others in that Howard and Zandt show a 42.9% probability of narcissism.

Narcissism is a diagnosis and mental pathology but is not a permanent mental illness. You can become normal again. Narcissists associate only with people of high status and show up as being low in greed avoidance.

If you are low in greed-avoidance you were only Prada or Gucci shoes and expensive handbags, watches, cars, houses, boats, vacations, etc.

A narcissist is an individual who exhibits excessive self-focus.

He or she has a strong need for admiration and a lack of empathy for others. They often display grandiosity and a sense of entitlement, coupled with a tendency to exploit or manipulate others for personal gain. But that in itself is deceiving since they can also be vulnerable narcissist which plays the victim card and cry to be the center of attention.

Narcissists have no confidence which is high in neuroticism.

People often blame grandiose narcissists but are almost always deceived by someone's ability to stand out.

The core problem in narcissists is that they have no self-esteem and can either compensate by always taking over in meetings and either running them or making sure everyone is talking about them. The more dangerous narcissist is the vulnerable one. Vulnerable narcissists are introverted and covert narcissists.

They feel entitled.

Without anyone noticing them getting into power where they then clear out any opposition through sadistic and immoral means.

Photo by Sander Sammy on Unsplash

Essential Tip 4: Is He or She a Sadist?

Sadism is not a diagnosis as much as it is simply taking pleasure in others getting hurt.

It does not mean a sadist needs to be the one hurting others directly. A good example is female indirect aggression. It is something girls as young as 6 learn and it peaks around 11 years of age. They spread gossip and rumors and change friends when they do not get along and get their way through reputation destruction. Also known as cancel culture.

This has been well documented in longitudinal studies done in Canada by Trembley.

The reason why men always are the ones getting blamed is most likely due to the way men and women see men.

Both men and women see men as perpetrators!

Therefore no one cares about men getting hurt in the process and are easy targets. I am a man and I do not care much about other men just as the research and evidence support.

But I do care about women and children and the reason for that comes from.

Men and women see women as victims!

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Joaquim M.
Joaquim M.

Written by Joaquim M.

8000+ Professional Hours Evaluating People. I write about Human Psychology encompassing both Cognitive and Personality Psychology 🧠. Website: joakimmarias.com

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