Friends of the Forensic Science Club, this week we present the paper “Bringing Light into the Dark: Associations of Fire Interest and Fire Setting With the Dark Tetrad”, by Wehner, C.; Ziegler, M.; Kirchhof, S. and Lämmle, L. (2022), in which authors carry out a study to know whether a relationship between the traits of the so-called Dark Tetrad and the fascination with fire or arson exists.
Fire has always played an important role in humanity, whether as a source of heat and light, as a means of cooking, or as a source of entertainment. However, tragic cases such as forest fires, or the Notre Dame fire in 2019, bring to public awareness the destructive potential that fire also possesses.
Whether deliberately or by accident, an uncontrolled fire causes serious damage to both people and property. Fires caused 3,655 deaths in the United States in 2018, and of those, 350 were the result of arson.
Because of this destructive potential, there is a need to explore fire-setting behavior and investigate what factors lead an individual to that point.
Research has identified several psychological vulnerabilities that qualify as potential risk factors. One of these is an interest or fascination with fire, as well as with starting fires.
Many studies have focused on the importance of integrating findings on personality disorders and mental pathologies to the fire issue. A better understanding of the relationship between complex and dark traits and fire setting may improve prevention efforts, or may even help to develop theories about how a pathology that leads to this behavior develops.
It has been hypothesized that two traits associated with interest in fire and fire setting are impulsivity and thrill seeking. The link between fire setting and impulsivity, in particular, has been empirically demonstrated.
Since psychopathy includes impulsivity as one of its core aspects, authors consider it potentially relevant to the prediction of fire setting.
Other variables include other traits of the Dark Tetrad. This is better known as the Dark Triad, but some authors call it the “Tetrad” by adding one more factor, in total: psychopathy, narcissism, Machiavellianism and sadism.
When we think of arson, the first thing we think of is pyromania. This is classified by a great interest in fire, but also by experiences in which before setting a fire, one feels tension and excitement and after the act, a great relief. Because of these criteria, it is complicated to diagnose pyromania, so the vast majority of people with this disorder do not know about it and, worse, do not treat it.
One theory that incorporated interest in fire as an important factor in triggering them is the Multi-Trajectory Theory of Firesetting (M-TTAF). It describes how psychological vulnerabilities and other factors, such as cultural or developmental aspects, as well as situational context and social learning, can trigger a fire. Authors suggested four possible trajectories within this theory: antisocial, grievance, interest in fire and need for recognition, with a fifth, which would be a combination of the other four.
To this end, authors conducted a study in which 222 people participated and were given a series of questionnaires related to the fascination with fire, the Dark Tetrad and the M-TTAF.
Psychopathy and direct physical sadism were found to be significantly correlated with interest in fire and the environment. Direct verbal sadism was positively correlated, on the one hand, also with interest in fire, and on the other hand, with fire provocation.
The latter two tendencies correlated positively, in turn, with the M-TTAF, suggesting that interest in fire is an important factor for some people, but not for all. For example, someone who follows the grievance trajectory proposed by the model would be more motivated by revenge or retribution when committing a fire than by interest in the fire itself.
Vicarious sadism was related, on the other hand, to the satisfaction produced only by seeing the fire of an active fire.
In addition, the relationship between impulsivity and fire setting was seen once again. And psychopathy showed the strongest relationship among the other Dark Tetrad traits. Since impulsivity is a key facet of psychopathy, it seems logical to cautiously relate fire setting to psychopathy.
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