Abstract

The aggressiveness exhibited toward future colleagues by probationers from what Christin (2017) calls the expert fields – comprised here of law enforcement, journalistic, and academic domains – typifies the character of those surviving rigors heaped upon them. Rites of passage perform as selection mechanisms that allow experts withstanding such rituals access to the sanctity derived from possession of credentials. The propensity to direct lingering animosity at associates after the passage of these trials, coupled with the inclination to lure others into the oppressive fray, compels trainees of the expert fields to behave in defective ways. Because the best are inevitably led astray by systems that gradually reward the wrong behaviors (Apple, 2017), such transgressions became tautologically linked to their professions. These transformations are now inextricably infused to the initiate’s temperament and serve as the harbinger of the malevolent side of human nature to these sectors. The antisocial nature required to participate, flourish, and thrive in these institutions may, as Muris, Merckelbach, Otgaar, and Meijer (2017) postulate, foster dark features in those encountering what Christin (2017:2) calls “strict barriers to entry.” This chapter will explore the heterogeneous and multidimensional (Kowalski, Vernon, & Schermer, 2017) dark characteristics that influence six dark personality-derived profiles (referred to hereinafter as profiles) specific to the expert fields: Phony Charlatans, Mystic Defenders, Harboring Imposters, False Mentors, Foraging Collaborators, and Disreputable Profiteers.