Toward a Taxonomy of Dark Personalities

2020

The dark sides of personality that are encountered in negative and unwanted ways in daily life are defined by the term Dark Triad, consisting of narcissism, psychopathy and Machiavellianism. Subclinical narcissism is described as high status indulgence, desire to be a leader, exaggerating its own qualities and underestimating others. In Machiavellianism, manipulating other people by hiding one's own negative characteristic and unethical behaviors in order to achieve their aims are important. Psychopathy is a negative subclinical personality trait characterized with high impulsivity and lack of empathy, tendency to be insensitive, not paying attention to human relations and not having remorse. Research shows that these conceptually different but empirically overlapping personality variables have an impact on different areas of a person's life. The aim of the article is to update and evaluate literature discussed the Dark Triad. In addition, it was thought that reviewing the s...

Assessment, 2014

Despite their distinctive theoretical roots, the literatures on three socially aversive personalities-narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy-have become so expansive that the distinctions have become muddied. As a result, some observers concluded that the three variables are interchangeable in normal samples (e.g., McHoskey, Worzel, & Syzarto, 1998). Disputing that allegation, Paulhus and Williams (2002) coined the term Dark Triad to encourage researchers to study the three traits in tandem: Only then can their distinctiveness be clarified. If studied alone, any observed correlates may actually reflect overlap with one of the other Dark Triad members. Although research on the triad has continued to expand (for a review, see Furnham, Richards, & Paulhus, 2013), some researchers may have been deterred by the combined length of the available measures. Consider the popular questionnaire measures of psychopathy.

Personality and Individual Differences, 2012

The current study examines the conceptualization of the sub-clinical Dark Triad personality traits (Psychopathy, Machiavellianism, and Narcissism; Paulhus & Williams, 2002) by relating them to normal and abnormal personality. Factor analyses using two samples (N 1 = 232, N 2 = 198) showed the Dark Triad traits clearly aggregated with each other, with Social Symptomatology, and with low agreeableness. More detailed analyses found that sub-clinical psychopathy is related to a core of socially malevolent traits and items that reflect self-reported deviant socialization in childhood, alienation from others, interpersonal problems, and impulsivity. For Machiavellianism, these relationships were apparent at the item level but not at the trait level. Narcissism, however, appears to be a more distinct construct that relates to aspects of psychopathology other than Social Symptomatology. Overall, results indicate that the Dark Triad is best conceptualized as a form of disordered personality, with links to low agreeableness.

Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 2013

Ten years ago Paulhus and Williams (2002) called attention to the 'Dark Triad', a constellation of three conceptually distinct but empirically overlapping personality variables. The three members-Machiavellianism, narcissism and subclinical psychopathy-often show differential correlates but share a common core of callous-manipulation. There are now dozens of studies on the triad and, according to Google Scholar, over 350 citations. The goal of this review is to update and critically evaluate this rapidly expanding literature. The standard measures of each Dark Triad member are reviewed along with newer combination measures. The Dark Triad members are located in in mainstream structural models, namely, the interpersonal circumplex as well as Five-and Six-Factor Models. Key issues and controversies are addressed.

Machiavellianism, Narcissism and Psychopathy are often referred to as the ‘dark triad’ of personality. We examined the degree to which these constructs could be identified in 82 persons recruited from the general population, predicting that the dark triad would emerge as a single dimension denoting the cardinal interpersonal elements of primary psychopathy. We expected the primary psychopathy dimension to correlate negatively with Agreeableness (A) and Conscientiousness (C), whereas secondary psychopathy would be associated with Neuroticism (N). The negative correlation was found between primary psychopathy and A, but not with C. While the predicted correlation between secondary psychopathy and N was found, N was also positively associated with primary psychopathy and Machiavellianism. Factor analysis revealed that all measures of the dark triad loaded positively on the same factor, upon which A loaded negatively. Secondary psychopathy loaded positively on a second factor, together with N and (negatively) with C. These findings reiterate the distinguishing properties of secondary psychopathy, impulsivity and anti-social behaviour relative to primary psychopathy. Thus, even in the general population, the dark dimension of personality can be described in terms of low A, whereas much of the anti-social behaviour in normal persons appears underpinned by high N and low C.

Personality and Individual Differences, 2006

Of the offensive yet non-pathological personalities in the literature, three are especially prominent: Machiavellianism, subclinical narcissism, and subclinical psychopathy. We evaluated the recent contention that, in normal samples, this ÔDark TriadÕ of constructs are one and the same. In a sample of 245 students, we measured the three constructs with standard measures and examined a variety of laboratory and self-report correlates. The measures were moderately inter-correlated, but certainly were not equivalent. Their only common Big Five correlate was disagreeableness. Subclinical psychopaths were distinguished by low neuroticism; Machiavellians, and psychopaths were low in conscientiousness; narcissism showed small positive associations with cognitive ability. Narcissists and, to a lesser extent, psychopaths exhibited self-enhancement on two objectively scored indexes. We conclude that the Dark Triad of personalities, as currently measured, are overlapping but distinct constructs.

Journal of Research in Personality, 2002

Of the offensive yet non-pathological personalities in the literature, three are especially prominent: Machiavellianism, subclinical narcissism, and subclinical psychopathy. We evaluated the recent contention that, in normal samples, this ÔDark TriadÕ of constructs are one and the same. In a sample of 245 students, we measured the three constructs with standard measures and examined a variety of laboratory and self-report correlates. The measures were moderately inter-correlated, but certainly were not equivalent. Their only common Big Five correlate was disagreeableness. Subclinical psychopaths were distinguished by low neuroticism; Machiavellians, and psychopaths were low in conscientiousness; narcissism showed small positive associations with cognitive ability. Narcissists and, to a lesser extent, psychopaths exhibited self-enhancement on two objectively scored indexes. We conclude that the Dark Triad of personalities, as currently measured, are overlapping but distinct constructs.

Personality and Individual Differences

Criminology, 1971

S ociopathic personality has traditionally been a neglected stepchild of the behavioral sciences, a "wastebasket" category for deviant behavior which could not readily be subsumed under some more obvious category. In the last few years, however, an increasing amount of clinical interest and