The dispositional basis of deviance: A multivariate approach to crime and other deviant acts

Why some people engage in criminal and other forms of deviant behavior, whereas others do not, has long been a question of interest in the social and behavioral sciences. In this study, we examine the role of personality differences in accounting for different forms of deviance. Using data from a large and demographically diverse German sample ( N = 2,364), we investigated associations between 74 personality traits and five self-reported indicators of deviant behavior. We analyzed these relations at both the zero-order and multivariate level using regularized regression models to identify which personality traits predict deviant behavior most strongly and uniquely so, that is, above and beyond other traits. Personality explained a substantial proportion of variance in all forms of deviance considered, and these associations were not attributable to methodological artifacts or confounding influences of age or gender. Supporting our pre-registered hypothesis, traits related to dispositional morality or short-term mindsets were particularly powerful predictors. Taken together, our findings provide the most comprehensive overview to date of personality-deviance associations, offer a parsimonious account of individual differences in self-reported deviance, derive concrete guidelines for trait selection in future research, and introduce a ShinyApp that can guide theorizing and study design.