The Apprentice is a thought-provoking and chilling film that depicts a young Donald Trump on his journey from naive, malleable, nepo-baby to cold, dark and narcissistic businessman. During the film, Trump, meets his mentor and father figure, Roy Cohn. Cohn shapes his young apprentice (reminiscent of Palpatine and a young Anakin Skywalker from Star Wars), teaching a young Trump his “three rules of life” and the power of deception and misinformation.
Trump has been critical of the film, calling it a “politically disgusting hatchet job”. Regardless of the authenticity of the film’s depictions, as an expert in psychology, I was struck by how perfect its illustration of some the darker sides of human psychology were.
Psychological research in the past 20 years has highlighted that certain personality traits are indicative of the dark side of human behaviour, such as callous manipulation – a grandiose sense of self-importance, and a lack of empathy. Pyschologists Delroy Paulhus and Kevin Williams found evidence to suggest that three personality traits, known now as the “dark triad”, existed which exemplified the darkest parts of human psychology. The three traits are machiavellianism, narcissism and psychopathy.
