The ENTP and the Dark Tetrad: A Portrait of the Annoying Inflammatory Asshole

THE DARK TETRAD

(pic not relevant)

Dark Tetrad, a group of four personality traits: narcissism, psychopathy, Machiavellianism, and sadism.

• narcissism: characterized by grandiosity, pride, egotism, and a lack of empathy
• Machiavellianism: characterized by manipulation and exploitation of others, cynical disregard for morality, and a focus on self-interest and deception
• psychopathy: characterized by enduring antisocial behavior, impulsivity, selfishness, callousness, and remorselessness
• sadism: characterized by gaining pleasure from seeing others undergo discomfort or pain

The Dark Tetrad is thus named for these largely independent traits that coalesce to form a nasty combination, what might be considered to be "everyday evil". Internet trolls are a modern example of the Dark Tetrad at work. It should be noted that Machiavellianism is believed to be the result of strict environmental factors, largely the work of personal belief without significant neurobiological or genetic component.

I believe that a shift in our understanding of the Dark Tetrad will allow us to encourage better behavior in these individuals. So far, research on this phenomenon is preliminary. Instead of brushing off these traits as purely evil, perhaps we can find a good side to this behavior, making it convenient for those to transition into a pro-social mindset.

A PORTRAIT OF THE ENTP

E- Extroverted

N- Intuitive

T- Thinking

P- Perception

Correlation between OCEAN and MBTI (http://similarminds.com/global5/g5-jung.html):

Extroversion -> Extroversion

Conscentiousness -> Judging
Agreeableness -> Feeling (this is a medium-strength correlation)

Openness to Experience/Intellect -> Intuition

ENTP according to OCEAN:

Extroverted, Unstructured, Inquisitive, Agreeableness varies

The ENTP is a type often portrayed in fiction as an ingenious, quirky individual with a large intellect and a keen sense of humor. Think Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean, The Doctor from Doctor Who, or Iron Man. They are natural entrepreneurs, visionaries with a love for reinventing the wheel. Scornful of tradition and immensely creative, they are constantly thinking of ways in which things in the world can be done better, faster, and more fun. ENTPs are enamored of novelty and innovation: to them, laws of the universe are meant to be broken, and they thrive on the contradictions and chaos in life.

Interesting facts about the ENTP:

• On personality trait scales, scored as Enterprising, Friendly, Resourceful, Headstrong, Self-Centered, and Independent
• Least likely of all types to suffer heart disease and hypertension
• Least likely of all types to report stress associated with family and health
• Scored among highest of all types in available resources for coping with stress
• Overrepresented among those with Type A behavior
• Among highest of all types on measures of creativity
• One of two types most frequent among violators of college alcohol policy
• Among types most dissatisfied with their work, despite being among the types with highest income
• Commonly found in careers in science, management, technology, and the arts
• Least likely of all types to believe in a higher power

ENTP is one of the rarer types in the population. ENTPs make up:

• 3% of the general population
• 4% of men
• 2% of women

Let's take a look at some of the most famous individuals in history who have been classified as an ENTP:

• Socrates
• Benjamin Franklin
• Leonardo da Vinci
• Barack Obama
• Steve Jobs
• Walt Disney
• Voltaire
• Niccolo Machiavelli

I am going to focus on the darker, less pleasant side of this personality type and its relation to the Dark Tetrad, pulling upon work by famous psychologist Theodore Millon and his 15 pathological personality types. According to an interesting post over at celebrity types (http://www.celebritytypes.com/blog/2011/04/why-socrates-is-entp/), the ENTP correlates strongly with the Antisocial Personality Type.

Antisocial Personality Disorder: characterized by a pervasive pattern of disregard for, or violation of, the rights of others. There may be an impoverished moral sense or conscience and a history of crime, legal problems, and impulsive and aggressive behavior.

Subsequently, I want to distinguish between two different ways of viewing psychopathic traits: one arising due to Antisocial Personality Disorder, and the other arising from a physiological inability to feel empathy toward others, or what I will call "true psychopathy". ASPD is believed to be the work of  complex environmental and behavioral factors in conjuction with certain neurobiological and genetic traits, i.e. a personality disorder. True psychopathy is incredibly rare, present in <1% of the population according to some researcher, and is neuroatypical. That being said, when I mention psychopathy in regard to ENTPs, I am talking about antisocial tendencies, not true psychopathy.

Now, let's take a look at antisocial behavior through three famous ENTPs.

