-
Most likely to be middle-aged men, the typical asshole tends to be manipulative, aggressive, and struggles to control anger.
-
‘They just didn’t really care about what others were thinking or how they were perceived by others.’
ATHENS, Ga. — It’s safe to say just about everyone knows that person. That one person they just can’t stand, that drives them crazy, and they wish they never saw again. Simply put, a complete and total asshole. Now, a new study is revealing the personality traits and most likely people who are the assholes in your life.
Researchers from the University of Georgia say that the most likely people to be the “biggest assholes” in someone’s life are middle-aged men. Just to be clear, however, these aren’t the only individuals who display signs of “assholery.”
The team surveyed nearly 400 people, asking each one to think about the “biggest asshole” in their life and the personality traits they display regularly. Respondents most often claim these people are manipulative, aggressive, and entitled.
Are a**holes one step away from being psychopaths?
Study authors say two traits respondents mentioned, manipulation and irresponsibility, are concerning because assholes aren’t the only ones displaying them. These two traits in particular are major factors in expert profiles of psychopathic, antisocial, and narcissistic personality disorders.
“People didn’t really have very much trouble figuring out who the ‘biggest asshole’ in their life was,” says lead author Brinkley Sharpe in a media release.
Along with certain middle-aged men, the survey found half of the “biggest assholes” respondents know personally are their exes, old bosses, and even estranged family members.
“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 behaviors,” Sharpe adds.
For one in three people, unfortunately, the “biggest assholes” they know are still a constant presence in their lives! These annoying individuals include co-workers, friends, and even their current romantic partner!
Everyone’s definition is different
So, what really makes someone an asshole? It’s quite possible one person thinks someone is a complete jerk, while their friend actually likes them. With that in mind, study authors looked at the actions these individuals take which rub everyone around them the wrong way.
Along with noting the top three behaviors people say makes someone an asshole, the group had to answer these three questions: Do you think that person knows their behavior bothers people? Do you think that person cares that their behavior bothers people? And do you think that person could change their behavior if they really wanted to?
According to the respondents, the common theme among the biggest assholes is that they allegedly know their behavior bothers others, but they just don’t care.
“It’s interesting to me that the behaviors people were keying in on sort of run the gamut,” Sharpe says. “When we talk about personality, the asshole was described as somebody who is not agreeable and is angry. When we talk about behaviors, the asshole 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.”
Another common theme is that assholes often struggle to control their anger, are often irresponsible, and hold bigoted opinions. However, the researchers also found that respondents have many complaints which are specific to their own world view. These included people calling someone an asshole because they don’t wear face masks or voted for a controversial figure like Donald Trump.
“There’s clearly a lot of variation in how people use this word,” Sharpe concludes. “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.”
The study is published in the journal Collabra: Psychology.
Joe Biden
Yup. Joe Biden seems like a nice guy.
On the other hand I have never encountered a Republican who wasn’t a congenital and perpetual liar.
Never.
Wow. What an *sshole.
I’ll say. It takes an asshole like me to know that Vendicar Decarian is one helluva an asshole.
Well said Bob.
Wait until Dennis Miller gets ahold of this.
Total d-bag. Sounds like a typical Biden voter that drives an old, beat-up Audi or Volvo and is mad at the world. #loser. What a light weight. Low energy Vendicar.
Anyone who refers to all Republicans as assholes is probably projecting.
Vendicar is a very prolific troll and the very definition of an *sshole. He can be found everywhere using some variation of that “vendicar” moniker.
The best thing to do is to ignore him. He will wither up and die like a neglected houseplant.
“Wow. What an *sshole.”
Republicans are far worse than A-Holes. They are congenital liars and traitors to their own nation.
Assholes to the left of me, assholes to the right.
Here I am, stuck in the middle with you, Vendicar.
FNA!
“Assholes to the left of me, assholes to the right.
Here I am, stuck in the middle with you, Vendicar.”
The Jan 9 American insurrection justifies my comments.
Only deluded fantasy justifies yours.
That was nothing compared to the left’s rioting all over the country.. burning cars, building, looting and destroying their own neighborhoods. Real progressive destroying their own as well as undeserved fellow Americans. And don’t forgot, The People are of America are more important than its government.
Damn typos.
Find me a happy Liberal (one who isn’t ripe with self-hatred, racism, and neuroses up the ying yang) and I’ll pay you ten million dollars
Yeah. Meanwhile your Orange Hitler is destroying democracy and you love it. Who’s the asshole! You just proved the idiot that wrote this crappy article right and I hate that.
“Find me a happy Liberal (one who isn’t ripe with self-hatred, racism, and neuroses up the ying yang) and I’ll pay you ten million dollars”
You should have followed that with “White Power” shouldn’t you have?
I am such a Liberal. No self hatred, no racism, no neuroses.
Where is my 10 million.
You are good for it aren’t you?
You have the money?
You aren’t lying like every other Republican in existence?
No hatred.. lol have you seen your comments?
Wasn’t Vendicar Decarian in one of the Star Wars episodes? Or am I thinking of a love song from the fifties?
