Birds of feather flock together – Evidence for assortative mating for the Dark Triad traits

Abstract

Dark Triad of personality (i.e., psychopathy, Machiavellianism, and narcissism) relate to increased mating success in men. Much less is known about characteristics of the women who enter relationship with callous, manipulative, and self-aggrandising men. Here, we investigated assortative mating for Dark Triad characteristics. Using items from Dark Triad inventories, we created male profiles that were high or low in the Dark Triad traits. In three conditions, we asked women ( N = 161) to rate the fictional males for long-term and short-term relationships, and to complete the Dark Triad scale that was associated with the profiles they were rating. We found assortative preferences for all Dark Triad traits in long-term mating, and assortative preferences for Machiavellianism and psychopathy in short-term mating. Our study is the first one to suggest that the sexual success of high Dark Triad males may be driven by assortative mate choice by women with the same characteristics.