5 Signs of a Dark Empath – The Most Dangerous Personality Type
When you hear that someone is an empath,
you may think it’s a good thing.
They have a great sense of what others are feeling or thinking,
and they have a great deal of empathy as well.
But what if someone possessed cognitive empathy
and displayed traits of a dark personality type?
Would they use your feelings against you,
or know exactly how to behave to appear kind
and normal while hiding their true intentions?
Well, a dark empath may do just that.
A study by Heym and associates found that out of a group
of 991 participants, 19.3% were dark empaths.
Those with dark personality types are thought to be so based
on their rank of dark triad personality traits and lack of empathy.
The dark triad is a term used to group three malevolent personality traits
in psychology: Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy.
Dark triad personality types rank high in the three dark traits,
while low in empathy.
Empaths are ranked low in dark traits and high in empathy.
But a dark empath ranks high in both dark triad traits and empathy.
Just because you display empathy doesn’t mean you share
another’s feelings emotionally (that is, affective empathy).
Dark empaths often use cognitive empathy to their advantage,
meaning they know what it is you want and feel,
but they may use it against you.
To help you recognize if you’re being manipulated by someone
who has both cognitive empathy and malevolent traits,
here are five signs of a dark empath.
1. Their Kindness Often Feels Fake
Your partner cuddles with you after a romantic evening.
They say comforting words when you’re worried,
and they compliment you at seemingly the right time.
But you can’t shake this feeling that something is off.
Something doesn’t feel sincere about it all; in fact,
they sound a bit forced or fake with certain actions.
What’s going on?
Dark empaths know what to say and how they should act to appear
as if they’re the perfect partner,
so they may sound a bit forced when they pay you certain compliments
or go forward with certain actions.
It’s important to look out for dark triad traits
and other signs before jumping to the conclusion that they’re
a dark empath, because they may just be a people pleaser.
2. They Manipulate You
Dark empaths often use their insight into cognitive empathy
as a means of manipulating others.
Since they are aware of what you might be feeling or thinking,
they know exactly how to use your emotions against you.
They may have no boundaries and only focus on fulfilling their needs.
If you notice at the end of every argument or discussion,
only their needs are met, they may be manipulating you.
3. They Guilt Trip You
In the study from Heym and associates, dark empaths displayed
higher indirect aggression than the average person.
This was especially true in guilt-tripping tactics.
If you notice your partner often uses guilt as a means of getting
you to do what they want,
this may be the first sign that they’re a dark empath.
4. They Love Malicious Humor
Dark empaths also demonstrated especially high indirect aggression
in malicious humor.
Sigmund Freud, the famous founder of psychoanalysis,
called this type of humor “tendentious.”
It’s the worst type of humor and is destructive in nature.
When one uses malicious humor, they often make hurtful jokes
that put others beneath them,
giving them a feeling of superiority over others.
5. They Spread Rumors
Those who have the dark triad trait of Machiavellianism
often enjoy deceiving, manipulating, and exploiting others
in order to achieve their own needs and desires.
Dark empaths have an easy way of manipulating others
by zeroing in on their feelings and weaknesses.
They may spread rumors about what they’ve sensed
you’re most insecure or vulnerable about.
They know exactly how to hurt you
because they have the ability to understand
what it is you’re feeling on a cognitive level.
They simply need to understand what it is that hurts you
and spread gossip and rumors focused
on that to get exactly what they want.
