Kogan’s research was well suited to targeting voters with authoritarian personality traits, identifying narratives that would activate their support. After Kogan joined Cambridge Analytica’s project, CA’s internal psychology team started replicating some of his research from Russia: profiling people who were high in neuroticism and dark-triad traits. These targets were more impulsive and more susceptible to conspiratorial thinking, and, with the right kind of nudges, they could be lured into extreme thoughts or behavior.
