Imagine you told a colleague about your new job. You were excited about the role but also nervous about the transition. As you opened up and shared how you felt, they congratulated you but said, “Don’t you really struggle with self-confidence? I know you’ve shared this with me in the past. Hopefully, it won’t affect your performance . . . Wouldn’t it be better to stick to what you know in this role here?”
While this comment is rude and uncalled for, the underlying tone of this response might be even more sinister. This person could be a dark empath.
Dark empathy was discovered and coined by psychologists during a 2020 study on dark personality traits. Unfortunately, if you’ve never heard of dark empathy, it’s more common than you may think. A study of 991 participants revealed that 19.3% ranked as dark empaths.
Dark empathy is related to narcissism as a part of the “dark triad” (narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy). However, unlike narcissists, who are traditionally known for being very low in empathy, dark empaths have a high ability to cognitively empathize—for their own personal gain.
While you might think it’s easy to spot a manipulative person, dark empaths are highly skilled at making people feel emotionally safe to be vulnerable with them. Because dark empaths’ toxic behavior is covert, it’s important to learn the signs of dark empathy to protect yourself from this harmful personality type.