You are thinking of Fenderon Decarian, my cousin.
Vendicar they don’t know they are assholes. They think they are conservative Christians who want small government, when the last thing Christ would be is a Republican.
Really? You know Jesus Christ? You are 2000 years old?
Unlike Christian Republicans, some of us have read the bible.
LOL.
Unlike Republicans we can add and subtract too.
Yeah, Jesus would be all about baby murder.
Coming from a country that has the death penalty and has fought 162 wars in other people’s countries maybe you should avoid commenting on murder. The likely response is ‘hypocrite’.
Didn’t God kill everyone on Earth – including babies, except Noah and his family?
Republican Christians just don’t know how to read…. the bible.
LOL, Aren’t you the dude that showed up on the article about the scientific research into near death experiences and posted like fifty comments being aggressive towards everyone in the comment section, thinking that you’re the (entitled) arbiter of truth?
You’re probably not the best guy to be judging ash holes.
Congrats V ! A little advice….its better to remain silent and APPEAR foolish,than open it and remove all doubt!….you have done a great job at”unifying”the commenters ln this sight.May you encounter many such people in the course of your day……
Sir, I think you may fit the category of,”it takes one to know one” when it comes to the behavior mentioned in this article.
You must be a Republican then.
You are projecting — only DEMOCRATS are perpetual liars!
In 1998, a troll with the handle ‘Scott Nudds’ trolled a group newsgroup before being banned. Out of nostalgia, I searched for the troll. The troll is still posting, now under the handle ‘Vendicar Decarian.’
Yes, well you know, a troll is anyone who walks up to a Republican and tells the truth directly to their lying faces.
There are assholes and there a re assholes who are cowards who say whatever in comment section because they wouldn’t say it to a person’s face like you vindictive c section
Spoken like the true and pure asshole that you are.
Most likely to be middle-aged men, the typical asshole tends to be manipulative, aggressive, and struggles to control anger.
‘They just didn’t really care about what others were thinking or how they were perceived by others.’
ATHENS, Ga. — It’s safe to say just about everyone knows that person. That one person they just can’t stand, that drives them crazy, and they wish they never saw again. Simply put, a complete and total asshole. Now, a new study is revealing the personality traits and most likely people who are the assholes in your life.
We simply call them; Democrats!
Guarantee, all 400 respondents were assholes.
Only assholes would take this study seriously.
Or morons. All this study shows is that 400 people have a particular definition for the word “asshole.” Now if the study never mentions the word and asks participants to describe the physicality of the people who display the personality traits they claim are commonly identified, they’ll get a wide spectrum of humans.
The writer just couldn’t resist the overwhelming temptation to expose his own underlying political basis for this article – the end result fully displays his own, dishonest status as a journalistic a$$#00le…..
You noticed that too.. unforced error. He had plenty of material to choose from both sides of the aisle.
I find this article to be most unsatisfactory!
Your study would have been more credible if you had said voting for someone controversial like Donald Trump or Joe Biden. I don’t feel that voting for either one make one an asshole.
Robert, reread that part of the article. The study found that “assholes” are more likely to fly into a rage after finding someone voted for a figure like Trump. (I don’t think Biden inspires rage among the assholes of the right to the degree that Trump does among the assholes of the left.) Assholes are intolerant of views other than their own and feel the need to express this, frequently and often. Checks out, I’d say.
Exactly.. also adding… biden inspires his own (lefties) to be intolerant aggressive rioting assholes
True, voting for Trump doesn’t make a person an asshole.
It does make them a fool, and likely a traitor to their own country.
An @sshole thing to say. Rude.
But true.
what color is the sky I your world…? must be sad to share that sky with all those assholes who simple aren’t smart enough to agree with you…. The rest of us can only hope to be Gods chosen one… who knows all and just can’t understand why anyone would not agree with everything you think, feel and believe…. thank you for your service to mankind…
“must be sad to share that sky with all those assholes who simple aren’t smart enough to agree with you…. ”
You do know that sentences start with capitals, don’t you?
Clearly, you are inferior.
Spoken like a tried and true a**h0le. If being traitorous to a government that does not value it’s own people because global corporate profits are more important with no taxes and sla e labor makes me an a**h0le, I guess I fit into that “don’t care” category.
“If being traitorous to a government that does not value it’s own people because global corporate profits are more important with no taxes and sla e labor makes me an a**h0le, I guess I fit into that “don’t care” category.”
No, but being a supporter of Trump does.
Better to have people think you are a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt.
“Better to have people think you are a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt.”
Yes, through their world Trump supporters have proven to the world that they are fools and traitors to their own nation.
Tough seeing the daily incompetence of the senile old incompetent fool Biden out there for all to see, isn’t it? I sympathize, kiddo! The mid-terms will be here soon enough though…
“Tough seeing the daily incompetence of the senile old incompetent fool Biden out there for all to see, isn’t it?”
He is too old. But the American People did elect him over Trump, and did so by over 6 million votes.
