The Dark Triad of Personality: A 10 Year Review

How to use the dark triad in personnel selection Presents the latest research and theories Highlights the gains and risks of these traits Provides concrete recommendations for use in selection processes Summarizes legal and professional guidelines More about the book This book explores the theoretical basis and state of the art of research on narcissism, Machiavellianism, and subclinical psychopathy. It also answers complex questions on the structure of the dark triad and its measurement for practical applications. Learn about how people high in these characteristics can, on the one hand, experience individual career success and high work performance and, on other hand, present risks in the workplace with abusive and destructive leadership and counterproductive behavior. In addition, the author summarizes the legal and professional guidelines when assessing the dark personality characteristics of job applicants, examines the acceptance and social validity of such assessments, evaluates the available instruments, and makes recommendations for practical applications and further research. With the focus on practical applications, the book presents the development, quality, and application of a test designed for use in organizations to capture the dark triad in the workplace. Concrete recommendations are given on how to use the characteristics narcissism, Machiavellianism, and subclinical psychopathy in personnel selection. Researchers and practitioners interested in applying the dark triad in personnel work will find this book full of valuable information on how to undertake legally compliant processes and how to utilize the great potential these personality characteristics have in making decisions on aptitude.

Relationships between age of females and attraction to the Dark Triad personality

This paper deals with the dark triad personality and its components (Machiavellianism, narcissism, subclinical psychopathy) on economics & management student population in Croatia and Slovakia. Dark Triad represent important HRM area in which is trying to understand the dark side of human functioning which has potentially harmful impact on organization functioning and performance. Population of economics & management students is important in the context of HRM because of their future high potential to generate dysfunctional organizational behaviors, when they will be organizational employees, especially on management positions. The goal of this research was to gather the data about dark triad personality phenomenon, make the comparisons between Croatian and Slovak sample, present the potential organizational impact of employees with dark characteristics in organizational context and show the implications for HRM. For measurement of the dark triad components (variables) it is used questionnaire measurement that adopts the standardized short dark triad measurement instrument of Jones & Paulhus. Results of the Croatian students are compared with the results of Slovak students, and basically also with Canadian student sample. The basic results showed that 6% Croatian and 0.5% of Slovak economy & management students showed full dark triad profile, also there are found very significant statistical differences in the Machiavellianism and subclinical psychopathy variables between the Croatian and Slovak samples, i.e. these characteristics were statistically higher in Croatian sample.

Studies have identified the Dark Triad as a predictor of crime. White-Collar Crime (WCC) costs billions of estimated losses and has significant consequences for businesses, employees and consumers. Despite this, research on the Dark Triad and WCC is scarce. This study aimed to explore the relationship between the Dark Triad and WCC. Analyses, which were conducted on a sample of 157 participants, revealed significant relationships between subclinical psychopathy (disinhibition and meanness), narcissism, and attitudes and beliefs towards WCC. Sub-components of the Dark Triad do not have the same predictive powers. These findings have several implications, ranging from exploring which personality traits can predict potential predispositions towards WCC, to offering a much-needed empirical foundation in the development of effective prevention strategies.

This study aimed to further investigate the perceived attractiveness of the Dark Triad (DT) personality in different types of relationships (i.e. friendship, short-term and long-term relationship) controlling for basic personality traits from the HEXACO model. The participants were 167 female students (M = 20.82 years, SD = 1.54) who rated personality and attractiveness of a man with highly expressed DT characteristics (n = 91) or a low-scoring DT character (n = 76) presented in a vignette. In line with recent findings, we observed a high negative correlation between the Honesty-Humility factor and DT personality (r = -.88, p < .001). As hypothesized, there was a significant difference in attractiveness ratings for the two characters in the context of different interpersonal relationships, with high DT character rated as significantly more attractive than the low DT character in the context of short-term mating. Furthermore, the hierarchical regression analysis showed that DT personality had a unique contribution in predicting attractiveness in the context of short-term relationship, after controlling for the basic personality traits.

Background: This study investigated the relationships between the Dark Triad of personality (sub-clinical psychopathy, Machiavellianism, and narcissism) and four political variables: socio-religious conservatism, support for greater economic equality, overall liberal–conservative orientation, and interest in politics. A theoretical approach that focused on the influence of the Dark Triad in large groups was provided to interpret those relationships. Methodological issues found in previous research that related to the use of abbreviated scales to measure the dark traits and the use of unidimensional indicators of political orientations were addressed. Methods: A hierarchical regression analysis was conducted to determine whether any of the three dark traits could explain variance in the aforementioned political attributes over and above that accounted for by the Big Five, sex, age, and nationality, using the full personality scales and measures of political orientation that captured both social and economic liberalism–conservatism. Results: Machiavellianism uniquely predicted lower levels of socio-religious conservatism, and both Machiavellianism and narcissism uniquely predicted lower levels of overall conservatism. Conclusions: There were important links between the Dark Triad and politics.

