Someone Obnoxious You Know

"People didn't really have very much trouble figuring out who the 'biggest a-hole' in their life was. On average, participants didn't think that they were very close to these individuals, which makes sense because these people are being described as having pretty aversive behaviours."

"It's interesting to me that the behaviours people were keying in on sort of run the gamut. When we talk about personality, the a-hole was described as somebody who is not agreeable and is angry."

"When we talk about behaviours, the a-hole was not necessarily being antagonistic toward people but they just didn't really care about what others were thinking or how they were perceived by others."

"There's clearly a lot of variation in how people use this word. I think the implication of the study is that insults matter. We do mean certain things by using them or we associate them with certain characteristics."

Brinkley Sharpe, clinical psychology researcher, Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, University of Georgia

We all know people with personality traits that repulse us, that build a barrier between us and others, one we have no wish to cross, because an overbearing personality, one steeped in entitlement, manipulative, aggressive and oblivious to the effect their manners have on others around them has no personal appeal. A new study titled "They Are Such an A-hole", unveils an in-depth study that serves to identify these offensive traits in a formal way that validates people's wish to keep a distance between themselves and the offenders.

Published in the journal Collabra: Psychology, researchers asked their study participants to describe traits that come to mind thinking of the 'biggest a-hole' they are aware of. In some instances the very people included on lists compiled by participants reflected profiles of individuals described by experts as psychopathic, anti-social and narcissistic personality disorders.

The study revealed that participants identified approximately one-third of the jerks that repelled them were people that they dealt with on a regular basis; co-workers, friends and in some instances, romantic partners. The 400 study participants were asked to describe their relations with the most characteristic a-hole in their lives, to describe how accurately the derogatory term reflected their behaviour, and to list the most egregious three behaviours that led to their identifying those people as a-holes.

Follow-up questions probed whether the study subjects felt their identified a-hole was oblivious to the fact their behaviour placed them in that category and whether it bothered them that their behaviour was repulsive to others. Finally, whether or not they would be capable of altering such behaviours. Most of the study participants felt that those they described as jerks were fully conscious that the designation they were placed in was an accurate reflection of their traits; they simply could not be bothered to behave more acceptably. 

The qualities that were found to be most offensive among many others, identified by participants of those they qualified as a-holes were a generalized attitude of irresponsibility along with an inability to regulate anger, and holding bigoted views. And the study pointed out that the larger proportion of those identified as a-holes were middle-aged males.

"Approximately one-third of [insult] targets (35.26 percent) were identified as romantic partners, co-workers, bosses, family members, or friends of participants while half (50.13 percent) formerly held such a role (e.g., ex-partners, estranged family members),"

"Overall, the perceived Five-Factor Model profile for 'asshole' in the present study was similar to prototypes of psychopathic, antisocial, and narcissistic personality disorders."

Study Researchers

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