Measuring malevolence: Quantitative issues surrounding the Dark Triad of personality

Abstract

Paulhus and Williams (2002) proposed a constellation of malevolent traits referred to as the Dark Triad (subclinical narcissism, subclinical psychopathy, and Machiavellianism). They used the Dark Triad term to raise awareness about the need for researchers across different areas of psychology to include relevant theory and assessments of all three traits when predicting behaviour. However, there still remain misunderstandings, misinformation, and misperceptions about how to disentangle the psychometric and statistical web of interconnected variance associated with these three traits. We outline the statistical approaches that have been proposed (to date) in assessing the Dark Triad and relevant outcomes, and discuss some promising future directions. This paper is intended to inspire discussion and clarification for the nebulous issue of assessing and disentangling overlapping but distinguishable traits, including the Dark Triad of personality.