SOCRATES

Socrates was known as the “gadfly of Athens” because he was said to have annoyed Athenians (just as a gadfly annoys a horse) with his constant questioning of the societal norms they took for granted. His questioning, which was considered “corrupting the young” annoyed Athenians so much that it eventually lead to Socrates being put on trial and sentenced to death.

According to Plato’s Apology, Socrates was asked what he deemed an acceptable punishment for his actions. His response? Among other things, he should receive “free maintenance by the state.” In modern terms, Socrates claimed the government should give him food and wages because he believed his questioning was a service to them. Unsurprisingly, his rebellious attitude didn’t get him out of the death penalty.

From celebrity types: 

Amongst the stock characterizations of the Nonconforming/Antisocial personality is the tendency to thrive on conflict and confrontation. The Antisocial personality is, amongst other things, known for its uncanny ability to sense the soft spots of others and then jerk the knife into them. As one psychologist wrote: “In the mind of the antisocial, they are doing people a service, confronting them with the truth and with their blind spots. In the minds of everyone else, the antisocial is simply overly confrontational.”

1) Socrates openly taunts his jurors and the politicians of Athens in his defense speech. Socrates also compares Athens to a mighty horse and then compares himself to a gadfly that constantly stings the horse so as to make sure that the horse is always vigilant. This is more or less the prototype of the antisocial behavioral pattern.

(2) In the dialogue Meno, Socrates forces a slave boy to solve a simple geometry puzzle which, having no education, the slave cannot solve properly. Socrates keeps asking the boy questions, while his friend Meno looks on, until the slave concedes that he does not know:

BOY: Indeed, Socrates, I do not know.

SOCRATES: Do you see, Meno, what advances he has made in his power of recollection? He did not know at first, and he does not know now … but then he thought that he knew, he answered confidently as if he knew, and had no difficulty; now that he has had a difficulty, he neither knows nor fancies that he knows.

MENO: True.

SOCRATES: Is he not better off in knowing his ignorance? … If we have made him doubt, and given him a shock, have we done him any harm? (…) We have certainly, it would seem, assisted him in some degree to the discovery of the truth; and now he will wish to remedy his ignorance.

Socrates believes here that he is doing good by challenging this slave boy. As you can see, he is annoying as hell, as any ENTP ought to be. I can't fathom why he is so exalted by people nowadays. I'd think Jesus Christ or the Buddha would be a better choice, but whatever! I still love him at least.

There is certainly some merit to Socrates' antisocial behavior. His rampant questioning of other people's values and ideals certainly influenced the minds of the Athenians (whether that was good or bad depends on how much you value critical thinking. I assume most taught in a liberal arts framework do, if only on an abstract level). I mean, he was probably super inflammatory while doing it, but any good antisocial knows that is necessary to get the ball rolling.

Let's take a look at some markers of the antisocial personality from everyone's favorite villain, the Joker.

THE JOKER

Joker-sama: "Do I really look like a guy with a plan? You know what I am? I’m a dog chasing cars. I wouldn’t know what to do with one if I caught it. You know, I just… do things... You know what I’ve noticed? Nobody panics when things go “according to plan.” Even if the plan is horrifying! If, tomorrow, I tell the press that, like, a gang banger will get shot, or a truckload of soldiers will be blown up, nobody panics, because it’s all “part of the plan.” But when I say that one little old mayor will die, well then everyone loses their minds! Introduce a little anarchy. Upset the established order, and everything becomes chaos. I’m an agent of chaos. Oh, and you know the thing about chaos? It’s fair!"

Woo, this guy is messed up. Here, the Joker demonstrates his love of anarchy and chaos. He apparently likes it because it is fair, it upsets the established order and equalizes human beings with each other. We can extrapolate that the Joker is an anarchist... for the sake of anarchy. His disregard for social norms, his lack of consideration for the well-being of others, his impulsivity and remorselessness are so wonderfully antisocial. He truly is a grade-A asshole, just like Socrates. Except one who directs his love of chaos and confrontation toward murdering and blowing things up.

As some blog on the internet puts it:

"The Joker has one goal: to be entertained. The strange thing about the ENTP, crazy or not, is that they are often restless, feeling bored with the simple humdrum of everyday life where others might be satisfied. But the Joker is a Perciever, so naturally structure, order, and the like are a far cry from what he desires. Minions? Nothing more than pawns to accomplish his goals. He wants chaos, anarchy—to prove that the rest of the world is just as monstrous as he is at their core."

