Emma Richardson
Macquarie University, Department of Psychology, Graduate Student
Research Interests: Psychology, Cognitive Science, Personality Psychology, Psychoanalysis, Personality, and 12 morePersonality Assessment, Personality Disorders, Stress, Psychopathy, Machiavellianism, Narcissism, Personality and Individual Differences, Dark Triad, Personality Traits, Defensive Strategies, Offensive Realism, and Vulnerable Narcissism
Contemporary attachment researchers claim that attachment-anxiety is associated with a hyperactivating defense strategy while attachment-avoidance is associated with a deactivating defense strategy. However, to date, no study has... more
Contemporary attachment researchers claim that attachment-anxiety is associated with a hyperactivating defense strategy while attachment-avoidance is associated with a deactivating defense strategy. However, to date, no study has comprehensively examined the basic patterns of specific defense expression in the two dimensions of attachment insecurity (anxiety/avoidance). To address this research gap, the current study aimed to assess the character defenses associated with attachment-avoidance and attachment-anxiety, incorporating a broad spectrum of psychological defenses. The main objective was to understand what differentiates attachment-avoidance and attachment-anxiety in defensive functioning. In this study of online questionnaire design (N = 250), university undergraduates aged between 17 to 65 completed the Experiences in Close Relationship Scale (ECR) and the Defense Style Questionnaire (DSQ-60). The results show that the two dimensions of insecure attachment exhibit different...
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Attention has recently been drawn to the dark side of creativity. We provided an exploratory study (N 226) of how the Dark Triad traits (i.e., narcissism, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism) correlated with two measures of creativity... more
Attention has recently been drawn to the dark side of creativity. We provided an exploratory study (N 226) of how the Dark Triad traits (i.e., narcissism, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism) correlated with two measures of creativity (i.e., Kaufman Domains of Creativity Scale and Creative Achievement Questionnaire). Those high in narcissism reported being more creative than most people, an association that may reflect narcissistic self-delusions of popularity and charm. We found self-reported success in humor was correlated with narcissism and psychopathy scores. Those high in psychopathy also reported better mechanical and lower scholarly skills than most, which may relate to their vocational interest in practical/realistic work. Machiavellianism accounted for little variance in creativity. Individual differences in the Dark Triad traits mediated sex differences in various aspects of creativity, suggesting sex differences in some aspects of creativity may be partially confounded by sex differences in the Dark Triad traits.