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A myriad of criticisms have been directed at the widely available scales which measure the Dark Tetrad (DT), constructs of Machiavellianism, psychopathy, narcissism and everyday sadism. These have included construct incongruence, unstable factor structures, sex and age variance. Sex and age are salient variables in research studies and as such, their reported variance was considered to be a weakness of the measures, which contributed to their instability. To ascertain whether this was indeed the case, an investigation of the widely available DT measures was conducted in study one (n=605). Through the use of Classical Test Theories, Exploratory Graph Analysis and Item Response Theory, the criticisms of past research were supported, including variance across age and sex. Mediated by the evidenced issues and in order to address them, the Dark Side of Humanity Scale (DSHS), was developed, which was the main aim of this thesis. The focus of the measure was to assesses the DT personality constructs as they manifest in the general population, whilst also being sex and age invariant. Using a diverse range of statistical methods and guided by theory, expert ratings and past research, where available, the development of the DSHS began in the second study (n=667). During analyses, a divergence from the widely available DT measures emerged, whereby primary psychopathy and Machiavellianism were unified. However, this corroborated past research which has discussed the two constructs as being parallel. It further afforded the DSHS with a shift away from the traditional DT conceptualisation. The resulting scale encompasses four factors. The first represents the successful psychopath, factor two addresses the grandiose form of entitlement, factor three taps into everyday sadism and includes sadistic fantasies, direct and vicarious psychological malevolence, whilst factor four pertains to narcissistic entitlement rage. Each factor is specific to the traits and behaviours of the construct they address. Study three reports on the convergent and discriminant validity of the DSHS (n=712), and test-retest validity (n = 413), for which temporal reliability as well as nomological validity was achieved. The unique contributions of this thesis are discussed in the final chapter. The DSHS provides an alternative approach to investigating the dark side of human nature in general population samples, whilst also being sex and age invariant.

This thesis is an investigation into the ways in which mobile phone users’ contextualised understanding of the mobile phone may have shaped their mobile phone practices and subjectivity within the cultural narratives of the neoliberal digital age in the UK. The proliferation of research literature focused on mobile phone practices has been dominated by mainstream psychology’s pathologised rationales for differences between mobile phone users’ practices. However, the distinction between normal and problematic practices are not clearly defined across studies. This thesis adopts a critical perspective to consider the socially integrated relationship between meaning, subjectivity and behaviour in order to inform the current rationales for differences between mobile phone users’ practices from an underrepresented perspective on the topic. The thesis is collection of four discrete but interconnected studies which progress from exploring the culturally accessible conceptualisation of the mobile phone presented by the mass media to the culturally contextualised understanding of the mobile phone by mobile phone users. Mass media data were collected from UK national newspaper articles about the mobile phone published between 1985 (first consumer handheld mobile phones in the UK) and 2019, to provide a wide historical context, and website-based advertising of mobile phones accessible to the UK population during 2019. Data was collected from mobile phone users through participant-generated reviews of their mobile phone by 164 self-selected mobile phone users and in-depth interviews with 20 mobile phone users positioned as at-risk problem users by the psychology literature. The data collected was analysed using an inductive thematic analysis informed by social constructionism. The analysis of the news media revealed that the conceptualisation of the mobile phone shifted from a business tool accessible by a wealthy few to a normal need of modern living for the masses which is integral to the user’s identity. It was argued that current cultural conceptualisations of the mobile phone were shaped by societal powers related to neoliberalism and regulation. The conceptualisations related to the advertisements promoted a normal, essential, desirable and continually developing contemporary tool of self-improvement, empowerment, independence, control, social connection and identity development. Mobile phone users’ conceptualisations related to the deep meaning that essential lifestyle enhancing activities had for them and positioned themselves as attached to their lifestyle and identity development that was accessible through their mobile phone practices which they positioned as culturally normal and essential to a modern lifestyle. For the users positioned as at-risk problem users, the mobile phone was an emotionally complex object which was related to emotional support and emotional tensions, in conflict at times. The relationship between the mass media’s conceptualisations of the mobile phone and mobile phone users’ contextualised understanding showed that cultural narratives, fashioned by societal powers, shaped users’ understanding and practices. It was concluded that mobile phone users were attached to the continual development of their lifestyle, identity and knowing that they experience through their mobile phone practices rather than attached to the device. Mobile phone practices are a symptom of neoliberal digital culture rather than a problematic symptom of the user. Future research must sustain the critical perspective to build upon the findings of this thesis and explore the identities of those who actively resist using mobile phones with consideration to their contextualised personal interests in order to further inform the distinction between normal and problematic mobile phone practices.