Has Aella confirmed a very old theory in psychology?: Introducing the high psychoticism right

Aella produced a survey which she calls ‘the Chaos survey’ with 1000 questions.

While I couldn’t access the full data, she put a factor analysis of the results online with the factor loadings of each question. The first factor to emerge from her analysis, henceforth Factor 1, has a number of interesting features that point, tantalizingly, at a pattern that is difficult to describe. To summarise, judging by the questions it loads highly on, factor 1 rich persons are:

• Extremely rightwing, antisemitic, deeply anti-communist, and endorsers of a Nietzschean ‘ethics of strength’.

• Mystical in orientation (not merely religious, actively mystical)

• Believers in conspiracy theories

• Believers in the supernatural beyond merely the religious parts of the supernatural

• In many cases, believers in their own supernatural power and mystic destiny

• Subjectivists about truth

• Pro-violence

• Masculinists

• Narcissistic

• Not exactly conscientious in their behavior

• Not, what I would call ethically attractive people. For example, they are simultaneously likely to endorse the statement that all pedophiles, even non-offending pedophiles, should be killed and the statement that they would sleep with a fifteen-year-old if they felt confident they could get away with it.

To summarise: rightwing, believers in the bizarre with delusions of grandeur and with a tendency to unethical behavior. A kind of distillation of the more mystical parts of QANON, amateurish readings of Nietzsche and the manosphere. Think Bronze Age Pervert, Sonnerads, the Thule society etc.

What could explain all these factors coming together?

Hans Eysenck, a brilliant but ethically questionable psychologist, seen by many as disgraced due to academic honesty issues (fair warning), proposed the existence of a personality factor called psychoticism. Psychoticism is associated with:

“aggressiveness, manipulation, tough-mindedness, risk-taking, irresponsibility, and impulsivity”

Questions that test for psychoticism include:

*Do you enjoy hurting people you love? *Do you enjoy practical jokes that can sometimes really hurt people? *Would you feel very sorry for an animal caught in a trap? (negatively coded) *Would it upset you a lot to see a child or an animal suffer? (negatively coded) *Are you always especially careful with other people's things? (Negatively coded)

The aggression we see in Factor 1 is thus well explained by psychoticism, as is the irresponsibility. The particular kind of domineering and violent right-wingedness we see in Factor 1 also fits.

But what about the mysticism, conspiracism etc of Factor 1? Eysenck thought that psychoticism was related to schizotypy, a pattern of personality related to mystical and conspiratorial beliefs. This would explain the bizarre beliefs Factor 1 captures. I should add that I do not know whether schizotypy is associated with psychoticism generally- but perhaps there is a subpopulation with some schizotypal features that are high on psychoticism. I propose then that a high-psychoticism, high-schizotypy, high-rightwingedness population exists and that this is what is being measured by Factor 1. I propose further that the growing importance of this phenomenon can help explain many disturbing phenomena- QANON, the “schizo” right, the esoteric right, more fringe components of the “intellectual dark web” and so on and so forth. Even someone as ‘relatively’ ‘mainstream’ as Jordan Peterson- with his vibe-based approach to politics, pragmatist theory of truth, frequent diatribes, and eclectic mysticism may fit at least parts of the pattern of the high-psychoticism right. Renewed research on Eysenck’s concept of psychoticism may be warranted.

Appendix: Top 100 statements that high Factor-1 respondents agree with and top 100 statements they disagree with:

Agree with:

