There are certain occupations out there that really seem to compliment a specific personality type, and a new study sought to shed some further light on the topic by analyzing mean people and the certain career paths that they might be attracted to. The study, which was led by researchers at the University of Western Ontario, suggests that those who have a “darker personality” (individuals who exhibit traits of narcissism and psychophthy etc) are going to be attracted to certain career paths more than others.
The study involved 858 participants who were asked to fill-out questionnaires about their interests, psychopathy, narcissism, and more. When it comes to the trait of narcissism, it was found to be most positively linked to jobs in the field of artistic interests. But that same finding wasn't the case with those who reported traits of psychoticism or Machiavellianism which is also what they looked at.
The researchers suggest that the reason those who exhibit the two traits aren't also linked with artistic careers, is because those traits lack emotional expressiveness and therefore the individual most likely doesn't possess the ability to express emotion in the way that an artistic career would warrant.
Researchers also suggest that narcissistic personalities might prefer an artistic career because they seek the admiration of others. It was also found that narcissists were attracted to social occupations, careers in business, and adventurous travel occupations.
But the more that a person was found to exhibit the Machiavellian trait, the less that they were seen to be interested in social careers. The Machiavellian trait refers to individuals who are going to be solely focused on their own interests, even to the point of manipulating, deceiving, or exploiting other people, in order to get what they want.
The psychopathy trait was seen to have a greater link to interests in physical science, engineering, and also adventurous jobs. These results further support the notion that those who exhibit these traits (machiavellians and psychopaths) are going to have difficulty expressing emotions or comprehending emotional information. And that is why they are likely to avoid an occupation where social interaction is frequently necessary. But on the contrary, the narcissist is found to be all too eager to get social with others, because they enjoy networking with other people.
Study Shortcomings
Researchers admit that there were certain limitations related to their study. Namely, the participants were overrepresented by women because they made up about 83 percent of the group. Previous research in this field has also indicated that there might be a difference in career interests when gender is factored in. They also say that the data was correlational and therefore cannot be construed as causation.