黑暗人格三合一研究述评

如果说大五人格代表了特质论人格心理学对非临床人格的研究成果,近期出现的黑暗人格三合一则代表了对亚临床人格阴暗面的研究成果。黑暗人格三合一由马基雅维利主义、自恋和精神病态三种人格特质构成,这三种人格特质在西方文化中均属于反社会型人格特质。对黑暗人格三合一的研究发现:(1)马基雅维利主义、自恋和精神病态各自独立又相互交织;(2)它们的测量工具均较为成熟;(3)黑暗人格三合一不仅具有反社会性,也具有亲社会性;(4)黑暗人格三合一反映个体的快速生命策略;(5)遗传和环境因素在黑暗人格三合一的形成中发挥不同作用;(6)黑暗人格三合一是不同于大五人格的人格特质群。     

Dominance styles mediate sex differences in Dark Triad traits

We sought to determine what styles of social dominance are associated with Dark Triad traits (i.e., narcissism, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism) and whether sex differences in Dark Triad traits are mediated by dominance styles measured by the Dominance and Prestige Scale, and the Rank Styles with Peers Questionnaire. Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and narcissism are strongly associated with dominance-striving, but only narcissism is consistently correlated with prestige-striving. Dark Triad traits are negatively correlated with coalition-building, but positively correlated with dominant leadership and ruthless self-advancement. Sex differences in Dark Triad traits were mediated by various dominance styles, but mainly by dominance-striving and ruthless self-advancement. These results suggest that particular styles of social dominance are utilized by both men and women with Dark Triad traits.     

How Alluring Are Dark Personalities? The Dark Triad and Attractiveness in Speed Dating

Dark Triad traits (narcissism, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism) are linked to the pursuit of short‐term mating strategies, but they may have differential effects on actual mating success in naturalistic scenarios: Narcissism may be a facilitator for men's short‐term mating success, while Machiavellianism and psychopathy may be detrimental. To date, little is known about the attractiveness of Dark Triad traits in women. In a speed‐dating study, we assessed participants' Dark Triad traits, Big Five personality traits, and physical attractiveness in N = 90 heterosexual individuals (46 women and 44 men). Each participant rated each partner's mate appeal for short‐ and long‐term relationships. Across both sexes, narcissism was positively associated with mate appeal for short‐ and long‐term relationships. Further analyses indicated that these associations were due to the shared variance among narcissism and extraversion in men and narcissism and physical attractiveness in women, respectively. In women, psychopathy was also positively associated with mate appeal for short‐term relationships. Regarding mating preferences, narcissism was found to involve greater choosiness in the rating of others' mate appeal (but not actual choices) in men, while psychopathy was associated with greater openness towards short‐term relationships in women. Copyright © 2016 European Association of Personality Psychology     

Dirty dozen: A concise measure of dark triad traits among at-risk youths

Current Psychology - The Dark Triad is a term used to describe a constellation of three socially undesirable personality traits: psychopathy, narcissism, and Machiavellianism. The aim of the...     

Feeling me,feeling you? Links between the Dark Triad and internal body awareness

Despite a rapid increase of interest in the Dark Triad of personality (i.e., psychopathy, narcissism and Machiavellianism), very little research has focused on links between the Dark Triad and internal body awareness (i.e., interoception). In an on-line study (N = 323), we investigated the relationship between the Dark Triad and different facets of interoception, such as awareness and trust in body sensations, the capacity to regulate attention, and an awareness of mind–body integration. When we controlled for shared variance between the Dark Triad traits, narcissism emerged as a positive predictor for all but one facet of interoception. Primary psychopathy was a positive predictor of attention regulation, whereas secondary psychopathy was a negative predictor of awareness of body sensation and attention regulation. Machiavellianism emerged as a negative predictor of trusting body sensations. The findings are discussed within an evolutionary framework.     

The Dark Triad Traits and Fame Interest: Do Dark Personalities Desire Stardom?