We should offer reduced prison sentences for those who voluntarily undergo torture (ohse013)I am libertarian (iwyvdor)I usually identify with the predator in wildlife documentaries (g3ppt3m)Elon Musk is smarter than I am. (2g9ttm0)I believe in one true religion (d59aja6)All religions are pointing to the same truth from different cultural contextual lenses (j42kzdu)Chivalry is underrated in the modern day. (ejvsyyn)I would be satisfied with the most aescetic lifestyle as long as there was guaranteed sex (64jvotl)The apocalypse is looming (bwm2fie)Dino bones were planted by aliens (zk116ju)I think a question making people mad is more likely to have informative answers. (kitwbjo)White people are on average smarter than black people (8yrmyus)The universe is destroyed and reborn every time humanity gains the ability to create universes below it. Then the cycle repeats, (cyt1n2d)We are creating the digital world below us, as God above us did below upon us. (5mu4498)The Mormons are really on to something (cyqhh0y)Consent is overrated by mainstream liberal American culture. (qgkl660)I believe I am special and destined for greatness (c24zg82)I had an enlightenment experience (nllqgnr)We should create a demographics credit market, where to retire, each person needs to have two children or buy credits from people who had more than two children (r33aa0h)I have been so badly betrayed that it has changed my personality/behaviour for at least a year. (jwtswhn)I believe I have superhuman or supernatural powers. (qfeo84i)I'd prefer if there was a god (q9wyq7l)My prospects for the future impacts my interest in religion (fxm0s0a)Consent is overrated by mainstream American culture. (6eu7zkj)My kinks are objectively hot (ibj1a2s)The truth can only be sensed and felt. (4ey08lu)There is a greater than 50% chance that we are living in a simulation. (ty8btb9)If people can't pay back their debts, then it's their own fault and I don't feel bad for consequences that might befall them (fo1sqo3)I have a breeding kink/fetish. (huvglia)i have viscerally wanted to drink from a literal firehose (9lsjltk)I am more sentient than most people (xjnq46k)You can dispel spirits and bad energy by laughing (r46sjh2)A great king is better than the average democratic government (10wapr2)Some UAPs/UFOs are of extraterrestrial origin. (rd5ftro)I think Elon Musk is a net-positive for society (g48ckxl)I am God. (30wcyan)The big pharma really does want to keep people sick to sell more medicine. (u38zvqo)The world would be a better place if Israel and Palestine were nuked (cpfu7v6)The republican primaries should be a sword contest until death (jqh4kg)I like to stand during the national anthem (g0vaksa)Racial differences in IQ are mostly innate (zlic6xx)Reincarnation is an objectively true phenomenon (g99q2d6)Your consciousness is a thing beyond your human body that you can actively expand, strengthen, grow, etc. (15q7na4)Astrology is real (x3s3i7t)In search of physical healing, I‘d rather trust myself than a doctor. (pnyof83)If there were no consequences I would not act morally (3z3uj9l)My enemies should fear me (euw3dgc)The earth is itself a single life form (mcjmexg)Sexual preference is a choice. (iscjp2n)The government is the problem. (l65rrd9)UFOs/Orbs/similar phenomena demonstrate the spiritual realm that is laid on top of the material world (z6wl5gg)It is likely that nothing is real. (whnwwrf)We should experiment on federal prisoners with LSD with or without consent (o90btbu)Everyone should break a bone. (9x4p3cp)All pedophiles (including non-offenders) should face the death penalty. (ruxp0zl)I would erase one or more entire ethnicities from the planet if I could get away with it. (gwbz4r8)Scientific method is just another faith (rvsqq8r)People are gay because they choose to live that way (ardminx)The Crusaders did nothing wrong (chzs7mp)There is a scary monster inside me (r5osl0i)We have to sleep because we're plugging back into the machine (at0247z)Sexual preference is a choice. (eo9s8ba)God is the person who plays every single NPC, including the animals (xs36y1r)Psychic perception is often misinterpreted by modern science as mental illness (ewfk89y)The main cause of obesity is a lack of self control (p2posca)Part me hopes a city-killer-sized asteroid hits earth and kills thousands of people. (sr6f25s)Protests only create reform that's skin-deep (dq7hbrs)The worst outcome of WWII was the decline in eugenics (nv0d43d)I could torture a person for important information. (qy03w5i)BLM would be better if it wasn't about the blacks (akjwwp0)In search of psychological healing I‘d rather trust a shaman than a psychotherapist. (a11z5sw)Only dumb, unemployed, upper-class white kids like communism. (gtiftou)I believe that some people can talk to ghosts (l1i945t)everything distills down to sex or violence (4en5o8p)Jewish writers are the biggest drivers of antisemitism (as2ogah)9/11 was a government conspiracy (yg7y02y)Most people aren't conscious (j5ipm4y)Pizzagate was real in spirit (klnsvha)The more people are provided aid the less they are willing to work. (7tl30hm)Kyle Rittenhouse is a goddamn hero (bp8p1vd)let's save the world from those post-modernists, progressists, atheists, comunists, that are distroying the minds of the youth with drugs. God save America! (ysrby60)Taxes should be entirely eliminated (fvobif)The ultimate form of misogyny is saying trans women are women. (fnyrf)I have felt contact with a divine power (vcmw814)Income tax should be a flat rate instead of progressive (mloynbh)In a future with immortality and space travel you would travel to an uninhabited planet and populate it with your descendants ruling over their savage society as a God king (c7kod2n)All taxation is theft. (9i607li)The government is hiding the fact that UFOs are visiting the earth (j668euk)People that still use masks are idiots (prf9w4e)Men have become worse at sex because of wokeism. (ms0jpn9)The political elite are secretly a cabal of pedophiles (jphkrws)It is important for society that men act masculine (49uwgr6)Tik tok is more dangerous to overall population health than the Corona virus. (oqej3h)There's no such thing as third-gender, queer or no-binary (vxthvtr)Transgenderism will go down in history as the mental illness that finally collapsed western civilization. (g17erbs)It is important for society that women act feminine (sotqihr)Atlantis is real. (qczi177)I believe in a God (630el0q)The democratic primaries should be a sword contest until death (dx80tkm)

