Photo by John O’Neill | Wikimedia Commons
Personality research conducted in the Paulhus Personality Lab recently proved critical in the conviction of a sexual predator in Indiana who more than 300 victims. The prosecution applied the profile known as the Dark Tetrad—narcisissm, Machiavellianism, psychopathy, sadism—and the judge was convinced.
The tetrad measure was assembled and validated over several years by Dr. Del Paulhus along with former UBC Psychology graduate students Dan Jones, Erin Buckels, and Paul Trapnell. Experiments by Dr. Jeremy Biesanz also helped validate the instrument. Once again, conceptual research in psychology has shown its value in addressing real world problems.
For a transcript of the trial, contact the lab via dpaulhus@psych.ubc.ca.