Popular media has become increasingly flooded with material concerning fame and celebrities. Although the fascination with fame is not a new phenomenon, the emergence of YouTube.com and reality television has led to the perception that fame is something that seemingly anyone can achieve. Researchers have examined the characteristics that are associated with the desire for fame and have found that narcissism is one of the most consistent predictors of fame interest. The goal of the present study was to extend previous research by examining how the additional two Dark Triad personality traits (i.e., psychopathy and Machiavellianism; Paulhus and Williams 2002) and another conceptualization of narcissism (i.e., grandiose and vulnerable forms of pathological narcissism) relate to aspects of fame interest among 569 undergraduate students. Facets of psychopathy and narcissism were associated with multiple aspects of fame interest, whereas Machiavellianism was negatively associated with desiring fame for altruistic purposes only. Discussion focuses on possible explanations for the associations that the Dark Triad personality traits had with the six dimensions of fame interest.     

Birds of a “bad” feather flock together: The Dark Triad and mate choice

Previous research on the Dark Triad traits (i.e., Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and narcissism) has focused solely on the role the Dark Triad traits played in mate choice of actors. The current study (N = 336) extends this by manipulating the apparent levels of Dark Triad traits in targets and correlating mate choice in these targets with individual differences in the Dark Triad traits in actors. As expected, both sexes preferred partners low in the Dark Triad traits for long-term mating, while those high in these traits were preferred for one-night stands. However, women high in psychopathy considered the Dark Triad traits in potential male partners more physically attractive and desirable for an one-night stand, as well as a potential husband. Men who were high on psychopathy were likewise attracted to psychopathy in potential mothers. Our findings are discussed from an evolutionary personality paradigm.     

Positioning the Dark Triad in the interpersonal circumplex: The friendly-dominant narcissist,hostile-submissive Machiavellian,and hostile-dominant psychopath?

People scoring high on the Dark Triad traits narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy are believed to get ahead without getting along. The current work positions the Dark Triad into the interpersonal circumplex around Agency/Communion. Two studies (Ns = 184, 186) with self- and peer-ratings indicated that narcissism was inclined towards friendly-dominant, Machiavellianism towards hostile-submissive, and psychopathy towards hostile-dominant when using multiple regressions. The unique location of each Dark Triad member in the interpersonal circumplex is discussed.     

Different routes to limited empathy in the sexes: Examining the links between the Dark Triad and empathy

A fundamental observation regarding the Dark Triad traits (i.e., narcissism, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism) is that they are all associated with limited empathy. However, little is known about these relationships beyond some basics. In this study (N = 352), we asked three questions. What is the nature of the relationship between the Dark Triad traits and empathy? Does limited empathy account for sex differences in the Dark Triad? Are men and women low on empathy through different personality traits? The Dark Triad traits were all related to low levels of empathy even when controlling for the shared variance among the traits. Empathy rates mediated sex differences in different aspects of the Dark Triad but not others. Low empathy rates were related to narcissism in women but psychopathy in men, suggesting different routes to limited empathy for men and women high on the Dark Triad.     

What have you done for me lately? Friendship-selection in the shadow of the Dark Triad traits

The current studies examined how the Dark Triad personality traits (i.e., Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy) facilitate the strategic structuring of an individual's social environment in terms of same- and opposite-sex friends. In one study using normative questions (N = 267) and another using a budget-allocation task (N = 114), we found that the Dark Triad traits were associated with choosing friends for strategic purposes and to create a volatile environment. Narcissistic individuals reported relatively more reasons to form friendships, such as shared interests, makes me feel good, and intelligence. Women high in narcissism chose same-sex friends who were attractive and women high on Machiavellianism chose same-sex friends who have social status. Men high on psychopathy devalued traits associated with good social relationships in favor of friends who could facilitate their mating efforts and to offset risks incurred in their life history strategy. Results are discussed using the selection-manipulation-evocation framework for explaining how personality traits interact with social environments and integrated with findings from evolutionary biology.     

