A new study that focused on the personality traits of crypto investors reportedly suggests that digital asset owners are more likely to exhibit psychopathic tendencies.
Researchers at the University of Toronto and the University of Miami polled 2,001 American adults to explore the psychological profile of crypto holders, reports Bloomberg.
About 30% of the respondents say they own or have owned cryptocurrencies.
According to the survey, crypto investors were likely to score higher on “dark” personality traits linked to psychopathy, narcissism, Machiavellianism and sadism.
Some of those traits include the need for chaos, paranoia, schizotypal attributes, dogmatism and victimhood mentality. Crypto owners also tend to score higher on psychological reactance – a clinical term designed to explore the motivations behind people’s actions when their freedoms are restricted or threatened.
Say the researchers,
“The results presented here suggest that cryptocurrency ownership is associated with several non-normative and arguably maladaptive characteristics. Individuals who had purchased crypto were, on average, more likely to believe conspiracy theories, support extremist groups, and share populist sentiments.”
The researchers add that certain characteristics can predict that a person is a crypto investor including factors such as being male, having a victim mindset and reading news not published by the mainstream media.
The study notes that its sample size is relatively small and respondents were instructed to share their own personality traits.
The report did not mention whether the researchers used a battery of standardized tests to study the psychological profile of crypto investors.
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