Personality and prosociality: Incremental validity of the Dark Triad over HEXACO model

Abstract

Prosocial behavior covers the broad range of actions intended to benefit others rather than oneself. Research related to dispositional determinants of prosocial behavior showed that the best predictor of prosocial behavior is personality trait Honesty-Humility (HH) represented in the HEXACO model. The low pole of the HH was found to be essentially identical to the common core of the Dark Triad (DT ; i.e. Machiavellianism, subclinical narcissism and psychopathy), which has been linked to callousness, exploitation and manipulation, as well as antisocial behavior. Given the substantial overlap between the HH and the DT traits, the aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between prosocial tendencies and the “good” and the “bad” traits, comparing their contributions in predicting prosociality. Data was collected within a larger on-line survey on 689 students from various universities in Croatia (552 female and 137 male), and all variables were assessed via self-report measures (Prosocial Personality Battery, HEXACO-60, and Short Dark Triad). Results of the hierarchical regression analyses showed that the “bad” traits explain prosociality above and beyond the “good” traits as well as the whole HEXACO model, emphasizing the importance of the DT in the personality space.