Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and the dark tetrad (DT) – a group of four interrelated personality traits – present a considerable overlap in terms of their socioemotional symptomology i.e., a lack of empathy and/or Theory of Mind. It is due to these factors that there is often a diagnostic overlap between ASD and antisocial personality disorder. This research aimed to capitalise on the overlapping socioemotional symptoms to establish if morality could be used as a distinguishing factor between the antisocial personality disorder and ASD, by using the DT as a proxy. A final sample of 127 participants (69.3% female) completed an online questionnaire consisting of the Revised 10-item Big Five Index (BFI-10-R), the Short Dark Tetrad (SD4), the Moral Foundations Questionnaire (MFQ), and the Short Autism Quotient (AQ-S). To investigate our research questions, we conducted correlations between all our test variables, numerous multiple linear regressions and mediation analyses. Our results showed a range of similarities and differences within morality between ASD and the DT, notably with the moral foundations of Respect, Loyalty, and Purity demonstrating positive correlations with aspects of the DT, but negatively with AQ-S scores. We concluded that whilst morality may present the potential to be used as a distinguishing factor, further, ideally qualitative, research would be required, as quantitative investigations of morality do not capture the intentions behind or subtleties within responses.
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