Anisa Navarro

PSYCH 303
August 18, 2023
“Famous” Personality Paper

For this assignment, I’ve selected the fictional character Isabella LaRue, featured in

Season 2 of Cruel Summer. The second season of the show follows a group of friends across

three distinct timelines: the Summers of 1999 and 2000, and the Winter of 1999. These timelines

interweave as the friends delve into secrets and uncover truths surrounding the true identity of

Isabella, alongside the murder of their own; Luke Chambers. Isabella LaRue enters the scene as

an international student, hoping to spend a year studying abroad in the United States to

experience an authentic high school experience. Throughout her time, she befriends Megan

Landry, the daughter of her host family, becomes entangled in a romantic love triangle, and

eventually as the prime suspect in the murder investigation of Luke Chambers.

The three big five traits that I find best represent the personality of Isabella, is

extraversion, openness, and agreeableness. In the beginning of the season Isabella appears to be

high in extraversion, as she can be seen easily making conversation and flirtatious banter with

multiple side characters. Isabella is also fond of traveling and has spent most of her life studying

in various countries like India, England, France, and Japan. When her friend Megan wants to try

shaking things up in their small town, Isabella suggests utilizing a fake ID to go to a club or bar.

Isabella has ease utilizing her fake ID entering the bar and shows no clear signs of nervousness

or anxiety that is apparent in the other characters. This could reflect that she is used to doing that,

and could reflect a sensation seeking characteristic which is in line for extraversion.

Isabella also showcases medium to high levels of openness, as indicated by her

spontaneity of underage drinking, often traveling abroad (at the end of the show she leaves for
Ibiza). During the season a sex tape is leaked of her friend Megan and Luke, and because Megan

cannot be seen besides an article of clothing which belongs to Isabella, she offers to pretend that

it was her in the tape. This action showcases the most openness, as those low on openness would

be more inclined to follow the rules and not admit to sexual promiscuity.

Lastly, I find that Isabella would score low on agreeableness. Although Isabella is seen

as an extraverted and social character, she lacks traits like kindness and truthfulness. As the end

of the season nears, the truth comes out on why Isabella left her previous school; the drowning of

her best friend Lisa. Isabella deceives her host family claiming Lisa is alive as she sends her

postcards often. Even once the truth comes out that Lisa is gone, she claims she has nothing to do

with it, despite closed records claiming her as a possible suspect. Isabella is also dishonest about

various events in her past, as many fake identities on passports were seen all belonging to

Isabella. Although claiming innocence for the murder of Luke, it’s seen that Isabella convinced

Megan to drug and tie Luke up, before shooting him. Although he survives, she returns hours

later to end his life, displaying a callous and manipulative side. Based on her behaviors and

actions I believe that Isabella is high in extraversion and openness, and low in agreeableness.

For the second component of my analysis, I will apply the concept of the Dark Tetrad to

Isabella. The Dark Tetrad includes narcissism, machiavellianism, and psychopathy. While I find

that Isabella does not exhibit all traits regarding one of the Dark Tetrads, she does exhibit some

traits from each. In Unit 12; The Self - the concept of Narcissism was introduced. Specifically,

NPI (Narcissism Personality Inventory), while not every characteristic is true for Isabella, the

aspects that align with her personality are having high levels of extraversion and low levels of

agreeableness (aligning with my Big 5 analysis), and the linkage between poor decision making,

and good at starting relationships. However, based on her actions I would say that Isabella would
describe herself as very caring - which is the reason she seems to go to extreme lengths for her

friends. Isabella also shares some traits with psychopathy like charm, lack of remorse,

impulsivity and risk taking tendencies. This is seen in her actions surrounding Luke’s murder,

and the ease she takes in denying having anything to do with it. However, those high on

psychopathy lack compassion and are unable to form emotional bonds. I don’t believe this to be

true for Isabella as she is able to create multiple friendships, that albeit don’t last, that still hold

meaning to her. Furthermore, in terms of the Big Five relation to the Dark Tetrad, narcissists and

psychopaths tend to score high on openness and extraversion. With all 3 dark traits scoring low

on agreeableness. This further aligns with my analysis of Isabella’s character, portraying traits

relevant to the Dark Tetrad.

Furthermore, I will utilize Carver & Connor-Smith’s article regarding Personality and

Coping to further analyze the fictional character; Isabella LaRue. In this section I will do an

analysis of Isabella’s coping mechanisms in relation to her actions throughout the course of the

series. Carver and Connor-Smith discuss the Five Factor Model in which they discuss

agreeableness as a dimension being characterized with broad concerns of maintaining

relationships - they offer an example of those low in agreeableness using displays of power to

deal with social conflict, (682). Isabella often refers to Megan as her “ride or die”, and when she

fears losing Megan to Luke (her boyfriend), she targets Luke to maintain and sustain her

friendship with Megan. Isabella occasionally uses problem focused coping to diminish her

stressors, in many ways. To deal with the issue of being a prime suspect in Luke’s murders she

takes steps to diminish the stress of police scrutiny by contacting her Diplomat mother and her

lawyer. She also uses problem focused coping in a more sinister way by killing Luke as to

remove the stressor that she finds impacting her friendship with Megan. Isabella often seems to
utilize disengagement coping strategies as she physically runs away from her problems (moving

to new countries), and often denies the death of her friend Lisa. Disengagement coping is

connected to emotion focused coping as well. The aspect of emotion focused coping that Isabella

utilizes the most seems to be rumination. In that she dwells and expands on her emotions

regarding her stressors until she uses problem focused coping to deal with her stressors in dark

and negative ways.

In conclusion, Isabella LaRue’s personality is a complex interplay of high levels of

extraversion and openness, with low levels of agreeableness. She exhibits characteristics that

intersect with aspects of the Dark Tetrad, specifically narcissism and psychopathy; although they

do not entirely define her character. Her coping mechanisms involve a switch of problem-

focused and emotion-focused strategies that ultimately impact the situations she finds herself in.

Carver, C. S., & Connor-Smith, J. (2010). Personality and coping. Annual Review of

Psychology, 61, 679-704.