Personality, conflict, and group outcomes: The case for antisocial personality traits

The present study continued research on group personality composition by examining the extent to which two previously unexamined antisocial personality characteristics, psychopathy and narcissism, explained incremental variance in group processes and outcomes beyond the big five personality traits. Undergraduate students (N = 267) assigned to 3, 4, and 5 person teams in 60 groups completed a problem solving task and then rated the level of conflict, commitment, and cohesion they perceived in their group. Higher mean levels and variability within the group on antisocial traits were hypothesized to hinder performance and decrease group commitment and cohesion, while task and relationship conflict were hypothesized to partially mediate these relationships. Results partially supported the hypotheses. Higher mean levels of psychopathy contributed negatively to perceptions of commitment and cohesion after controlling for several of the big five traits, while higher variability on narcissism contributed to increased task conflict and relationship conflict. In contrast, the mean level and variability of these traits were unrelated to performance, and conflict did not partially mediate any of the personality-outcome relationships. Implications and directions for future research are discussed