The Dark Triad of personality and ideal romantic partner preferences in Iran

Abstract

In this study, we replicated and expanded on previous work on the associations between the Dark Triad and ideal romantic partner preferences using an underrepresented sample from Iran (N = 195). First, we explored the role of the Dark Triad traits in how individuals evaluate the moral values of their ideal romantic partner, as measured by a modified version of the Moral Foundations Questionnaire (Graham et al., 2011). The results indicated that individuals high in psychopathy and Machiavellianism preferred romantic partners who, similarly, had lower moral values. In contrast, narcissism emerged as a predictor of preference for higher moral values in an ideal romantic partner, but this effect disappeared after controlling for the variance related to the demographic and Big Five variables. Second, we replicated the previously examined relationships between the Dark Triad and ideal romantic partner characteristics measured by the Ideal Standards Model (Fletcher, Simpson, & Thomas, 2000). Narcissism predicted high standards for an ideal romantic partner on all dimensions (warmth/trustworthiness, attractiveness/vitality, status/resources), whereas Machiavellianism predicted preference for lower warmth/trustworthiness in ideal romantic partner. Overall, our findings both support and extend previous findings regarding assortative mating and mate preferences in the Dark Triad.