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- A new machine learning method found different brain networks linked to narcissism and Machiavellianism.
- Narcissism was tied to less volume in key parts of the brain’s reward system.
- Machiavellianism showed more volume in parts of the Default Mode Network, helping with planned social strategy.
- Psychopathy lacked a clear brain pattern, suggesting we need more data for exact mapping.
- This research may help AI-guided support in the future for early help with mental health and personality issues.
Understanding Narcissism and Machiavellianism in the Brain: How AI Neuroscience is Changing Personality Research
In a world where social status, influence, and personal branding often rule our online and social lives, narcissism and Machiavellianism are more and more obvious—and maybe more valued. But why are some people like this? New research using AI neuroscience shows that these personality traits are not just psychological—they are built into how our brains are made. This growing understanding could change how we check for, understand, and maybe help with human behavior development.
The Growth of AI in Neuroscience
In the past, neuroscience used simple looks at brain regions to see how single brain areas work. Researchers wanting to connect psychological traits to biology often tried to find brain “hotspots.” But personality traits—especially complex ones like narcissism and Machiavellianism—don’t come from just one brain area. Instead, they come from the working together of brain networks spread across the brain.
That’s where artificial intelligence, especially machine learning, is making a big change. In the study published in the European Journal of Neuroscience, scientists used a strong AI model called Transposed Independent Vector Analysis (tIVA). This model looked at brain structure data from 201 healthy adults and tried to find complex links that old methods often miss.
Unlike simple stats or region-based studies, tIVA finds structure connections between brain networks spread out in the brain—giving a “full picture” of how the brain codes personality traits. It’s not just about gray matter amount in one or two places; it’s about how groups of brain regions are connected and work together.
This method is a big shift in how psychology and neuroscience meet. We’ve long thought that personality comes from complex brain structure, and AI neuroscience gives us the computer power to model those complex things more fully and correctly than before.
Traits of the Dark Triad: Focus on Narcissism and Machiavellianism
The psychological idea known as the Dark Triad has three socially bad traits
- Narcissism: Feeling great, feeling entitled, very sensitive to criticism, and a puffed-up sense of self-importance.
- Machiavellianism: Cold, planned manipulation with a long-term focus on getting ahead.
- Psychopathy: Acting without thinking, not feeling for others, antisocial actions, and in extreme cases, no guilt.
Though linked by their shared trends toward lying and lack of empathy, each trait works in different ways—both in behavior and in the brain.
This new research stresses narcissism and Machiavellianism because those two traits showed special, clear links to different brain networks. It’s worth noting, psychopathy did not have such a clear sign in this data, showing how the brain basis of some personality traits is harder to see—or maybe more spread out.
Study Design and Participant Profile
To map these traits to brain structures, researchers studied 201 adults (100 females, 101 males) with an average age of 32. People in the study filled out surveys that are proven to work, which checked their trends toward narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy.
Each person also had structural MRI scans, letting researchers look at both gray matter (which handles information) and white matter (which sends signals between brain regions).
Using the tIVA model, researchers found and looked closely at 15 large brain networks. Of these, four networks—including those linked to reward handling, social thought, and managing actions—were strongly linked to Dark Triad personality traits.
By mixing data on both white and gray matter using AI methods to cut down data size and group things, the model could find small and unseen links between brain structure and personality.
The Narcissism Brain: Reward Systems and External Validation
One of the most interesting things found in this research is that narcissism is related to less structure volume in key brain regions tied to reward handling, emotional control, and self-awareness. These brain areas include
- Thalamus
- Caudate nucleus
- Prefrontal cortex
- Anterior cingulate cortex
Together, these areas are key to the brain’s reward system—the network that handles feelings of pleasure, success, social feedback, and learning from rewards. The structure losses seen suggest that narcissistic people may have problems in internal reward checking systems.
In terms of actions, this could show up as too much need for outside approval. For narcissists, social praise, being admired, likes on social media, or high status in a group may act as stand-ins for inner neural shortages. This brain pattern might explain why these people often try to control their public image so much: they need social rewards to build up a weak sense of self-worth that is not fully supported by inner systems.
Importantly, this brain setup fits well with what is seen in clinics and in stories about narcissistic behavior, giving it a strong real and biological base.
The Machiavellianism Brain: Sharpened Strategic Reasoning
On the other hand, Machiavellianism was linked to more gray matter volume in brain regions tied to the Default Mode Network (DMN), such as
- Posterior cingulate cortex
- Angular gyrus
- Medial prefrontal cortex
The DMN is very active when people are
- Thinking about themselves
- Thinking about right and wrong
- Seeing things from another’s view
- Planning for the long run
- Imagining social situations
This setup fits nicely with the behavior of Machiavellians, who tend to be very calculating, socially careful with risks, and manipulative over time. Their choices are not on impulse but planned, based on modeled guesses of how others will act.
Machiavellians often seem caring—not because they “feel” others’ emotions (like true caring), but because they understand and use others’ inner feelings to get what they want. This manipulation based on insight depends on the kind of high-level self-thought and understanding others’ minds that the DMN supports.
