The video under consideration presents comprehensive information regarding the so-called dark empaths or, in other words, people who seem empathetic towards others but are, in fact, manipulative and possess corresponding negative personality traits. According to it, the mentioned mentally unhealthy individuals do not take into account others’ feelings and only act to appear kind in order to receive particular benefits from communication (Psych2Go, 2021).
I think this stance is likely to be correct because empathy is a rare quality, whereas most acquaintances one meets in life are solely oriented on their personal goals. In addition, the conducted study proves that their presence in society is more noticeable than that of actual empaths.
The researchers confirmed the prevalence of individuals, which can be defined as manipulative but seemingly kind, over people with positive personality traits. As per their finding, 19.3% of the former can be attributed to the group of dark empaths (Psych2Go, 2021).
They can be revealed when considering motives, as these participants of the survey were reported to have hidden intentions while appearing sincere (Psych2Go, 2021). To test this claim, one can consider the actual needs of a person they are dealing with instead of what they are trying to show to others as well as their behavior. The latter clearly speaks of non-compliance of words and actions and, therefore, can be useful for this purpose. Thus, for example, any suspicions regarding one’s Machiavellianism, narcissism, or psychopathy correlate with the high probability that this individual is a dark empath when they appear friendly to others. These factors can be complemented by fakeness, guilt-tripping, malicious humor, or love for rumors (Psych2Go, 2021). On the contrary, the demonstration of actual empathy instead of that of cognitive nature can be seen as evidence of people’s mental health.
Reference
Psych2Go. (2021). 5 signs of a dark empath – The most dangerous personality type [Video]. YouTube. Web.