If you’ve ever suspected your mechanic was a little off, science may have your back.
A 2026 study from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign found that people with psychopathic traits are disproportionately drawn to practical, solitary work — jobs that keep them as far away from other people as possible. Mechanics topped the list, but engineers and other technical professionals were not far behind.
“Subclinical psychopaths, driven by their antisocial tendencies, prefer mechanical jobs that are isolating and require little social interaction,” the study’s authors wrote. Makes sense.
Researchers surveyed over 600 students between the ages of 17 and 32, measuring their Dark Triad traits – a set of antisocial personality characteristics that predict manipulative and laid-back behavior – against their occupational interests. The three Dark Triad components are psychopathy (divided into Boldness, Meanness and Disinhibition), Machiavellianism and Narcissism.
What they found was pretty consistent. All three psychopathy facets correlated positively with interest in realistic, practical work. Machiavellian types showed a strong aversion to people-oriented professions. “This suggests a clear pattern of avoiding social and caring occupations,” the researchers noted.
The jobs most likely to attract psychopaths, with one career path ahead
While psychopaths gravitate toward isolation, narcissists apparently want an audience. The study found that subclinical narcissists are drawn to artistic work for the admiration it brings, social jobs for connection, and leadership roles for dominance. Politics, law and business also ranked highly. “Narcissistic admiration was positively related to creative expression and influence,” the authors wrote, framing it as grandiose types seeking platforms for self-promotion. Shocker.
Interestingly, people attracted to health care showed high boldness scores but low meanness and brashness, suggesting that the fearlessness required to remain calm in a crisis corresponds on paper to certain psychopathic traits, although the motivations are quite different.
The researchers reserved their starkest warning for what they called “successful psychopaths” and “successful narcissists” — people who combine Dark Triad traits with enough surface charm to climb the corporate ladder undetected. They are the ones, the study warns, that organizations should think twice about promoting to senior management, because once they get there, they become very difficult to manage.
“Organizations should avoid promoting them to top management positions so that they do not become nearly impossible to control,” the authors wrote.
So the next time you find yourself working for someone who seems a little too comfortable making decisions that affect other people, there might be a study that explains exactly why.
