The psychologist at the center of a scandal over the abuse of countless Facebook users’ individual data dealt with Russian researcher on a study of harmful characteristic.

Aleksandr Kogan advised a team at St Petersburg State University that was checking out whether psychopathy, machiavellianism and narcissism – called the ‘dark triad’ by psychologists – were linked to violent online behaviour, said Yanina Ledovaya, senior speaker at the university’s department of psychology.

Kogan, a lecturer at Britain’s Cambridge University who likewise passes the married name of Spectre, has actually come under fire for passing data chose through a Facebook personality test to political consultancy Cambridge Analytica.

The test was taken by a few hundred thousand individuals however the app on which it ran likewise gathered details about all their Facebook ‘good friends’ without their knowledge or authorization.

That information was then used in a targeted digital advertising campaign in support of Donald Trump’s successful run for the US presidency, Cambridge Analytica’s CEO Alexander Nix informed an undercover reporter from Britain’s Channel 4 news.

Nix was suspended on Tuesday in a spiralling scandal over how the data entered his business’s hands, in offense of Facebook’s own rules. The legend has actually wiped nearly $50 billion (roughly Rs. 3.25 lakh crores) off the social media network’s market price.

Kogan did not respond to an emailed request to talk about his work in St Petersburg, however told the BBC on Wednesday he was being made a scapegoat by both Facebook and Cambridge Analytica. The latter company has no connect to the university.

Ledovaya stated Kogan had recommended the St Petersburg team on the job – which was moneyed by a university grant – in between 2015 and 2017, checking out seldom and mainly communicating from abroad.

The team built a Facebook app utilizing a 61-question survey for Russian-speaking users that looked for to figure out to exactly what degree they had the ‘dark triad’ qualities.

The app collected responses, along with the general public data of respondents, after securing their authorization. Individually, the researchers analysed the text of users’ public Facebook posts.

Ledovaya said the data collected was not passed to anybody outside the five-member research team – nor was it shared with Kogan.

” We don’t deserve to share the information of these 10,000 or two people with anyone – it refers principles and we are staying with it,” she said.

Research study into personality traits viewed as malicious returns at least to Sigmund Freud, the Viennese leader of psychiatry who identified narcissism – or excessive self-love.

Machiavellianism, called after the Italian diplomat and writer of the Renaissance period, represents manipulative behaviour, while psychopathy manifests a lack of empathy.

Ledovaya stated one goal of the task was to determine the psychological health and wellbeing of the respondents and, as proper, use free counselling.

The development of Kogan’s St Petersburg connection comes as relations in between Moscow and the West plumb new lows. Kogan, an US resident, was born in the former-Soviet republic of Moldova however transferred to the United States as a child, Britain’s Guardian newspaper stated.

US Unique Counsel Robert Mueller has actually prosecuted 13 Russian individuals and 3 Russian companies for criminal and espionage conspiracy to tamper with the U.S. governmental campaign.

One line of query being pursued by Mueller is the thought use of targeted Facebook messages by Russian groups – including the St Petersburg-based Web Research Bureau.

The St Petersburg State University research group has absolutely nothing to do with the Internet Research Bureau, stated Ledovaya.

” I understand the people involved in the research task extremely well – they are the last individuals I can imagine participating somehow in such an activity,” stated Vladimir Volkhonsky, who worked at the psychology professors up until 2011.

Cambridge University stated Kogan had actually properly sought the permission of the head of the psychology department to do the work with St Petersburg.

” It was comprehended that this work and any associated grants would be in a private capability, separate to his work at the university,” it said in a statement.