Toxic People

When we think of toxic people, we think of many names, like Narcissist, Sadist, Psychopath, Sociopath, Machiavellian, Dark Triad, Antisocial Personality Disorder, etc. But are all of these different types of persons or are there attributes that apply to all of them?  

This was one question addressed when Dr. Karen Mitchell recently completed her PhD thesis (a PDF copy of which can found here) on people she termed ‘dark personality’ (DP) or “people who actively violate social norms and harm and disadvantage others by conscious choice.”  

She states her results are “potentially the most comprehensive and nuanced representation of socially aversive personalities yet developed….drawing on over 1,000 years of cumulative, continuous experience of expert practitioners with people of DP and their targets/victims as well as insights from internationally recognised researchers from a range of fields, collected as part of this research project.”  

Her findings indicate that “people of DP appear to be one large group of the population driven by control and a need to dominate, with shared attributes, and who use the same tactics to achieve their goals.” Thus she came up with a list of 20 shared attributes, 25 tactics they use to accomplish their goals, as well as differentiators: areas regarding capabilities and values in which they differed.

Dr. Mitchell’s Figure 2 listing all of these is printed below with her permission:

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Figure 2

Persistent Predatory Personality (PPP) Model

Attributes (20)

Group 1: They drive the agenda

1. A drive for control, power, dominance

2. Self-view of superior and special, entitled

3. A pathological, explosive inner response to being compromised or challenged

4. Vengeful

5. Uncompromising

Group 2: They are motivated and operate differently and darkly

6. Predatory (including exploitative)

7. Sadistic and cruel

8. Has a low regard for laws, regulations, and agreements, as well as social and moral codes

9. Sexual/relationship boundarylessness

10. Unreasonable expectations of others

Group 3: The truth is not easy to distinguish or believe

11. Actively cultivates façade of ‘normal’

12. Chameleon-like

13. Dishonest

14. Devious and manipulative (including calculated) and involving consciously misleading

others to be inadvertently complicit. The DP superpower!

15. Unwillingness to accept responsibility for negative impacts they cause

Group 4: They don’t experience feelings in the same way as others

16. Without authentic emotion (emotional responses are acted)

17. Callous

18. Unremorseful

19. Self-interested

20. Brazen

Weaponry or Tactics (25)

1. Intimidates with an intent to create fear

2. Isolates

3. Weaponises the justice system

4. Accuses the victim of their own nefarious deeds (‘reverse attribution’), blames others

5. Creates a contrived sense of deep connection

6. Pretends to be the victim

7. Capitalises on data

8. Blocks, evades, and deflects

9. Focuses on evidence reduction and avoidance of transparency

10. Diminishes, degrades, disempowers, and discredits

11. Engages in a complex set of behaviours which are difficult to ‘see through’ and understand collectively

12. Uses convoluted discussion

13. Confuses and creates chaos

14. Publicly and privately provokes

15. Moves in and out of supportive and nonsupportive approaches

16. Attacks process and the qualifications, experience and integrity of professionals who

challenge them

17. Ingratiates themselves to people in power

18. Dismisses, denies, and minimises

19. Justifies and excuses

20. Blackmails and bribes

21. Delays and postpones

22. Obligates

23. Forces, coerces, and bullies

24. Creates and capitalises on divisiveness, divides and conquers

25. Mirrors and copies

Differentiators

Capabilities  

1. Planning and goal setting.

2. Emotion emulation and persona creation.  

3. Presentation of competence.  

4. Focus and purpose  

5. Funding of lifestyle  

6. Self-protection

7. Retention of freedom

Values

1. Wealth

2. Attention from others

3. Status

4. Viewed as reliable

5. Legacy

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Reprinted with permission. Mitchell, Karen Lee(2024) Psychopaths, Narcissists, Machiavellians, Toxic Leaders, Coercive Controllers: Subsets of One Overarching ‘Dark’ Personality Type? [Doctor of Philosophy, Swinburne University] https://static1.squarespace.com/static/64910384d2da1763d7156043/t/65bc5a78ab4aef10b9901a25/1706842827397/Psychopaths+Narcissists+Machiavellians+Toxic+Leaders+Coercive+Controllers++Subsets+of+One+Overarching+Dark+Personality+Type++MITCHELL+PHD+THESIS.pdf

For more details, explanations, and research participant quotes on each of the items in the above figure...

See pg 163 and 475 for more details on the attributes

See pg 538 for more details on the weaponry or tactics

See pg 546 for more details on the differentiators

in her thesis here.

Dr, Mitchell also has good information on the following topics regarding people of DP at the indicated page numbers:

Target/Victim 

     Selection 180

     Engagement 183

     Weakening 184

     Isolation 186

     Trapping and Destruction 188

Impact on Target/Victim 243

Impact on Children 250

Employment Information 262

Difficulties holding them to Account 271

If you are struggling to get along with, or understand, a person in your life, this list might be beneficial to see if they display these attributes or use these tactics or weapons. There is no cut off number that says ‘this person is a person of DP’ and ‘this person is not.” I like to think they if they are displaying any of these attributes, since they are all socially unacceptable, this is useful information for you to know in managing this relationship. If you find you have people in your life who display some of these characteristics and it is taking a toll on your mental health, you can get support through counseling. Be sure you find a counselor who is familiar with this type of personality and understands the drastic impact they can have.