The Dark Triad of personality: Narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy

Consistent with calls from prior research, the aim of this study was to understand how reports of the Dark Triad (e.g., subclinical narcissism, subclinical psychopathy, and Machiavellianism) related to conflict communication in romantic relationships. Results indicated that individuals reporting higher levels of the Dark Triad personality structure also reported more frequent disagreement that was also intense and hostile. Moreover, Dark Triad personality reports were directly related to the use of contempt, criticism, stonewalling, and defensiveness, messages collectively known as the Four Horsemen as they predict relational termination (e.g., Gottman, 1993; Gottman & Levenson, 1992). Machiavellianism and subclinical psychopathy were better predictors of conflict communication compared to subclinical narcissism. Findings reinforce that personality is important in understanding conflict communication. Implications, limitations, and future directions are discussed.

The Dark Triad of personality (subclinical psychopathy, narcissism, and Machiavellianism) is associated with exploitative behavior. Although people with these traits may be perceived negatively, they often compete successfully for mates, resources, and power. Research on the Dark Triad highlights its utility for men and downplays the smaller, but still meaningful, samples of women with dark personalities. This chapter summarizes evidence about women’s antisocial behaviors and traits, and hypothesizes that we underestimate women’s ability to deceive and harm others. Women exploit others, and yet our expectations about women tend to be positive and women are generally viewed as nonthreatening. When women cause harm, it is often minimized, and women are held typically less responsible for their actions. Female criminals may have an advantage because their behavior is unexpected. This chapter outlines benefits for underestimated women and proposes additional research to clarify whether the Dark Triad is differentially adaptive for women.

Background: In general, religious/spiritual dimensions are found to be negatively correlated with all kinds of psychiatric disorders such as depression, suicidal ideation and substance abuse. Contrary to these findings, the goal of this study was to investigate the relationship between dimensions of religious/spiritual well-being (RSWB) and less favorable aspects of personality - the so-called ‘dark triad' of personality traits, i.e. narcissism, machiavellianism and psychopathy - together with general deficits in personality structure. Sampling and Methods: A total of 312 college students (220 females) completed the Multidimensional Inventory for RSWB, the revised Narcissistic Personality Inventory, the Machiavellianism Inventory and the Levenson Self-Report Psychopathy Scale along with the 16-item Inventory of Personality Organization. Results: RSWB was confirmed to be negatively correlated with these negative aspects of personality, in particular with subclinical psychopathy. More specifically, there were several notable overlaps; narcissism, for instance, was found to be significantly positively associated with some RSWB subdimensions such as ‘hope' or ‘connectedness'. Conclusions: First deductions can be made from these data concerning an ambivalent role of spirituality in impaired personality structure. These associations might be further investigated especially in psychiatric patients diagnosed with personality disorders in order to describe potential psychopathological facets of religion and spirituality more adequately.

In leadership research, the Dark Triad of personality has become a topic of great interest. This construct includes the personality traits of narcissism, Machiavellianism, and subclinical psychopathy and is associated with several negative outcomes for organizations and followers’ satisfaction. In contrast, the construct of psychological capital, which includes hope, resilience, self-efficacy, and optimism, is positively related to extra-role organizational citizenship behaviors and employee performance. Therefore, the question arises whether people can benefit from psychological capital when confronted with a manager that exhibits dark personality traits. Subsequently, the purpose of this study is to examine the potential impact of psychological capital on the relationship between the Dark Triad traits of managers and the work-related basic need satisfaction of employees. Thus, a dataset of 469 employees was analyzed. Regression analyses demonstrated that the Dark Triad of personality and psychological capital both work as predictors of work-related basic need satisfaction. When controlling for mediating effects, psychological capital appeared as a partial mediator of the relationship between the managers’ dark traits and the employees’ basic need satisfaction in the workplace. The theoretical and practical implications of the results, as well as suggestions for future research, are discussed.

The Dark Triad personality: Attractiveness to women

The Dark Triad in the Workplace Research is an underinvestigated avenue of research. This conceptual study proposes the supervisors’ dark triad personality as an antecedent to their abusive supervision. The study suggests that the supervisor’s abusive behavior would trigger burnout and counterproductive work behaviors among the employees that are caused by negative personality traits i.e. dark triad. The study further proposes that Islamic Work Ethics may play a critical role to cope up with these negative workplace behaviors due to its nature of a buffering agent. Finally, the study concludes with important implications of Islamic Work Ethics towards new avenues of research in Dark Triad personality and its hazardous effects in the workplace.

Low self-control and the Dark Triad: Disentangling the predictive power of personality traits on young adult substance use, offending and victimization

Personality underpinnings of dark personalities: An example of Dark Triad and deadly sins