Summary: Researchers report that when people name the most unpleasant person in their lives, they most often describe manipulative, aggressive, entitled, and anger-prone individuals—frequently middle-aged men.
Source: University of Georgia
Everyone has one.
That person who frustrates you, who seems inconsiderate or hostile, and who makes social interactions uncomfortable. In everyday language, many call that person an “asshole.”
New research from the University of Georgia finds that people most commonly identify middle-aged men when asked to name the “biggest asshole” in their lives.
Published in Collabra: Psychology, the study asked 397 participants to nominate the single person they considered the “biggest asshole” and then describe that person’s traits and behaviors. The study found that nominated targets were typically seen as manipulative, aggressive, entitled, and low in agreeableness—traits that overlap with expert profiles of psychopathic, antisocial, and narcissistic personality disorders, though the authors stress that being called an “asshole” is not the same as a clinical diagnosis.
“People didn’t struggle to name who the ‘biggest asshole’ was,” said Brinkley Sharpe, the study’s lead author and a doctoral student in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences. About half of the people identified were former romantic partners, past supervisors, or estranged family members—relationships that had ended or become distant.
Still, roughly one in three nominated individuals were currently part of participants’ daily lives, including co-workers, friends, and current romantic partners. On average, participants reported low closeness with the people they labeled, which aligns with the description of these targets as exhibiting aversive or alienating behavior.
Common traits: disagreeableness, anger, manipulation
After naming the person they regarded as the “biggest asshole,” participants rated how close they were to that person, the nature of the relationship, and how accurately the insult fit. They also listed the top three behaviors that made the person objectionable. For each behavior, respondents answered follow-up questions: whether the person seemed aware their behavior bothered others, whether they cared, and whether they could change if they wanted to.
Most participants thought the targets knew their behavior was upsetting but did not care enough to alter it. The behaviors people emphasized were wide-ranging: low agreeableness and frequent anger were common personality descriptors, while behavior descriptions highlighted manipulation, irresponsibility, aggression, and a sense of entitlement.
Sharpe noted that some examples were relatively minor domestic grievances—such as not putting items away properly—while others described serious or even criminal acts. Participants also mentioned culturally salient complaints, like refusing to follow public-health guidelines or political choices they found objectionable. These examples illustrate the range of behaviors people attach to the insult and underline that the word carries meaningful social information.
“There is clearly variation in how people use this word,” Sharpe said. “But the study suggests that insults are not random: when people call someone an ‘asshole,’ they tend to associate that label with specific interpersonal characteristics and behaviors.”
The research team included Courtland Hyatt (recent doctoral graduate, UGA clinical psychology, now postdoctoral fellow at VA Puget Sound), Donald Lynam (Professor of Psychological Sciences, Purdue University), and Joshua Miller (Professor of Psychology and Chair of the Clinical Program, University of Georgia).
About this social and behavioral neuroscience research news
Author: Cole Sosebee
Source: University of Georgia
Contact: Cole Sosebee – University of Georgia
Image: The image is in the public domain
Original Research: Open access. “They Are Such an Asshole: Describing the Targets of a Common Insult Among English-Speakers in the United States” by Brinkley Sharpe et al., Collabra: Psychology
Abstract
“They Are Such an Asshole”: Describing the Targets of a Common Insult Among English-Speakers in the United States
Insults communicate the speaker’s perceptions of a target’s personality. Prior work has shown that common insults (for example, “asshole,” “dick,” “bitch”) are consistently associated with antagonistic traits or low Agreeableness. This study focused on the term “asshole,” which is used to describe both men and women, to replicate and extend those findings.
In this study, 397 participants identified and described the “biggest asshole” in their lives using measures aligned with the Five-Factor Model of personality. Nominated individuals were typically middle-aged and predominantly male, and included romantic partners, coworkers, bosses, family members, and friends.
Results indicated that these targets were perceived as interpersonally problematic—low in Agreeableness and high in Anger—and the aggregated Five-Factor profile resembled expert descriptions associated with psychopathic, antisocial, and narcissistic personality patterns. Open-ended responses revealed recurring themes in reported behaviors, notably manipulation, aggression, irresponsibility, and entitlement.