I suppose for the antisocial, it's important to be reminded that there are many ways to disregard social norms, and it might be wise to, you know, not kill other people to spice up your life. Maybe find a boyfriend or girlfriend or something. But let's get real here: that would get boring too!
I'd love to have a case like the Joker if I were a therapist. It would be so fun to see how one could manipulate him to redirect his ways. I'd probably end up getting Harley Quinn'd though. Well, here's hoping some forced injections might do the trick, or brain surgery if worse comes to worse.

This next guy is less of a criminal than the first two. Don't worry, still an ass.

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN

Ah, Benjamin Franklin. Generally lauded as an intelligent and highly capable politician crucial in the formation of the United States, people often forget that he'd been off his rocker for most of his life.

Ben was an ingenious inventor and prolific writer, He discovered many things about electricity, invented the lightning rod and franklin stove, mapped the gulf stream, a flexible urinary catheter (his brother had kidney stones okay), and an odometer, among other things. I'm not going to list what he wrote but one of these things was the Drinker's Dictionary, coining 200 synonyms for getting plastered. He invented his own alphabet because he sucked at spelling. He was a military commander at some point and defended Philly from invaders. Rumor has it that they made Jefferson write the Declaration of Independence because they were afraid if Ben did it, he would have put a ton of jokes in it. Too bad, that would've been awesome!

Now, for some examples of antisocial behavior from this beautiful bastard:

• Benny was a security risk. He liked to discuss all matter of important, confidential issues out in the open. Even in front of his friend who turned out to be a British spy. In true ENTP fashion, that didn't stop Ben from being friends with him after the war anyway.
• He was a firm believer in "air baths". Believing air circulation to be good for the body, Benny would open his windows, strip down naked, and sit in the open, soaking up the cool air while horrified neighbors gouged their eyes out. What a guy!
• In 2003, "Friends of Benjamin Franklin House" were looking to restore Frankie's old London home and turn it into a museum. They found the chopped up remains of 15 human bodies underneath, including the skeleton of an elderly man and an infant. People chock this up to a scientist who ran his anatomy school in Ben's basement. He probably had grave robbers snatch up corpses to dissect in front of his students. There's little doubt that Ben attended these illegal lectures out of curiosity, so he wasn't entirely blameless.
• He was a massive troll. It is well known that ENTPs excel at satire, so this is no surprise, but Franklin wrote an almanac Poor Richard's Almanac (think Reader's Digest) under the pseudonym of Richard Saunders and trolled the hell out of his competition, Titan Leeds. Here's the story:
  
  "Poking fun at the American Almanack‘s fondness for astrology, Poor Richard’s made a prediction of its own, claiming that on “Oct. 17, 1733, 3:29 P.M., at the very instant of the conjunction of the Sun and Mercury,” Titan Leeds would kick the bucket. When October 17 rolled around, Leeds survived and then angrily attacked Franklin, calling him “a Fool, and a Lyar.” But Poor Richard’s wasn’t done trolling yet. In his next pamphlet, Franklin claimed there was no way a gentleman like Leeds would use such horrid language. That meant his rival had in fact died on October 17, and now someone was impersonating the late Mr. Leeds.
  
  This back-and-forth went on for a long time, and the hoax drove up the sales of Poor Richard’s Almanack. Nevertheless, all good pranks must come to an end, and Titan Leeds finally passed away in 1738. But Franklin wasn’t done with the joke. In the next issue of Poor Richard’s, Franklin got the last laugh, declaring the villains who’d impersonated Titan Leeds had finally given up their little game."

What an ass.

WRAP-UP

Those with the Antisocial Personality can have a host of different consequences as a result of their behavior. At times comical, at times genius, and most of the time annoying, the antisocial personality is a multifaceted creature, with the potential for both good and bad.

The Antisocial Personality is largely what the individual makes of it. A drastic change in personality or behavior is too inconvenient and time-consuming. A shift in how we understand this behavior so as to encourage the positive qualities will go a long way in creating positive antisocial tendencies. What do I value and why do I value it? Is it possible to receive the same satisfaction in the framework of a pro-social philosophy? (Think going against the norms such as abolitionism, veganism, etc.) Where might a disregard for social norms benefit others? These are all questions an individual with antisocial tendencies ought to ask themselves. It's important for them to understand that antisocial behavior is not necessarily bad, and can do quite a lot of good when used properly.

But you're still going to be an asshole.