L6: Personality & Individual Differences II

1. Describe the features of the Dark and Light Triad. 2. Critically evaluate the concepts and measures relating to the Dark and Light Triad. 3. Explain how we can use a nomological network to validate and differentiate between Dark and Light Triad traits. 4. Explain the predictive validity of the Dark and Light Triad traits.

history of the term Dark Triad

• emerged abt 20y ago

• personality psychologists Paulhus and Williams (2002) wanted to explore personality traits that are maladaptive but subclinical (within normal range of functioning)

The Dark Triad

• refers to a constellation of three socially undesirable personality traits

• narcissism

• machiavellianism

• psychopathy

Furnham, Richards, & Paulhus (2013): clinical vs subclinical

• narcissism and psychopathy are established clinical disorders

• but support for a subclinical definition bc these traits also found in normal populations

• studied prev amongst clinical pops, e.g. committed crime

• three traits already been identified

The Myth of Narcissus

• Narcissus was a young man known for his beauty, but also for his mean and cold-hearted demeanour. many fell in love w him bc of his beauty, and he would always cruelly reject them

• Nemesis decided to punish Narcissus for his cruelty and lured him to a still pool of water

• as Narcissus leaned over the water to drink, he saw his own reflection for the first time and was captivated by the beautiful image he saw

• Narcissus became obsessed with his reflection and could not pull himself away

• he wasted away beside the pool, unable to eat or drink and eventually died

narcissism (Ames, Rose, & Anderson, 2006)

a grandiose, yet fragile, sense of self, as well as a preoccupation with success and demands for admiration

the narcissistic personality

• an excessively self-centred perspective and a strong sense of entitlement, and preoccupation with success

• require excessive admiration and believe that they are special, leading them to insist on associating only with high-status people

• at root of inflated egos are feelings of inferiority, and so are envious of others, and will diminish others’ success or accomplishments

origin of term narcissism

myth of narcissus

origin of term machiavellian

niccolo machiavelli

Niccolo Machiavelli

• italian diplomat, philospher, and writer

• lived during Renaissance (1469-1527)

• wrote the book “The Prince” which discusses the strategies and tactics rulers and leaders should employ to maintain power and achieve their political goals

• famously argued that it is sometimes needed for rulers to be ruthless, cunning, and willing to use any means, even morally questionable ones, to achieve and maintain political authority

Niccolo Machiavelli quote

never attempt to win by force what can be won by deception

machiavellianism (Wilson et al., 1996(

a personality trait that refers to a strategy of social conduct that involves manipulating others for personal gain, often against the other’s self-interest

Machiavellian personality

• master manipulators who use a range of deliberate manipulation techniques (e.g. flattery) for personal gain

• engage in a plethora of unethical and counterproductive behaviours including lying, theft, and sabotage

• possess a cynical view of human nature and demonstrate very little concern for the welfare of others above their own wellbeing

psychopathy (Ames, Rose, & Anderson, 2006)

a drive to engage in impulsive or antisocial behaviour without empathy, anxiety, or remorse

psychopathic personality

• impulsivity and thrill-seeking; may engage in risky behaviours without consideration for consequences

• callousness and a consistent lack of empathy

• lack of emotional bonds and do not experience feelings of guilt or remorse for their behaviour

measuring the DT traits

• two commonly used questionnaires that measure all three traits within gen pop

• The Dirty Dozen

• The Short Dark Triad

The Dirty Dozen

(Jonason and Webster, 2020)

• questionnaire measuring all 3 DTs for gen pop

• 12 items

• 4 for each dimension

The Short Dark Triad

(Jones & Paulus, 2014)

• 27 items

• 9 for each dimension

criticisms of Dark Triad measures

• social desirability bias

• short measure lose nuance in each construct

• cultural assumptions

criticisms of Dark Triad measures: social desirability bias

• for self report measure, but esp for socially dark traits

• ppl high in traits more likely to lie, manipulate, or ‘fake good’, so asking to self rate may lack reliability

