Personality & Indiv. Diffs: The Dark Triad (L3)

What are the 3 dark traits?

- Machiavellianism
- Narcissism
- Psychopathy

What is Narcissism?

Feelings of grandiosity, superiority, dominance & entitlement.

What is Psychopathy?

Impulsivity & thrill-seeking with superficial charm, manipulation & lack of empathy/guilt.

What is Machivalllianism?

Manipulative, cunning & scheming for their own gain.

What did Christie & Geis develop (1970)?

Developed the Mach-IV scales.

A series of 20 self-report items (Likert questions) to measure Machiavellian personality

What is the Dark triad?

3 overlapping, yet distinct personality traits relating to social malevolence, coldness, aggressiveness, self-promotion and duplicity.

What is the Dirty Dozen?

12 items with 4 items each relating to one of the 3 dark traits.

What have the dark triad traits been associated with?

- Preference for short-term relationships
- Night time chronotype
- Increase levels of cruelty to animals
- Increased attractiveness to others

What is the potential 4th trait?

Sadism

How did the Dark triad compare to the big trait models?

Magnitude of significant correlations is actually low & no strong overlap between traits.

How did the dark triad compare to the agreeableness trait?

All 3 dark traits dhow negative correlations with agreeableness traits, suggesting P's who are high in dark triad have low agreeableness levels