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A gender role view of the Dark Triad traits

Article  in  Personality and Individual Differences · April 2018

DOI: 10.1016/j.paid.2018.01.004

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 Personality and Individual Differences 125 (2018) 102–105

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Personality and Individual Differences

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/paid

Short Communication

A gender role view of the Dark Triad traits☆ T

a,⁎ b
Peter K. Jonason , Mark D. Davis
a
Western Sydney University, Australia
b
University of West Alabama, United States

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: In two college-student samples from Australia (N = 305) and Alabama (N = 207), we examined how the Dark
Dark Triad Triad traits (i.e., narcissism, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism) were correlated with individual differences in
Psychopathy gender roles and whether gender roles can account for sex differences in the Dark Triad traits. In Study 1, the
Machiavellianism Dark Triad traits were associated with less femininity and more masculinity and sex differences in the traits were
Narcissism
mediated by femininity only. In Study 2, psychopathy and Machiavellianism were associated with less femininity
Masculinity
and narcissism and psychopathy were associated with more masculinity and we replicated the mediation for
Femininity
Sex differences psychopathy and Machiavellianism. We discuss how the gender roles may be part of the coordinated systems of
adaptations that comprise the Dark Triad traits.

“Gender” is a term used to define sociocultural aspects of being a characterized by the Dark Triad traits just mean being low in femi-
man (i.e., masculinity) and a woman (i.e., femininity) and is composed ninity/high on masculinity? In two datasets, drawn from two uni-
of different psychological features that are considered “appropriate” for versities, we examine the correlations between the Dark Triad traits and
each sex to enact in a given society (Unger, 1990). Masculinity is re- measures of psychological gender roles and test whether sex differences
flective of an underlying dimension defined by assertiveness, boldness, in the Dark Triad traits are a function of individual differences in
dominance, self-sufficiency, and instrumentality, while femininity is gender roles.
defined by nurturance, expression of emotion, and empathy. Here we
assess how the Dark Triad traits might be correlated with individual 1. Study 1
differences in gender roles.
The Dark Triad traits are associated with a variety of sex-differ- We begin to study the relationship between gender roles and the
entiated and gender-relevant aspects of psychology including limited Dark Triad traits by assessing the correlations between the traits and
empathy (Jonason, Lyons, Bethell, & Ross, 2013), impulsivity (Jones & three measures of masculinity/femininity. We also replicate sex dif-
Paulhus, 2011), and seeking dominance and prestige (Semenyna & ferences and test mediation of sex differences in the Dark Triad traits
Honey, 2015) and are, themselves, more common in men than in gender roles. We expect sex differences in the Dark Triad traits are
women. These aspects of personality may act as parts of the coordinated spuriously driven by sex differences in gender roles.
system that allow men to better enact a fast life history strategy (i.e.,
mating over survival; now over tomorrow). Another part of this co- 2. Method
ordinated system may be having a masculine (and low feminine) gender
identity. Being masculine (as opposed to feminine) may orient men 2.1. Participants and procedure
towards pursuing a wide array of agentic tasks through characteristics
like assertiveness. In contrast, a feminine disposition may directly in- The sample consisted of 305 undergraduate students (29% male)
terfere with the aggressive exploitation of conspecifics by encouraging, from Western Sydney University, aged 17–53 (M = 21.20, SD = 5.32)
for instance, compassion. Therefore, we predict (1) the Dark Triad traits who were recruited via the School of Social Science and Psychology's
should be correlated with the more masculinity/less femininity and (2) research participation system in exchange for credit for completion of a
sex differences in the Dark Triad traits should be facilitated (i.e., larger study. Participants came to a lab, were guided into individual
mediated) by gender identity. testing rooms with desktop computers, were given an information
In this brief study, we ask a simple question. Does being sheet, and had an opportunity to ask questions before giving written

☆
Author's note: Thanks for James Middleton and Vicki Boler who served as research assistants for Study 1.
⁎
Corresponding author at: School of Social Sciences and Psychology, Western Sydney University, Milperra, NSW 2214, Australia.
E-mail address: p.jonason@westernsydney.edu.au (P.K. Jonason).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2018.01.004
Received 14 November 2017; Received in revised form 15 December 2017; Accepted 3 January 2018
0191-8869/ © 2018 Published by Elsevier Ltd.
P.K. Jonason, M.D. Davis Personality and Individual Differences 125 (2018) 102–105

consent. The measures were completed at a computer, online through Table 1

Surveymonkey®. Upon completion, participants were debriefed and Descriptive statistics and sex differences in the Dark Triad traits and gender roles.
thanked for participation.
M (SD) t g