• some items v blatant e.g. i manipulate others to get my way

criticisms of Dark Triad measures: short measures lose nuance in each construct

• convenient but do not capture complexity of each trait

• argue measure ‘dark vibe’ rather than specific traits well

• when reflect back at all diff characteristics, elements missed

• esp in narcissism bc insecure, inferiority aspect to it as well

• short and/or combined measures not good at measuring each strait specifically

criticisms of Dark Triad measures: cultural assumptions

• WEIRD

• many scales developed in Western samples

• items may not capture how manipulation or narcissism is expressed in other cultures

DT + gender: study: procedure

• Muris et al (2017)

• meta analyses to explore gender differences in three DT traits

• 50 studies, 65 samples, 25,930 Ps

• dummy coded gender (0=f, 1=m) and computed effect sizes (r.) for the relationship between gender and each DT trait

• positive r = higher in men

DT + gender: study: results

• psychopathy (r₊ = .29)

• narcissism (r₊ = .15)

• machiavellianism (r₊ = .16)

+. means higher in MEN

DT + gender: study: conclusion

• men generally display higher levels of all the DT traits relative to women

• stronger effects found for psychopathy- medium-sized effect (0.29)- than narcissism (0.15) and machiavellianism (0.16)- small-sized effects

DT + age: study: procedure

(Klimstra et al., 2020)

• combined multiple cross-sectional datasets

• N = 4,292 Ps

• various ages

• completed Dirty Dozen Scale and measures of agreeableness

DT + age: study: findings

• all show a rise during adolescence

• after early 20sish, traits seem to decrease. suggesting adult ageing is associated with lower levels of these dark tendencies

• suggests evidence for the maturity principle

label 1,2,a,b,c,d,e,f

1. Male

2. Female

1. BFI Agreeableness

2. NEO Agreeableness

3. Machiavellianism

4. Narcissism

5. Psychopathy

6. Total Dark Triad

maturity principle

as people age, traits that are socially useful and acceptable tend to go up, on average

DT + course: procedure

(Vedel & Thomsen, 2017)

• the Big Five and the Dark Triad traits were measured in sample of newly enrolled students (N = 487) from diff academic majors:

• psychology, econ/business, law, pol sci

• mean scores on DT traits compared across academic courses

DT + course: findings

• no difference on psychopathy scores between courses

• psych students scored lower on Machiavellianism than students on all other corses

• psych students scored lower on narcissism than students studying econ/business

is narcissism increasing?

• Twenge et al., (2008): examined how narcissism scores changed over time in college students

• found since 1982, narcissism scores increased signficantly

• NPI scores 30% higher in most recent cohort (2006) compared to first cohort (1980)

• increase found particularly among women

• long and established study, but recently called into question

why might we be seeing a rise in narcissism?

• research shows relationship between social media use and narcissism in young adults

• other research attributes it to changes in parenting styles

social media x narcissism

• Reed et al (2018)

• higher amounts of visual social media use associated with higher levels of narcissism

• specifically, Ps who posted large quantities of photos and selfies showed a 25% increase in narcissism

• hwvr, rls only found for visual forms as opposed to non visual forms of social media

parenting styles x narcissism

• Brummelman et al (2015)

• 565 7-12y/os and parents over 2 years

• measured 1. child self esteem, 2. child narcissism, 3. parental warmth, 4. parental overvaluation

• parental overvaluation predicted child narcissism, but not self esteem

• parental warmth predicted self-esteem, but not narcissism

parental overvaluation

parents believing their child to be more special and more entitled than others

what behaviours can we predict with DT traits?

