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Abstract The use of social media platforms is now the cornerstone of communication. Nevertheless, seemingly innocuous habitual social media use may be a signal of behavioural addiction. This study examined the relationships among the Dark Tetrad personality traits (psychopathy, narcissism, Machiavellianism, sadism), impulsivity, and social media addiction. One hundred and twenty-eight Malaysian university students completed the GoStop Impulsivity Paradigm task, a laboratory behavioural measure of impulsivity. Participants also completed the Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale, the Short Dark Triad, and the Assessment of Sadistic Personality. Data on participants' average daily time spent on social media and the number of applications they had were retrieved from their smartphones. Correlation analyses showed that average daily screen-time and psychopathy were positively associated with social media addiction. Regression analyses revealed that being a female, having spent more time on social media, and scoring higher on the psychopathy scale were related to greater levels of addiction. Apart from having a positive correlation with the number of social media applications users had, impulsivity was not associated with any of the variables of interest. This study highlights the importance of a multi-measurement approach to assessing the psycho-socio-demographic variables implicated in the initiation, development, and maintenance of addictive behaviours. Highlights • Time spent on social media was positively associated with social media addiction. • Psychopathy was positively associated with social media addiction. • Impulsivity was not associated with social media addiction. • Being female was predictive of higher social media addiction. • Time spent on social media and psychopathy were positive predictors of addiction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ‘Dark Triad’ of socially aversive personality traits (Machiavellianism, Narcissism, and Psychopathy) is typically associated with grandiosity, callousness, and exploitation. Despite this, people with such traits can be very successful in life, especially in the occupational context. This study investigated the characteristics of individuals who enable and abet people high on Dark Triad traits (e.g. through tolerating unpleasant behaviours, not challenging unethical conduct, etc.). High Dark Triad individuals may be able to identify individuals who are susceptible to social manipulation and who are therefore less likely to challenge their behaviours. This study used a 20-item Vulnerability Scale to capture the characteristics of individuals who fall victim to people high on the Dark Triad traits. Cronbach's alpha for the Vulnerability Scale was 0.80. Pearson's correlation between total vulnerability scores and each of the Big Five personality traits revealed that predictors of vulnerability to social manipulation include low extraversion, low conscientiousness, high neuroticism, and high agreeableness. The vignette method was used to elicit perceptions of Dark Triad behaviours from those who are found to demonstrate signs of social vulnerability. Differences in response styles on Likert-type statements and open-ended questions were found between the high and low vulnerability groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Little work has examined whether culture and personality influence perceptions of stalking behaviour. A fictional stalking scenario was manipulated to assess judgements of case severity, culpability, and consequences for the stalker and target, measured by a five-item Likert scale. Participants were mainly students based in Malaysia (N = 269; 63.9% females) and England (N = 167; 90.4% females). As expected, participants were more likely to judge the stalking as less serious and the victim as more responsible when the stalker was depicted as an ex-partner, as opposed to a stranger or acquaintance. Malaysian participants judged the stalking as less serious and victims as more responsible than their English counterparts, as did male participants. The influence of personality traits was also assessed, using the HEXACO Personality Inventory-Revised, the Short Dark Triad and the Varieties of Sadistic Tendencies measures. Correlational analyses revealed narcissism, psychopathy, and sadism scores to be negatively associated with perceived severity. Emotionality was negatively associated with perceived victim responsibility while all Dark Tetrad traits were positively associated with perceived victim responsibility. Findings extend literature indicating that a range of factors, both internal and external to the individual observer, contribute to how stalking is perceived. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]