2.2. Measures Overall Men Women

Study 1 (N = 305)
To assess psychopathy, the Self-Report Psychopathy Scale-III Dark Triad traits
(Paulhus, Neumann, & Hare, 2009) was used. Participants indicated Psychopathy 1.97 2.06 1.93 − 2.96⁎⁎ − 0.36
how much they agreed (1 = Not at all; 5 = Extremely), with statements (0.36) (0.40) (0.34)
⁎⁎
Narcissism 3.79 4.55 3.50 − 2.83 − 0.35
such as “Rules are made to be broken” and “I enjoy taking chances”.
(2.99) (3.24) (2.84)
The responses were averaged to create an index of psychopathy Machiavellianism 2.67 2.76 2.64 − 2.42⁎ − 0.29
(Cronbach's α = 0.82). (0.42) (0.42) (0.41)
Narcissism was assessed using the 16-item Narcissism Personality Gender roles
Inventory (Ames, Rose, & Anderson, 2006). For each item the partici- Feminine Trait Index 51.90 50.83 52.53 1.59 − 0.23
(7.44) (7.57) (7.36)
pants were presented with two statements from which they had to
Masculine Trait Index 45.09 45.64 44.87 − 0.61 − 0.08
choose the statement that applied to them best. Of the statements, one (9.98) (9.27) (10.27)
reflected a narcissistic attitude (e.g., “I am more capable than other Femininity (CPI) 20.80 17.82 21.99 9.63⁎⁎ 1.20
people), whereas the other did not (e.g., “There is a lot I can learn from (3.90) (3.46) (3.40)
other people”). By summing the total number of narcissistic statements Study 2 (N = 207)
chosen, the overall narcissism score of the participant was calculated Dark Triad traits
(α = 0.73). Psychopathy 2.39 2.79 2.25 − 4.73⁎⁎ − 0.76
(0.74) (0.62) (0.74)
Machiavellianism was measured with the 20-item MACH-IV
Narcissism 2.90 3.04 2.86 − 1.54 − 0.25
(Christie & Geis, 1970). Participants were asked how much they agreed (0.74) (0.71) (0.74)
(1 = Not at all; 5 = Extremely) with statements such as “Anyone who Machiavellianism 2.40 2.77 2.28 − 3.73⁎⁎ − 0.60
completely trusts anyone else is asking for trouble” and “Never tell (0.85) (0.89) (0.80)
Gender roles
anyone the real reason you did something unless it is useful to do so.”
Feminine Trait Index 4.00 3.74 4.08 − 3.37⁎⁎ − 0.54
The items were averaged to create the index of Machiavellianism (0.66) (0.62) (0.65)
(α = 0.69).1 Masculine Trait Index 3.61 3.73 3.58 1.70 0.27
Individual differences in masculinity and femininity with the Bem (0.57) (0.58) (0.57)
Sex Role Inventory (Bem, 1974) were measured. It is composed of ten
Note. g is Hedge's g for effect size.
items measuring femininity (e.g., “I am tender.”) and ten items mea- ⁎
p < 0.05.
suring masculinity (e.g., “I am ambitious.”) where participants reported ⁎⁎
p < 0.01.
their agreement with each item (1 = Strongly disagree; 7 = Strongly
agree). The scores for each measure were averaged to create a score of Table 2
masculinity (α = 0.87; MTI) and femininity (α = 0.88; FTI). Zero-order correlations and standardized multiple regression coefficients describing the
For measurement heterogeneity, the California Personality Index associations between the Dark Triad traits and measures of gender roles.
femininity scale (Bohannon & Mills, 1979) was used as a second mea-
Machiavellianism Psychopathy Narcissism
sure gender identity. For each item, participants were asked to rate
whether they agreed if the 38 statements accurately described them by Study 1 (N = 305)
selecting either “true” or “false” on items such as “I am somewhat afraid Masculine Trait 0.04 (0.18⁎⁎) 0.34⁎⁎ (0.18⁎⁎) 0.55⁎⁎ (0.51⁎⁎)
of the dark” and “at times I feel like picking a fist fight with someone.” These Index
Feminine Trait − 0.36⁎⁎ (−0.27⁎⁎) − 0.32⁎⁎ −0.13⁎ (0.06)
responses were keyed either masculine (negative) or feminine (posi-
Index (− 0.22⁎⁎)
tive), and the scores were summed to create an index of femininity Femininity − 0.16⁎⁎ (0.02) − 0.37⁎⁎ −0.25⁎⁎
(α = 0.51).2 (− 0.33⁎⁎) (− 0.09)