Disagree with:

It is right that the government has the power to mandate vaccinations (j5oudcj)There is no such thing as God. (fhygg3w)I think there are more than two genders (oara3sl)I like Greta Thunberg (ifgsoc0)I tend to vote for liberal political candidates (dlqd97b)The American Civil War was about slavery. (ui49841)If transitioned to the opposite gender early in life (before 16), and are sent to prison for a (non sexual) offence, you should go to the prison based on your current gender identity (nnvuffo)Non-citizens should have voting rights at a local level, to participate in the democratic process of their place of living. (og21nrl)I trust center-left media such as the CNN (8qdp233)I believe it is important for society to ensure that nobody gets left behind (al5r7qu)Society ought to prevent misinformation from spreading (25gp3pd)Democracy is the best approach to politics that we have. (ymha2mj)We should give people food, water, and shelter (juob6ro)I believe society ought to give groups special treatment to help them with their unique problems (eow63ti)Body positivity makes the world a healthier place (jdmixb5)Every good society should primarly aim at guarantee the basics needs of all its residents regardless of their situation (water, food, shelter, health, etc.) (qarcztz)Not wearing a seatbelt should be illegal (fbo8m6p)Non monogamy can be ethical. (56vdh5)The world would be better without Christianity (wfmryk)Vegans are morally superior to non-vegans (twxq4bg)The median individual of every race has equal moral value. (viy1y8a)Funding education is more important than funding the military. (t1tladb)If I died, I would be surprised if I woke up in an afterlife. (cffuxd4)Elon has poor judgement regarding future investments (mtmebz9)Religion is a net negative in the world (6hzf02g)Vegans are morally superior to non-vegans (hmb3vrk)We should put a cap on personal wealth(say 600? Million USD) (l3rqlx8)If I could press a button to delete all nuclear weapons on earth and prevent them from being made in the future, I would. (Nuclear power generation would still exist) (57m3469)Elon Musk is a grifter. (q4ex1wp)Turns out the real Voldemort was the J.K. Rowlings we met along the way (cab7n5h)My city should build more bicycle paths. (x9g6y93)I don't like to be around weapons of any sort (guns, bows, swords; only counting things made as weapons, not e.g. cleavers) (ydnmd6b)It's not immoral if someone fantisises about sex with animals but never acts on it (lz1m31s)I believe everyone ought to be treated equally well, regardless of how much value they have to contribute with (rvp3aws)Becoming a billionaire should be impossible in a properly functioning society (3dq4hww)I show support to people who feel concerned about catching diseases (5wemst)Do you agree with gender indology (gfainx)Regulating sex work is preferable to leaving it to the black market. (u3f04ae)It's ethical to abort a fetus when you know it will have significant health issues (64x1lq9)There are no letters in my native language which I frequently mispronounce (eg, saying “twees” instead of ‘trees’). (4i5plx2)It's possible to have markets without capitalism (5kzupu1)Driving a car to transport only yourself should be frowned upon (cl6dy2o)People are gay because they have a sexuality that is attracted to the same sex, rather than the opposite sex (zgyp08y)It's immoral to kill animals for food if it is not necessary for our survival (luoqmlo)Science is the only way to learn an absolute truth about the Universe. (6z2uxr7)If my brain was completely shut off for a few days, taken apart carefully then reassembled exactly in the same place, then restarted as if nothing happened, it would still be me (5szf9wt)Suffering shouldn't exist (7gthaqv)Jazz and classical are not the pinnacle of music (choz2oz)People with large audiences should not name and shame people for