Acquisitive or protective self-presentation of dark personalities? Associations among the Dark Triad and self-monitoring

The Dark Triad (narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy) is associated with interpersonal manipulation which requires skills in navigating through social situations. Thus, positive relationships between the Dark Triad and self-monitoring (acquisitive: perceptiveness, impression management; protective: protective variability, protective social referencing) were hypothesized and examined in an online-study (N = 408) with (canonical) correlations and factor analyses. Results indicated that narcissism was related especially to acquisitive, Machiavellianism to protective, and psychopathy to both forms of self-monitoring, which supports the view of distinct Dark Triad traits. Findings are discussed concerning different aspects of self-presentation.     

The Dark Triad,happiness and subjective well-being

Narcissism can be expressed in grandiose or vulnerable forms. We examined whether positive psychological states (defined by the Oxford Happiness Inventory (OHI) and the Diener Satisfaction With Life (SWL) scales) assisted differentiation relative to general personality traits and the “the Dark Triad” (psychopathy, narcissism, and Machiavellianism, measured by the D12 and Short Dark Triad (SD3) indices) for 840 persons primarily from the UK, USA and Canada. The best fitting structural equation model comprised two latent variables, one of positive mood (comprising total scores on the OHI and SWL scales), and another forming a “dark dyad” of Machiavellianism and psychopathy (predicted by low agreeableness and lower positive mood), with narcissism regarded as a separate construct correlated with the dark dyad. Latent positive mood was primarily predicted by higher emotional stability and extraversion. Narcissism was predicted by lower emotional stability, lower agreeableness, and higher extraversion. Latent profile analysis identified four groups in the data: “unhappy but not narcissistic”, “vulnerable narcissism”, “happy non-narcissism” and “grandiose narcissism”. Our results suggest more problematic narcissism can be identified by reference to measures indexing positive mood states and general personality traits.     

The Dark Triad and competitive psychological climate at work: A model of reciprocal relationships in dependence of age and organization change

ABSTRACT

Integrating an interactionist model of personality development, the cumulative continuity model of personality development, and selection–evocation–manipulation theory, the present study analysed reciprocal relations of the Dark Triad common core and its sub-traits of narcissism, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism with competitive psychological climate. Moreover, within a large (N = 1,185) and longitudinal sample of employees from Germany, latent cross-lagged panel analyses were applied to analyse the moderating roles of age and organization change (i.e., organizational turnover). Overall, results revealed positive reciprocal relations between the Dark Triad common core, its sub-traits, and competitive psychological climate. The Dark Triad common core and Machiavellianism were more stable within the older (50–59 years) compared to the younger (25–34 years) age group. However, we found no age differences for the relation between competitive psychological climate and change in the Dark Triad common core or its sub-traits. Among employees who changed organizations, the Dark Triad common core, narcissism, and psychopathy were more strongly positively related to the change in competitive psychological climate than in the non-change group. This suggests stronger selection compared to evocation–manipulation effects for individuals with high values in the Dark Triad common core, narcissism, and psychopathy, but not for Machiavellianism.     

The Dark Triad and dispositional aggression

Previous research has demonstrated that people who are callous are more likely to be interpersonally aggressive. The present study extends this finding to research on the “Dark Triad” traits (Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy), which all share a common core of callousness and manipulation. Using crowd-sourcing and student samples, we examined the relationship between the Dark Triad traits with different facets of dispositional aggression. Results indicated that a common Dark Triad factor (i.e., callousness and manipulation) predicted a common aggression factor. However, the individual Dark Triad traits uniquely predicted different facets of aggression. Psychopathy positively predicted physical aggression, narcissism negatively predicted hostility, and Machiavellianism positively predicted hostility. Taken together, the findings shed light on the unique elements of the Dark Triad and their ability to predict unique forms of dispositional aggression.     

Creativity and the Dark Triad: A meta-analysis

This paper presents a meta-analysis of the relationships between creativity (creative potential, activities, and achievement) and the Dark Triad of personality: narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy. Multilevel meta-analytic models demonstrated a small but significant positive association between creativity and narcissism (r = 0.15 [0.10, 0.29]) and Machiavellianism (r = 0.06 [0.02, 0.09]), but not with psychopathy (r = 0.03 [-0.02, 0.07]). Creativity measures (self-report-vs.-performance), aspects (self-perception, creative activity, creative abilities, creative achievements), and domains (general, art, science, and everyday creativity) moderated the links with the Dark Triad. We discuss the possible mechanism of associations between Dark Triad traits and creativity and highlight future research directions.     