The meaning is deep: some kinds of manipulative behavior may come not from emotional problems, but from too much brain growth in certain social thinking areas. This changes how we see such behavior and brings up ethical questions about responsibility, social teaching, and even how laws see it.
Psychopathy: Diffuse Neural Patterns or Data Limitations?
It’s interesting that psychopathy did not show a clear link to any one network in this study. Two main reasons may explain this
- Not Extreme Sample: Most people in the study did not show very strong psychopathic traits, making it harder for the model to find steady structure signs.
- Spread Brain Basis: Psychopathy may not be in just one or two networks; instead, it could come from complex, widespread problems across many systems—like impulse control, emotional handling, and attention.
Past studies using functional MRI have pointed to strange activity in the amygdala, orbitofrontal cortex, and ventromedial prefrontal cortex in psychopathic people. These areas are involved in fear handling, moral choices, and aggression control—but their structure bases are still not clear across different studies.
This area needs more study using bigger, more varied groups and models that mix both functional and structural imaging, ideally helped by AI neuroscience methods.
Societal Conditions and Shifting Norms
The timing of this research is not by chance. We’re living through a big shift in how personalities are shaped by what’s around us, especially in a time ruled by social media, extreme focus on self, and constant online comparison.
Lead author Richard Bakiaj links these cultural changes to a seen rise in narcissistic traits across groups of people. With younger people spending more time in digital places that give constant feedback, the brain growth of reward systems and social-emotional handling may be changed.
In other words: what’s around us may help shape brain structure. How rich or poor emotional connections are, how deep relationships are, and even how digital places are made could act as “things in the environment that push” that are related to growth or shrinking in certain brain areas.
This idea pushes against simple nature-vs-nurture choices. Really, the mix of AI neuroscience, environment, and how people grow is the most promising way to study this in the future.
Clinical and Ethical Implications: Toward Early Intervention
As we start to understand how these traits show up in the brain, a key question comes up: Can we help early?
AI neuroscience opens the door to personal checks that could find people at risk or trends toward bad traits before they cause big problems. For example
- Schools could help students found to have reward-handling problems build better self-respect.
- Prison systems could give brain-based treatments for high-risk people.
- Therapists could improve methods using brain feedback based on a patient’s brain structure profile.
These are big possibilities—but they also have ethical risks. Brain-based profiles raise worries about fate, privacy, and being labeled. It asks the question: Where do we draw the line between guessing the future and judging too soon?
Ethical rules and clear control will be needed to make sure that these technologies help support and wellness—not control or force.
Gender Differences in Dark Triad Traits
As in many past studies, men in this research scored much higher than women across all three Dark Triad traits. This fits with what is already known, that
- Men tend to take more risks, be more status-focused, and be more forcefully dominant across cultures.
- Testosterone affects reward handling and aggression—maybe adding to higher trait showing.
- Social roles and how people are raised may make these traits normal or push them differently across genders.
Importantly, the researchers warn against seeing this finding as just biology. Culture, life experience, and emotional understanding all play key roles in personality growth.
In other words: while there may be sex-based trends, they don’t support fixed or unfair views. The goal is better understanding—not making stereotypes stronger.
Limitations of the Current Research
Even with its new ideas, the study has some important limits
- Sample People: The people in the study were like the general public and did not include people with clinical diagnoses, meaning very strong narcissism brain or Machiavellianism brain types may not be fully seen.
- Self-Report Problem: Personality checks used surveys, which can naturally be affected by wanting to look good and not being truthful.
- Still Images: Structural MRI gives ideas about brain form, but not how things connect in real-time. Methods like fMRI or EEG could add to this work.
Saying these limits is important for good science. They highlight that this research is just starting to look into this and needs to be repeated and grown through long-term data sets and using many kinds of imaging.
Future Outlook: AI Neuroscience in Personality Research
Looking ahead, the ongoing mix of artificial intelligence and neuroscience promises big changes in how we check and understand the brain’s role in personality.
Possible changes include
- Moving models using real-time brain scans and machine learning.
- Digital type finding where behavior and brain states are checked at the same time.
- Guessing support that allows for brain-based changes to treatment or teaching.
In the long run, AI neuroscience could become a key part of psychiatry, teaching psychology, and even workplace training. Instead of putting people in boxes with labels, this mix aims to give support based on data for emotional and thinking growth.
Final Thoughts: Rethinking Who We Are, Through the Brain
As this research suggests, human personality is not just an idea—it is built into brain networks and helped by outside environments. The narcissism brain and the Machiavellianism brain are more than just words; they are starting to be seen as brain structures that can be mapped by science.
However, brain leaning is not fate. With ethically used AI neuroscience, we are learning not just how people are made—but how they might be helped. It’s a shift from judging to understanding, from stereotypes to support.
Understanding ourselves and others starts with knowing what is under behavior—and this study is a good step on that road.
Citations
- Bakiaj, R., Muñoz, C. I. P., Bizzego, A., & Grecucci, A. (2024). Unmasking the Dark Triad: A Data Fusion Machine Learning Approach to Characterize the Neural Bases of Narcissistic, Machiavellian and Psychopathic Traits. European Journal of Neuroscience. https://doi.org/10.1111/ejn.16674
