The dispositional basis of deviance: A multivariate approach to crime and other deviant acts

Le résumé fourni par la source

Why some people engage in criminal and other forms of deviant behavior, whereas others do not, has long been a question of interest in the social and behavioral sciences. In this study, we examine the role of personality differences in accounting for different forms of deviance. Using data from a large and demographically diverse German sample ( N = 2,364), we investigated associations between 74 personality traits and five self-reported indicators of deviant behavior. We analyzed these relations at both the zero-order and multivariate level using regularized regression models to identify which personality traits predict deviant behavior most strongly and uniquely so, that is, above and beyond other traits. Personality explained a substantial proportion of variance in all forms of deviance considered, and these associations were not attributable to methodological artifacts or confounding influences of age or gender. Supporting our pre-registered hypothesis, traits related to dispositional morality or short-term mindsets were particularly powerful predictors. Taken together, our findings provide the most comprehensive overview to date of personality-deviance associations, offer a parsimonious account of individual differences in self-reported deviance, derive concrete guidelines for trait selection in future research, and introduce a ShinyApp that can guide theorizing and study design.

Ce résumé expose les affirmations des auteurs. BNTIC ne l’interprète pas comme une validation indépendante des résultats.