Lecture 6: Personality and Individual Differences

dark triad

-three socially undesirable personality traits:

1. narcissism

2. Machiavellianism

3. psychopathy

-subclinical definition as these traits are found in normal populations → but narcissism and psychopathy can be clinical disorders

narcissistic personality (dark triad)

-a grandiose, yet fragile sense of self

-preoccupation with success and demands for admiration

features of narcissistic personality (dark triad)

-excessively self-centred perspective and strong sense of entitlement

-require excessive admiration and believe that they are special → insist on associating only with high-status people 

-feelings of inferiority, envious of others and will diminish others’ success 

Machiavelli (dark triad)

-wrote a book describing strategies and tactics that rulers should employ to maintain power and achieve their political goals

-argued rulers need to be ruthless, cunning and willing to use any means to achieve and maintain political authority 

Machiavellian personality (dark triad)

-a strategy of social conduct that involved manipulating others for personal gain, often against other’s self-interest

features of Machiavellian personality (dark triad)

-use a range of deliberate manipulation techniques for personal gain

-engage in a plethora of unethical and counterproductive behaviours

-possess a cynical view of human nature

-demonstrate very little concern for the welfare of others above their own wellbeing

psychopathy (dark triad)

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

features of psychopathy (dark triad)

-impulsivity and thrill-seeking

-engage in risky behaviours without consideration for consequences

-callousness and consistent lack of empathy

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

Ronson - features of psychopathy (dark triad)

-glibness/superficial charm

-cunning/manipulative

-grandiose sense of self-worth

measuring dark triad traits 

1. dirty dozen → 12 items, 4 for each dimension 

2. short dark triad → 27 items, 9 for each dimension 

criticisms of dark triad measures

• social desirability bias

• short measures lose nuance in each construct

• cultural assumptions

social desirability (criticisms of dark triad measures)

-case for self-report measures but especially true for socially ‘dark’ traits 

-people in these traits are more likely to lie, manipulate or ‘fake good’ → so asking them to rate themselves may not be reliable 

-some questions are very blatant 

short measures lose nuance (criticisms of dark triad measures)

-short scales are convenient but do not capture the complexity of each trait

-may measure the ‘dark vibe’ rather than the specific traits well

cultural assumptions (criticisms of dark triad measures)

-many scales were developed on western samples

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

gender (demographics and the dark triad)

-higher r value means higher in men than women

• psychopathy → r = .29

• narcissism → r = .15 

• machiavellianism → r = .16 

-men in general display higher levels of the dark triad traits 

-stronger effects found for psychopathy than narcissism and machiavellianism (small-sized effects) 

age (demographics and the dark triad)

-machiavellianism, narcissism and psychopathy show a rise during adolescence 

-after early 20s these traits seem to decrease → ageing is associated with lower levels of these dark tendencies 

• maturity principle → as people age, traits that are socially useful and acceptable tend to go up 

academic courses - method (demographics and the dark triad)

-big five and dark triad traits measured in:

• psychology majors

• economic/business majors

• law majors

• political science majors

academic courses - results (demographics and the dark triad)

-no difference psychopathy across according to course 

-psychology students scored lower on machiavellianism than students on all other courses 

-psychology students scored lower on narcissism than students studying economics and business 

is narcissism increasing?

-Twenge found that since 1982 narcissism scores have increased significantly

-NPI scored were 30% higher in the most recent cohort compared to the first cohort

-increase was found particularly among women

reasons for increase in narcissism (Reed)

-higher amounts of visual social media use was associated with higher levels of narcissism

-participants who posted large quantities of photos and selfies showed a 25% increase in narcissism

-relationship only found for visual forms of social media

changes in parenting styles (reasons for increase in narcissism)

-measured 4 variables: 

1. child self-esteem 

2. child narcissism 

3. parental warmth 

4. parental overevaluation 

-parental overevaluation predicted child narcissism - but not self-esteem 

-parental warmth predicted self-esteem - but not narcissism 

independent traits or single construct (criticisms of dark triad)

-debate about whether dark triad traits are independent traits or represent a single construct:

• unification hypothesis → traits show strong positive intercorrelations and have been found to load onto the same factor in factor analysis

• uniqueness hypothesis → three traits have different patterns of associations with other traits and outcome variables

reductionist (criticisms of the dark triad)

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

-recently been proposed that ‘subclinical sadism’ should be included to form the dark tetrad → proneness to feel pleasant emotions while hurting others or watching others in pain

light triad

-qualities that embody a loving and beneficent orientation towards others

1. Kantianism

2. humanism

3. faith in humanity

kantianism (light triad) 

-treating people as ends unto themselves - not as mere means 

-treat people like they matter as humans and not just as tools to get what you want 

-authentic, prefer honesty, interested in others

humanism (light triad) 

-valuing the dignity and worth of each individual

-every person has value and deserves respect

-admire others, applauds the success of others, values all people and cultures 

faith in humanity (light triad) 

-believing in the fundamental goodness of humans

-believing that most people are basically good

-trusts people, quick to forgive, looks for the best in others 

light triad scale 

-12 items → 4 for each dimension 

-developed by brainstorming items related to the conceptual opposite of each of the dark triad traits 

-also items related to forgiveness, trust, honesty, caring and acceptance 

-three factors emerged from the factor analysis 

factor analysis (light triad scale)

• kantianism + humanism → .41

• humanism + faith in humanity → .60

• faith in humanity + kantianism → .34

issues with light triad scale

-issues with social desirability bias

-new scale so not much evidence to support its cross-cultural validity or to establish its psychometric properties and if it’s an effective measure

nomological network (of the dark and light triad)

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

-helps to establish that a measure has construct validity

assessing nomological network

-correlate the measure with measures that you expect to be highly correlated → 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 hypothesis → predictive validity

Kaufman - method (assessing nomological network)

-variables measured: 

• light triad 

• dark triad 

• big five personality factors 

• measures of well-being 

• measures of moral and social behaviour 

Kaufman - dark vs light triad (assessing nomological network)

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

-mean balance score was 1.3 → suggesting the average person is tipped more towards the light triad 

-extreme dark traits are rarer than extreme light traits 

Kaufman - big five (assessing nomological network)

-light triad significantly correlated with openness, conscientiousness, extraversion and agreeableness

-light triad negatively correlated with negative emotionality

-dark triad positively correlated with extraversion and negative emotionality

-dark triad negatively correlated with openness, conscientiousness and agreeableness

Kaufman - dark triad positive correlations (assessing nomological network)

• selfishness

• self-enhancement values

Kaufman - dark triad negative correlations (assessing nomological network)

• compassion, empathy

• belief that others are good

• belief that one’s own self is good

Kaufman - light triad positive correlations (assessing nomological network)

• acceptance of others 

• compassion, empathy 

• life satisfaction 

• positive enthusiasm 

• belief that others are good 

• belief that one’s own self is good