embarrassing things that are not immoral. (tscs0vl)If data is incomplete or biased, it is important to be careful in considering its limitations (rwg0wrt)I believe that all things, feelings, and experience is a result of entirely physical phenomena (njd3kv)Even when it’s justified, it’s bad when bad people suffer. (e9dihi8)Prostitution should be decriminalized (88xwwaa)i am okay with other people having inside jokes that i am not privy to (x3p03nx)It would be very bad if aliens instantly desroyed all human life on earth (painlessly) (og68bqp)I trust business media such as the Wall Street Journal (asjxd6g)Polyamory should be considered as normal as monogamy (Disney movies, etc). (lb1w4e9)People should put the toilet lid down (1k8d25w)If my brain was completely shut off for a second, then restarted as if nothing happened, it would still be me (k41h8wq)If my brain was completely shut off for a thousand years, then restarted as if nothing happened, it would still be me (gdpcl7m)Scorpions are scary (ibaoe9t)No matter how long we have been friends or if we are related - there are things people can do that will make me walk away for good. (rxs5rcj)Mainstream science will do well at helping with designing safe artificial intelligence (i1tfm8)The world would be better if people put more energy into respecting other people's boundaries. (mw6w52m)Sexualising my little pony is perfectly fine. (zo8kva3)In retrospect, it is obvious that crypto is a big ponzi scheme (17j2a0r)I am less racist than my peers (nwq5tn0)IQ tests are more accurate measures of intelligence than astrological signs are of personality (f33jwhu)Some common mental disorders can be attributed to development, i.e. the same exact DNA given a different early childhood experience would not develop the same mental conditions. (giros8j)My mother is a feminist (7qwa85u)It’s okay to not read books. (4c4ncbc)Sexual exploration among teens is natural and normal. (9khj7va)There is nothing wrong with someone who is sexually attracted to young children, animals, rape, and their family members, as long as they don’t act on their desires. (b00dlu3)The world does not belong to the humans. (p2cacnx)I vote for who I think is the best candidate in elections (p1ww2sn)What should the age of consent for sex be (toao5v)Taiwan is a country. (qfmk8m)If half the people in the US gave me $1, I’d have more than 100 million dollars. (fvksnp8)I believe society ought to ensure that there is space for different ways of living (30ps5dr)i know the birthdays of every member of my nuclear family (uqaljaw)Luck plays a significant role in the outcomes of our lives (532jgg7)Organized religion is so divisive and restrictive that it causes more harm globally than does evil intentions (e6t95zq)the dark ages existed and our chronology is correct (agg6kha)I find political discussions interesting (i3owqvz)i'm afraid of death (8v8hh84)Sexual orientation is inborn (z07leyu)Humans are a species of animal (3mf7czd)The last time I had covid it was included in official statistics (e.g. I was tested at the doctor, or I reported my positive test result). (ahe201y)i would enjoy reading blog posts even if i could never talk about them to anyone (gh9wltn)I am just an ordinary person (1jm8m1r)The following counts as a partisan political statement: "If they don't like it here, they should leave" (ajvi5sm)I am currently responding to this survey (ldcllog)There is no known complete rule for when violence is an acceptable solution to a political problem. (wgzs4k1)Consensual same sex adult incest is not immoral (qj2ps0)The truth can be figured out through information gathering and reasoning. (yc0ps53)I enjoyed what I studied in university (twaze2z)An objective truth exists outside of myself, unaffected by whatever I or others may believe what it is. (mj9bepv)I am conscious (bsvpqi)80^500 is a number that exists (2hpynqn)