We’re probably all aware of irritating and exasperating individuals (if you don’t it’s quite possible that that person is you). Research from the University of Georgia suggests that those most likely to fall into this category are middle-aged men.

The researchers quizzed around 400 people to try and find out who were the biggest assholes in their life. The aim was to better understand some of the traits people associate with that term. The results reveal that things such as being aggressive, entitled, and manipulative most likely qualified one as an asshole.

Common traits

The authors suggest that these traits aren’t just common among seemingly run-of-the-mill assholes but are also commonly found in people with much more serious personality disorders, such as narcissism and psychopathy.

“People didn’t really have very much trouble figuring out who the ‘biggest asshole’ in their life was,” the researchers explain. “On average, participants didn’t think that they were very close to these individuals, which makes sense because these people are being described as having pretty aversive behaviors.”

Sadly, around a third of the biggest assholes in people’s lives were both still in their lives and playing a considerable role. These include friends, co-workers, and romantic partners.

Self-awareness

The volunteers were also asked to rate whether the asshole in question is aware that their behavior bothers people, or indeed whether they really care whether it does or not. They were also asked whether they think that the individual would change their ways if they wanted to.

Most of the respondents thought that the people they were referring to were fully aware that their behavior was upsetting people but were generally uninterested in changing their ways.

“It’s interesting to me that the behaviors people were keying in on sort of run the gamut,” the researchers explain. “When we talk about personality, the asshole was described as somebody who is not agreeable and is angry.

“When we talk about behaviors, the asshole was not necessarily being antagonistic toward people, but they just didn’t really care about what others were thinking or how they were perceived by others.”

The respondents also said that these people would often struggle to really regulate their anger, and would often hold bigoted views. They would also often exhibit bouts of irresponsibility.

“There’s clearly a lot of variation in how people use this word,” the authors conclude. “I think the implication of the study is that insults matter. We do mean certain things by using them or we associate them with certain characteristics.”