Positively unpleasant: The Dark Triad, happiness and subjective well-being

Abstract

We sought to differentiate benign and malignant narcissism using measures of general personality, positive mood, and the Dark Triad (DT) with a sample of 840 persons from the UK, USA and Canada. All measures were reliable, indicating DT constructs are easily recovered from non-offender cohorts. Two structural equation models (SEM) tested this data, one an a priori measurement model, the other involving refined DT scales. The GFI for the refined DT SEM model was higher than for the a priori SEM, and was more stable. The final model suggested the DT comprises a single latent variable largely predicted by low Agreeableness, low Emotional Stability, and higher Extroversion, whereas latent positive mood is primarily predicted by higher Emotional Stability and Extroversion. Positive mood has a direct significant pathway to narcissism. These results suggest narcissism can be differentiated from Machiavellianism and psychopathy by being more associated with positive mood.