Active versus reactive cooperativeness in Borderline Psychopathology: A dissection based on the HEXACO model of personality

Using the HEXACO to explain the structure of borderline and psychopathic personality traits

Research has examined the use of basic personality traits in describing problematic personality traits, such as borderline and psychopathic traits. Specifically, the Honesty-Humility factor of the HEXACO model of personality appears to account for a large proportion of the variance in these traits. The purpose of the present study was to examine whether the HEXACO model would similarly predict borderline traits. As found in previous research, psychopathic traits were predicted by low Honesty-Humility, Emotionality, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness, whereas borderline traits were found to be negatively related to eXtraversion and Conscientiousness but had a significantly positive relationship with Emotionality. As Emotionality appeared to be a differential predictor in this study, future research should further examine how Emotionality distinguishes between the various problematic personality traits, which may aid potential treatments/therapies.

On the relations between HEXACO agreeableness (versus anger) and honesty-humility

The HEXACO personality factors of Agreeableness-versus-Anger (A) and Honesty-Humility (H) are interpreted as two complementary aspects of reciprocal altruistic tendency. Here we consider several ways of representing the positive associations between the defining traits of A and of H, through common factor analysis of self-report HEXACO Personality Inventory-Revised (HEXACO-PI-R) facet scale scores (N ≈ 111,000). We describe orthogonal solutions that differ in the extent to which H facets show secondary loadings on A (and vice versa), as well as an oblique solution compatible with a higher-order "cooperativeness" factor. We discuss the psychological plausibility of these solutions, and we review research showing differential associations of several phenomena or outcomes with A and H. We conclude that the optimal representation of A/H trait associations is not yet known but that the value of separate A and H factor scales is well established.

Prosociality in personality disorders: Status quo and research agenda

Personality disorders (PDs) are characterized by interpersonal dysfunction and deficits in prosociality are theorized to contribute to this. We review studies linking categorical PDs to prosocial and antagonistic traits and highlight studies that assessed prosocial behavior in PDs via economic games. We structure our review based on the recently proposed affordance framework of prosocial behavior, summarizing the evidence for exploitation, reciprocity, temporal conflict, and dependence under uncertainty as situational affordances that allow the expression of personality in prosocial behavior. We conclude that some of the inconsistencies in the literature may be due to studies focusing on different situational affordances and the reliance on categorical PDs. We suggest a research agenda and a set of testable hypotheses based on maladaptive personality traits included in the newly implemented dimensional PD diagnoses in ICD-11 and DSM-5.

Expectation of Selfishness From Others in Borderline Personality Disorder

Social difficulties are apparent in borderline personality disorder (BPD). Behavior in BPD is characterized by mistrust and expectations of malevolence from others. We examined whether there is an asymmetry between their social behavior and their belief about other people’s social motivations. Subjects completed a task where they had to allocate money between themselves and an imagined other they will not meet and interact with. In addition they also had to report their expectations about how the imagined other would solve the task. We hypothesized that even though BPD patients will act in a prosocial way, they will expect selfish behavior from the other. We used the Slider Measure of social value orientation (SVO) and also created a modified version of the measure to examine the discrepancy between the subjects’ own SVO and their expectations from other people. We compared the results of thirty clinically diagnosed BPD patients to a matched sample of healthy participants. Our results show that the BPD group’s selfishness expectations significantly outweigh the expectations of selfishness in the HC group (U = 269, p = 0.007). This result further supports the mistrust and negativity bias observed in various aspects of social interactions in BPD.

Interpersonal Trust: Development and Validation of a Self-Report Inventory and Clinical Application in Patients With Borderline Personality Disorder

Based on typical everyday trust situations, a short and ecologically valid self-report instrument for the assessment of interpersonal trust was developed (Interpersonal Trust Scenario Questionnaire [ITSQ]). Data from 1,359 clinical and nonclinical participants were analyzed to examine psychometric properties and group differences. The authors assessed interpersonal trust in patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD), patients with major depressive disorder, and patients with social anxiety disorder. Lastly, the relationship between interpersonal trust and the perceived quality of the therapeutic alliance was examined. The ITSQ showed satisfactory reliability (Cronbach's α = 0.72). Convergent validity and discriminant validity were obtained for correlations with a hypothetical trust game, another interpersonal trust scale (KUSIV-3), risk propensity, optimism and pessimism, and the HEXACO-60. Patients with BPD showed the lowest interpersonal trust scores of all groups. Interpersonal trust and the perceived quality of the therapeutic alliance were significantly associated only in the group of patients with BPD.

