One of my favorite topics, besides music, literature and video games, is psychology. I almost majored in it in college. I got to learn about a variety of cool things, like different weird psychologists, attempt at self-monitored behavior modification, and learn about interesting mental disorders.
Generally speaking, the disorders that get all the attention are limited to a small percentage of the population. However, psychology also looks at personality traits and internal psyche. One of the most interesting topics I learned about in psychology was related to me, and the others at the presentations, by way of characters in popular culture. The topic was the "Dark Triad." The presenter was my friend Jacq Strowd, a psychology major and future criminologist. Who were these figures in popular culture?
James Bond, Loki and House. These characters may seem disparate at first. However, she showed that they all shared certain behavioral and psychological traits. The very traits that cause them, or at least James Bond, to be written about in several academic journals. No doubt, these very articles fueled the research behind Ms. Strowd's presentations. (Strowd 2014).
What is this "Dark Triad" about which these psychologists have been writing recently? It is a particular set of traits that represent some bad (read: cool) dudes. And some not so cool dudes. Let me explain: Dark Triad individuals use their talents, abilities, traits, etc... to manipulate others around them into doing their bidding. Loki is a particularly good example for this, as any of the Marvel movies in which he's featured depict this penchant for puppet-string-pulling. However, this is only one of three distinct traits that make up an individual of this nature.
In the introduction of their paper, "The antihero in popular culture: life history theory and
the dark triad personality traits," Peter Jonason et al. note that the three components of the Dark Triad (DT) personality are narcissism, psychopathy and Machiavellianism (Jonason et al. 2012). Narcissism and Machiavellianism are both relatively self-explanatory. The DT personality seeks out his or her own good above that of others, and is willing to manipulate other people, things and situations to get what he or she wants. Psychopathy threw me off the first time I read about DT. However, that is simply "a particular constellation of antisocial behaviors and emotions, including shallow affect, low remorse, low fear, low empathy, egocentrism, exploitativeness, manipulativeness, impulsivity, aggression, and criminality" (Jonason et al. 2012). This trait is not only its own category, but a reinforcer for the previous two.
Now you might be saying, "That's nice. You know a gal who likes Loki and psychology. Dark Triad? That's nice. But this article was billed as 'Gaming/psychology.' Where's the 'gaming' part, huh?"
Well, that brings me to the point of all of this. After her second presentation, a particularly meaningful senior presentation, I asked Jacq about instances of the Dark Triad in women. She informed me that it was more common in men than in women. Or was it that she hadn't found many examples? Either way, some of the articles I've read seem to point that way, especially on the psychopathy category. It was only a few weeks later, while playing through one of my new favorite video games, that I stumbled upon a game-changing character.
The game was The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds. The character, Princess Hilda.
However, before I get to that fascinating hypothesis, I'd like to take a little look at psychology and literary criticism. After all, how can I point out whether or not Hilda is a Dark Triad without exploring a text, the text here being a phenomenal Zelda game? I should mention, that despite numerous times of frustration, I found A Link Between Worlds to be my new favorite Zelda game. Anyway! I want to talk a bit about how psychoanalysis got involved in the world of literature. Because this will be heavily literature-based, it will be on one of my other blogs.
However, that's an article for another blog, and another time!
Psychology and Literature, or, When Disciplines Mix
Or, skip ahead if you just can't wait/don't care about literary criticism!
The Legend of Hilda: The Dark Triad
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Works Cited:
Jacqueline Strowd (2014). Senior Seminar Honors Presentation. Senior Seminar 2014. Erskine College.
Jonason, P. K., Webster, G. D., Schmitt, D. P., Li, N. P., & Crysel, L. (2012). The antihero in popular culture: Life history theory and the dark triad personality traits. Review Of General Psychology, 16(2), 192-199. doi:10.1037/a0027914
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