• health

• performance or behaviour at work or school

• pro-environmental behaviours

• sexual behaviours

• criminal behaviours

• citizenship

criticisms of the DT

• debate about whether the DT traits are independent traits (uniqueness hypothesis) or represent a single construct (unification hypothesis)

• three traits not enough to capture the dark side of human nature

unification hypothesis

traits show strong, positive intercorrelations and have been found to load onto the same factor in factor analysis

uniqueness hypothesis

the three traits have different patterns of associations with other traits and outcome variables

three traits are not enough to capture the dark side of human nature

• recently, proposed that the trait “subclinical sadism” should be included to form a Dark Tetrad

subclinical sadism

defined as proneness to feel pleasant emotions while hurting others or watching others in pain

The Light Triad (Kaufman et al., 2019)

qualities that embody a loving and beneficent orientation towards others (“everyday saints”)

• kantianism

• humanism

• faith in humanity

Kantianism

• treating people as ends unto themselves (not mere means)

• treat people like they matter as humans, not just as tools to get what you want

humanism

• valuing the dignity and worth of each individual

• every person has value and deserves respect

faith in humanity

• believing in the fundamental goodness of humans

• believing that most people are basically good

features of Kantianism

• authentic

• prefer honest over charm

• truly interested in others

features of humanism

• admire others

• applauds the success of others

• values all people and cultures

features of faith in humanity

• trusts people

• quick to forgive

• looks for the best in others

what was the LT scale guided by

the question: “what would an everyday loving and beneficent orientation toward others look like that is in direct contrast to the everyday antagonistic orientation of those scoring high on dark traits?”

The Light Triad Scale (Kaufman et al., 2019)

• 12 items

• 4 each dimension

• scale developed by brainstorming items relating to the conceptual opposite of each of the DT, but also items related to forgiveness, trust, honestly, caring, and acceptance

• three factors also emerged from the factor analysis: faith in humanity, humanism, kantianism

issues with the LT scale

• social desirability bias

• relatively new scale, not much evidence to support its cross-cultural validity

• tests primarily been on western cultures (UK, USA)

behaviours we can predict using LT traits

• health

• performance or behaviour at work or school

• pro environmental behaviours

• sexual behaviours

• criminal behaviours

• citizenship

Nomological Network of the Dark and Light Triads

the network of traits, qualities, and outcomes that you would expect to be associated with a trait to demonstrate that it is a valid construct

function of the nomological network

establish a measure has construct validity

construct validity

extent to which the measure behaves in a way consistent with our hypotheses and represents how well scores on the instrument are indicative of the construct

to assess the nomological network, you can:

• correlate the measure with measures that you expect to be highly correlate (convergent validity)

• correlate the measure with measures that you expect would not be correlated (discriminate validity)

• explore whether the traits correlate or predict outcomes in line with expected hypotheses (predictive validity)

Kaufman et al (2019): design

cross sectional, online survey

Kaufman et al (2019): Ps + what

nomological network of dark and light triad

N = 1518 adults

Kaufman et al (2019): variables measured

• light triad (light triad scale)

• dark triad (short dark triad)

• big five personality factors (BFI)

• measures of well-being (life satisfaction, authenticity, self-esteem)

• measures of moral and social behaviour (empathy, compassion, selfishness, aggression)

Big Five personality factors

• agreeableness

• openness

• conscientiousness

• extraversion

• neuroticism

measured on BFI

Kaufman et al (2019): aim

explore the nomological networks of light vs dark triad traits

Kaufman et al (2019): calculations

a light vs dark triad balance score by subtracting each person’s score on the dark triad from their score on the light triad

Kaufman et al (2019): results

• light triad total x dark triad total = -0.48**

• **p < 0.01, *p < 0.05

• mean balance score of entire sample was 1.3, suggesting average person is tipped towards the light triad more

• extreme dark traits rarer than extreme light traits

DT correlations with other measures

• positive with selfishness

• positive with self-enhancement values

• negative with life satisfaction

• negative with compassion, empathy

• negative with belief that others are good

• negative with belief that one’s own self is good

LT correlations with other measures

• positive with acceptance of others

• positive with compassion, empathy

• positive with life satisfaction

• positive with positive enthusiasm

• positive with belief that others are good

• positive with belief that one’s own self is good