The dark core of personality and socially aversive psychopathology

OBJECTIVE

Although dark traits as studied in mainstream personality research and socially aversive psychopathology as studied in abnormal psychology intend to account for the same classes of behavior, their degree of conceptual and, consequently, empirical correspondence has remained limited at best. We aim to overcome this divide by demonstrating clear convergence between the common core of all dark traits (the Dark Factor of Personality, D) and the four prominent instances of socially aversive psychopathology: narcissistic, antisocial, paranoid, and borderline tendencies.

METHOD

In a large-scale, eight-month longitudinal study we assessed D, basic personality (the six HEXACO dimensions), and narcissistic, antisocial, paranoid, and borderline tendencies at time 1 (N = 2,329) and the latter aversive tendencies again at time 2 (N = 668) using different inventories.

RESULTS

D predicted all instances of socially aversive psychopathology cross-sectionally and longitudinally, with a large effect size on average, beyond the six HEXACO dimensions and even beyond the very same instances (measured through a different inventory).

CONCLUSIONS

Bridging mainstream personality and abnormal psychology, the findings reveal strong, theory-consistent correspondence between dark traits and socially aversive psychopathology once dark traits are viewed through the lens of their common core, D.

Borderline Personality and the Detection of Angry Faces

Background

Many studies have assessed emotion recognition in patients with Borderline Personality Disorder and considerable evidence has been accumulated on patients’ ability to categorize emotions. In contrast, their ability to detect emotions has been investigated sparsely. The only two studies that assessed emotion detection abilities found contradictory evidence on patients’ ability to detect angry faces.

Methods

To clarify whether patients with Borderline Personality Disorder show enhanced detection of angry faces, we conducted three experiments: a laboratory study (n = 53) with a clinical sample and two highly powered web studies that measured Borderline features (n₁ = 342, n₂ = 220). Participants in all studies completed a visual search paradigm, and the reaction times for the detection of angry vs. happy faces were measured.

Results

Consistently, data spoke against enhanced detection of angry faces in the Borderline groups, indicated by non-significant group (Borderline vs. healthy control) × target (angry vs. happy) interactions, despite highly satisfactory statistical power to detect even small effects.

Conclusions

In contrast to emotion categorization, emotion detection appears to be intact in patients with Borderline Personality Disorder and individuals high in Borderline features. The importance of distinguishing between these two processes in future studies is discussed.

Willing to give but not to forgive: borderline personality features and cooperative behavior

Impaired cooperation has been proposed to contribute to social dysfunctioning in borderline personality disorder (BPD). However, prior research has not distinguished active from reactive cooperation (i.e., nonexploitation versus non-retaliation)--two aspects of cooperative behavior associated with different basic personality traits (viz. Honesty-Humility and Agreeableness). The authors hypothesized that, due to low levels of Agreeableness, but normal levels of Honesty-Humility, borderline personality (BP) features are related to impaired reactive cooperation, but unrelated to active cooperation. Participants (N = 559) hypothetically played both the allocator in the dictator game and the recipient in the ultimatum game. High levels of BP features predicted impaired reactive cooperation in the ultimatum game, which was mediated through low Agreeableness. In contrast, BP features did not predict active cooperation in the dictator game-mirroring the nonassociation between BP features and Honesty-Humility. The findings highlight the importance of focusing on aspects of forgiveness in interventions aiming to improve cooperativeness in BPD.

The HEXACO Honesty-Humility, Agreeableness, and Emotionality factors: a review of research and theory

We review research and theory on the HEXACO personality dimensions of Honesty-Humility (H), Agreeableness (A), and Emotionality (E), with particular attention to the following topics: (1) the origins of the HEXACO model in lexical studies of personality structure, and the content of the H, A, and E factors in those studies; (2) the operationalization of the H, A, and E factors in the HEXACO Personality Inventory-Revised; (3) the construct validity of self-reports on scales measuring the H factor; (4) the theoretical distinction between H and A; (5) similarity and assumed similarity between social partners in personality, with a focus on H and A; (6) the extent to which H (and A and E) variance is represented in instruments assessing the "Five-Factor Model" of personality; and (7) the relative validity of scales assessing the HEXACO and Five-Factor Model dimensions in predicting criteria conceptually relevant to H, A, and E.