That makes me laugh.
It made the Republicans try and overthrow their own elected government.
Traitors all.
Ahhh! A traitor to the government? Or a traitor to their country? You see, there is a world of difference. Modern day Democrats (Democratic Socialists) are unable to tease that apart.
“Ahhh! A traitor to the government? Or a traitor to their country?”
Trump and his fascist, ignorant followers are traitors to both.
Or voted for “Brandon.”
What you lack in originality, you make up in unoriginality.
Some asshole ‘sports writer’ is writing a piece for a psychology column?
“400” people surveyed? Hardly scientific
Looks like someone is desperate for content and attention
I guess people fro
M Mass. are really
Massholes
Yes, and proud of it!
A wise person once told me; it takes one to know one.
Donald Trump, uneducated, rich entitled AH.
THe worst of the worst!
I think it’s time to either divide the nation or have a civil war. I favor the civil war myself
I was just thinking today how anyone who voted for Biden and is making the whole country suffer financially is a selfish ahole. A
Trump was making everyone in the country wealthy and he gave us 4 years of no war. If you want these things you’re an ahole? The people who gave us this absolute mess are the aholes and traitors.
Except that Trump added more to the debt (while promising to pay it off) than any other president & lost more jobs than any other president, and at the same time had a worse performing stock market than under Obama or Clinton. While Biden has had 40 record closes in the market in 2021, created the most jobs of any president, and we now have the lowest unemployment in history. Along with the highest wage growth. And yes, now also the highest inflation.
The President, whoever it is, gets the credit & the blame. Whether they deserve it or not.
They keep changing what middle age is. Considering the average life expectancy is about 78, you divide that by 2 & you have middle age. In other words, people 50+ are not middle age even if they wish they were.
I’ve heard assholes lol claiming 70 is middle age.
“Most likely to be middle-aged women, the typical asshole tends to be manipulative, aggressive, and struggles to control anger. They just didn’t really care about what others were thinking or how they were perceived by others.”
Pretty much defines a “Karen”.
Keep firing, assholes!
Your “research ” is to science what Mengele was to pediatrics..
Assholes….
they have ass hole behavior….thats why they are ass holes!!…..
My mother is the biggest asshole I know.
Hi brother.
Men are often the members of society chosen… that must go off to fight wars . to protect..society has made..(maleness)…a toxic position..no respect..theres the problem.
Just proves— people like me should be running the world and telling all of you idiots how to behave correctly!
Wait, the study asked 400 people what they view an asshole is, and that’s what they base their hypothesis on?
What if the 400 people are picturing “Archie Bunker” type people because for 50 + years, that’s what the media told people Assholes are.
Academia is a joke.
Exactlllllllly
If you look up ‘AssHole’ in the dictionary, they have my photo next to the definition.
Funny, Most of the assholes I know wear face masks and hate Trump.
I’m intolerant of stupid people mostly which are liberals. Meh… I guess I’m an a$$hole.
The stupid people are the conservatives. It has been measured and confirmed. American conservatives are definitely more intellectually challenged and more religeous in general. Religion actively suppresses creative thinking and encourages group-think. The religeous wing nuts are on the right! The right does not hold the ticket for intellectual gymnastics and creativity!!
Sure sound like one.
I have a smart phone I look like an asshole now. Guess we all are seen as asshole recognition should have preceeded eye recognition! Wonder if I could get an assholeplasty instead of a mouth just to see if I talk less shit and get fucked more or even cause a stir the world is so fucked either way from Internet
I don’t care about this idiotic article! It’s GODDAMNED STUPID AND BIASED! The writer is an idiot!
If everybody has a boo hole, aren’t we all boo holes?
Askin’ for a friend.
I’d say the author “Chris” is a narcissist for calling Donald J. Trump a controversial person. But if the author wants to think of it an another way he is at the very least an asshole.
My wife sent me this article thinking that it woulds somehow be justification for her calling me an a**hole since I fall into every category that the article mentions. Since middle-aged men are most likely husbands and fathers who have to guide their families in a world that questions masculinity and paternal instincts, they need to operate with blinders on and worry about what’s in front of them instead of bending over backwards to accommodate others’ opinions to make them “feel good” about themselves. Not caring what others think and how I’m perceived by others is what makes me effective in my current state in life. If that makes me an a**hole, then so be it.
This “study” is literally nothing more than unvarnished racism against middle-aged, white men.
It never said white. You did. You’re probably the kind of guy who says things like “why do they always have to make it about race?” And then claims anti racism because you’re white.
I used to be nice, but now that I am a middle aged man. I am indeed an asshole. I just came to a point in my life where I got tired. I got physically tired and mentally tired of bending to extended family, colleagues, and others that want something from me.
Wow! The topic is so explosive. I suggest divorcing people from policy to make this less personal.
The first attributes are middle-aged and white? So, basically unrepentant racism against middle-aged, white men.
I did not see the “white” part. But, it is a study. Doesn’t mean you have to be angry about it.
It never said “white”. But that you inferred it did is interesting. And telling.