A study conducted by a team from Queensland University of Technology consisting of top professors and lecturers, have discovered that crypto investors commonly have a set of four negative personality traits referred to as “the dark tetrad.”
What exactly are these negative personality traits, and how do we see them present in the cryptocurrency community? Lets take a deeper look at what is referred to in the psychology world as the “dark tetrad.”
What Is The Dark Tetrad? Malevolent Personality Traits Explained
Tetrad isn’t a word you hear often, and combined with the word “dark” certainly sounds ominous. But tetrad simply refers to a group of four. More commonly known throughout the psychology world is the “dark triad” of personality traits, which include narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy.
Dark tetrad turns things up a notch by adding in sadism. Simply put, crypto investors even derive pleasure from when others are in pain. Common phrases such as “have fun staying poor” shows that the description tends to fit the community.
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Narcissism is characterized by, according to Wikipedia, “grandiosity, pride, egotism, and a lack of empathy” for others. You need to look no further than crypto Twitter for grandiosity and egotism. Bored Apes and CryptoPunks are an instant signal.
Machiavellianism refers to those with a high level of self interest and a willingness to exploit and manipulate others with a completely lack of morality. All over crypto there are scams and rug pulls. Around every turn there is another user hoping to dump their coins onto another person for a profit.
Psychopathy tends to exhibit itself through impulsivity, remorselessness, and risk-taking behavior. The abundance of traders getting liquidated and the YOLO longs galore at each Bitcoin pullback proves this personality trait highly common in crypto.
Bitcoin has sucked in many dark tetrads along the way | Source: BTCUSD on TradingView.com
Survey Shows Crypto Investors Commonly Exhibit Dark Traits
A recent study proved all of this to be accurate. Di Wang, Senior lecturer, and Brett Martin, Professor of Marketing at Queensland University of Technology, and Jun Yao, Senior Lecturer in Marketing, Macquarie University conducted a study with 566 partipants.
Each was asked a set of questions related to their attitudes around crypto investing. The results determined that it is these dark personality traits that often drive users toward cryptocurrencies in general.
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For example, the study concludes Machiavellians “tend to believe strongly in government conspiracies.” Narcissists tend to be overconfident and are more apt to take the risk in crypto. They also can more easily envision themselves living a lavish lifestyle in the future.
Psychopaths fall victim to the fear of missing out and are who bid up prices to all-time highs.
The study concludes that not everyone must exhibit these dark personality traits. But there if you hold crypto, there is a chance you fit one or more of these descriptions.
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