DSM-5 pathological personality traits are associated with the ability to understand the emotional states of others

This research investigated the connections between pathological personality traits and the ability to recognize the emotional states of others. Across two studies, we found that antagonism was negatively associated with the ability to identify the emotional states of others. In addition, the sex of the participant moderated the associations that negative affectivity and detachment had with the ability to identify positive emotional expressions. More specifically, negative affectivity had a marginal positive association with the ability to identify positive emotions for female participants but not for male participants, whereas detachment was negatively associated with the identification of positive emotions for female participants but not for male participants. These results contribute to the understanding of the relationship between personality and emotion recognition.