The Effects of the Dark Triad Traits on the Five Pillars of Positive Psychology: The Moderation Effect of Gender

Beata Grabovac,Jelena Šakotić Kurbalija

doi:10.19090/pp.2021.4.483-508

Abstract

The current study investigated the effects of the Dark Triad traits (Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy) on mental health indicators from the viewpoint of positive psychology. Additionally, the moderation effect of gender was explored in the context of these relationships. The sample consisted of Hungarian adults from Serbia (439, 54% women). The participants completed the Short Dark Triad Scale (SD3) and the Mental Health Test (MHT), which is a new measure of mental health that can identify levels of well-being, savoring, creative and executing efficiency, self-regulation, and resilience. Results showed that narcissism positively predicted all mental health indicators, while psychopathy negatively predicted all indicators, except for resilience, with which it showed no significant relationship. Machiavellianism was a positive predictor of savoring, creative and executing efficiency, but a negative predictor of self-regulation and resilience and it had no significant effect on well-being. There was no significant moderation effect of gender.

Highlights

The Dark Triad of PersonalityMany concepts in psychology can be considered as continuum with positive and negative endpoints and the field of personality is no exception
Our research focused on predicting the pattern of five mental health indices from the field of positive psychology using Vargha et al.’s components (2020) based on Dark Triad traits
Results of the Hierarchical Regression Analysis: Prediction of Mental Health Indicators based on Dark Triad traits with Gender as a Moderator

Summary

Introduction

The Dark Triad of PersonalityMany concepts in psychology can be considered as continuum with positive and negative endpoints and the field of personality is no exception. The three members of the above-mentioned dark personalities are Machiavellianism, subclinical narcissism, and subclinical psychopathy (Paulhus & Williams, 2002), which represent the malevolent and vicious side of human nature. This is mirrored in the fact that risk toward others as well as toward self was positively related to all three Dark Triad members (Dinić et al, 2020). The Dark Triad traits have shared features referred to as the Dark Core. A newer candidate for the “heart of darkness” has emerged in the form of a combination of three antagonistic traits - callousness (as the hallmark of psychopathy), deceitfulness (Machiavellianism), and grandiosity (narcissism), with the callousness facet occupying the central role (Dinić et al, 2021)

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