Hedonism,Achievement, and Power: Universal values that characterize the Dark Triad

Using a sample of Swedes and Americans (N = 385), we attempted to understand the Dark Triad traits (i.e., Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy) in terms of universal social values. The Dark Triad traits correlated significantly with all 10 value types, forming a sinusoid pattern corresponding to the value model circumplex. In regression analyses, Machiavellianism and narcissism were positively associated with the values Achievement and Power, while psychopathy was positively associated with the values Hedonism, and Power. In addition, the Dark Triad traits explained significant variance over the Big Five traits in accounting for individual differences in social values. Differences between the Swedish and the US sample in the social value Achievement was mediated by the Dark Triad traits, as well as age. Given the unique complex of values accounted for by the Dark Triad traits compared to the Big Five traits, we argue that the former account for a system of self-enhancing “dark values”, often hidden but constantly contributing in evaluations of others.     

Machiavellian flexibility in negative mate retention

Among the Dark Triad traits (psychopathy, narcissism, and Machiavellianism), Machiavellianism is uniquely associated with flexibility. This flexibility should result in the use of aggressive short‐term tactics only when they do not interfere with long‐term goals. Study 1 found that individuals high in Machiavellianism differed from those high in psychopathy with respect to retrospective accounts of negative mate retention tactics. Study 2 found an interaction between Machiavellianism and relationship type such that individuals high in Machiavellianism tempered the use of negative tactics for long‐term (but not short‐term) relationships. The findings highlight the flexibility of the Machiavellianism construct and its relevance to mating strategies among the Dark Triad.     

Dark traits: Sometimes hot,and sometimes not? Female preferences for Dark Triad faces depend on sociosexuality and contraceptive use

Although the Dark Triad personality (i.e., Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy) has been researched widely, only few studies have investigated women's preferences for men who present high and low Dark Triad features. With an on-line two-alternative forced choice questionnaire we investigated the interaction between preferences of 1962 Finnish women for facial stimuli that differed in the intensity of the Dark Triad traits, accounting for mating context, contraceptive use, and sexual openness (sociosexuality). Among non-contraceptive-using women, unrestricted sociosexuality was positively correlated with preference for high narcissistic male faces, whereas in contraceptive-using women, sociosexuality correlated negatively with preference for high Machiavellian male faces. We suggest that i) facial cues to Dark Triad traits are detectable by women, but ii) their effect on the judgments of attractiveness may vary depending on sociosexuality and contraceptive use, and that iii) preference for narcissism follows similar variation trends as masculinity preference, depending on sociosexuality and the use of hormonal contraception.     

The dark triad: Facilitating a short‐term mating strategy in men

This survey (N = 224) found that characteristics collectively known as the Dark Triad (i.e. narcissism, psychopathy and Machiavellianism) were correlated with various dimensions of short‐term mating but not long‐term mating. The link between the Dark Triad and short‐term mating was stronger for men than for women. The Dark Triad partially mediated the sex difference in short‐term mating behaviour. Findings are consistent with a view that the Dark Triad facilitates an exploitative, short‐term mating strategy in men. Possible implications, including that Dark Triad traits represent a bundle of individual differences that promote a reproductively adaptive strategy are discussed. Findings are discussed in the broad context of how an evolutionary approach to personality psychology can enhance our understanding of individual differences. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A Big Tent of Dark Personality Traits

Researchers have become very interested in socially aversive personality traits in recent years as reflected by the considerable number of publications concerning the Dark Triad of personality (i.e., Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy). The goal of the present article is to suggest that researchers broaden their view of potentially dark personality features. We provide overviews of two dark personality features that have been largely neglected by psychologists (i.e., spitefulness and greed) and point to the darker aspects of two personality features that have been studied extensively (i.e., perfectionism and dependency). We conclude the article by advocating that researchers consider a broader conceptualization of dark personality features that extends beyond the antagonistic and externalizing features captured by the Dark Triad traits.