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Cryptocurrency investors are more likely to self-report “Dark Tetrad” personality traits along with other characteristics
The authors found that cryptocurrency investments and ownership tend to attract people who are more argumentative, anti-authoritarian, and who prefer to get their information from non-traditional social media sites. (Credit: Traxer, Unsplash, CC0 (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/))
According to a study published on July 3, 2024 in the open access journal, cryptocurrency ownership may be associated with certain demographic and personality characteristics, as well as addiction to alternative or fringe social media sources. PLOS ONE by Shane Littrell of the University of Toronto, Canada, together with colleagues at the University of Miami, USA.
Anonymous trading and unregulated markets characterize cryptocurrency’s unique subculture. While some consider digital currency financially unreliable, hundreds of millions of global investors believe otherwise.
This study identified several political, psychological, and social characteristics that differentiate cryptocurrency investors from abstainers. Existing studies (which generally include smaller sample sizes) profile cryptocurrency holders as psychologically non-normative and politically non-mainstream.
To test this, Littrell and colleagues surveyed 2,001 American adults in 2022, about 30% of whom answered “yes” to owning or having owned cryptocurrency. Participants reported demographic information and other responses that revealed their political, psychological, and social traits. The researchers conducted several bivariate (two-variable) correlational analyses, which measured how strongly cryptocurrency ownership is associated with other variables individually, as well as a multivariate (multivariable) regression analysis, which attempts to identify the variables that are most important in predicting cryptocurrency ownership.
Correlational analyses have shown that cryptocurrency ownership is associated with belief in conspiracy theories, support for political extremism, identification with non-right-wing or non-left-wing political orientations (e.g., Christian nationalism), and the “Dark Tetrad” of personality traits (narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and sadism).
The more holistic analysis revealed which self-reported qualities were most likely to predict cryptocurrency ownership, with the most strongly associated factor being reliance on marginal social media sources for news. Other strongly associated characteristics included masculinity, contentiousness, higher income, and feelings of victimhood.
Across the survey data, cryptocurrency holders reported diverse political orientations and identities, with a mix of left- and right-wing leanings.
The researchers acknowledge that the correlations they identified are limited by their sample of participants and their self-reported characteristics, and cannot be interpreted as causal. Because of the strong correlation between social media and cryptocurrency ownership, they encourage future research on the influence of specific media or rhetoric on cryptocurrency ownership.
The authors add: “While our findings certainly do not apply to all cryptocurrency users, on average we found that cryptocurrency investment and ownership tend to attract people who are more confrontational, anti-authoritarian, and who prefer to get their information on non-traditional social media sites. There is still much work to be done in this area, but we hope our study helps lay the groundwork for future research to understand the psychological, political, and behavioral factors associated with this growing financial movement.”
Press release provided by PLOS.
The paper, “The Political, Psychological, and Social Correlates of Cryptocurrency Ownership,” was published in PLOS ONE July 3, 2024.
Funding: This work was supported by the National Science Foundation (#2123635). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.