Study 2 (N = 207)
3. Results and discussion Masculine Trait 0.11 (−0.12) 0.19⁎⁎ (0.15) 0.25⁎⁎ (0.16⁎⁎)
Index
Feminine Trait − 0.31⁎⁎ (−0.19⁎) − 0.44⁎⁎ (− 41⁎⁎) −0.11 (0.17⁎)
Men scored higher than women did on the Dark Triad traits and
Index
women were more feminine than men were using only the CPI instru-
ment (Table 1, top panel). When examining the correlations (Table 2, Note. These correlations did not differ across participant's sex (p < 0.01).
⁎
top panel), the Dark Triad traits were associated with limited femininity p < 0.05.
⁎⁎
and enhanced masculinity. However, the association for narcissism and p < 0.01.
femininity appear to be a function of shared variance with the other two
traits as the associations drop out when the shared variance in ac- with a “masculine” gender role.
counted for. The relationship between masculinity (MTI) and Machia- We tested whether sex differences in the Dark Triad traits were
vellianism appears non-significant until the shared variance is removed merely a function of sex differences in gender roles. Given that the only
whereas its relationship to femininity (CPI) is lost when the shared sex difference we detected amongst gender roles was with the CPI in-
variance was accounted for. Psychopathy was consistently correlated strument, we conducted three hierarchical regressions with this vari-
able as the mediator. Sex differences in all three traits (Step 1:
βs = 0.14 to 0.17, ps < 0.01) were fully mediated (Step 2:
1
Psychopathy was correlated with narcissism (r = 0.50, p < 0.01) and βs = −0.01 to 0.08) by individual differences in femininity, suggesting
Machiavellianism (r = 0.47, p < 0.01). Narcissism correlated with Machiavellianism
(r = 0.28, p < 0.01).
that the men who are high on narcissism (ΔR2 = 0.04, p < 0.01),
2
The MTI was positively related to the FTI (r(305) = 0.18, p < 0.05), while the CPI's psychopathy (ΔR2 = 0.11, p < 0.01), and (to a lesser extent)
femininity scale showed the expected negative relationship with the MTI (r(305) Machiavellianism (ΔR2 = 0.01, p < 0.06) are especially low on femi-
= − 0.19, p < 0.01), and a positive relationship with the FTI (r(305) = 0.15, ninity but not necessarily more masculine.
p < 0.05).

103
P.K. Jonason, M.D. Davis Personality and Individual Differences 125 (2018) 102–105

4. Study 2 psychopathic or Machiavellian is strongly a function of being psycho-

logically unfeminine.
Study 1 suggests masculinity and femininity might be correlated
with the Dark Triad traits which appears to account for the sex differ- 6. General discussion
ence in the traits. However, we failed to find sex differences in the Bem
measures of gender roles and the CPI measure had only the minimum In this study, we tested two hypotheses. First, we tested whether the
level of acceptable internal consistency (Schmitt, 1996). In addition, Dark Triad traits may be related to having a masculine and unfeminine
the results are bound to only one measurement model of the Dark Triad psychological gender role. Second, we considered whether sex differ-
traits. In Study 2, the Dirty Dozen measure of the Dark Triad traits was ences in the Dark Triad traits might be mediated by individual differ-
used to attempt to re-test the associations with the Bem measure and ences in gender roles. We tentatively confirmed these predictions given
replicate effects from Study 1. the heterogeneity in our results and the wide array of potential ways to
measure gender role/identities. We also replicated some of the sex
4.1. Participants and procedure differences in the Dark Triad traits and gender roles. Some interesting
qualifiers emerged as well. For example, it was narcissism that was the
Participants were 207 (25% male) undergraduate volunteers from strongest correlate to masculinity whereas psychopathy was particu-
the University of West Alabama aged between 18 and 58 years larly linked to limited femininity. However, narcissism was also linked
(M = 22.56, SD = 7.19). Participants were contacted through their to femininity in Study 2 (although using a different measure than Study
psychology classes and asked to participate in a larger 15-min survey 1). These results affirm the rather antisocial nature of psychopathy and
and provided a link to follow to participate. If they followed it, they the prosocial nature of narcissism (Jonason, Strosser, Kroll, Duineveld,
were informed of the nature of the study. If they consented, they pro- & Baruffi, 2015). Nevertheless, our results are consistent with life his-
ceeded through a self-report study on Qualtrics®. Upon completion, tory models of the Dark Triad traits, suggesting that gender roles may
they were thanked and debriefed. be part of the coordinated system of adaptations that allow men, in
particular, who are characterized by the Dark Triad traits to engage in a
selfish, approach to social interactions.
4.2. Measures
6.1. Limitations and conclusions
Like above, the Bem Sex Role Inventory was used to measure in-
dividual differences in masculinity and femininity. Participants re-
This was a straightforward study, and yet, it still is characterized by
ported agreement (1 = Strongly disagree; 5 = Strongly agree) with the
several limitations. First, our samples were predominantly female and
item. Items were averaged to create an index of femininity (α = 0.89)
were W.E.I.R.D. (i.e., western, educated, industrialized, rich, and de-
and masculinity (α = 0.79) that were correlated (r(205) = 0.35,
mocratic; Henrich, Heine, & Norenzayan, 2010) as is common in re-
p < 0.01).
search using psychology student samples. We used the Hedges' measure
To measure the Dark Triad traits, the Dark Triad Dirty Dozen
of effect size to adjust for the sex ratio imbalance to get more trust-
(Jonason & Webster, 2010) was used. Participants were asked how
worthy estimates of the effects. If masculinity and femininity are de-
much they agreed (1 = Strongly disagree; 5 = Strongly agree) with
fined differently in different cultures, our results may also be bound to
statements such as: “I tend to want others to admire me” (i.e., narcis-
Western samples only. Third, we adopted two measures of gender roles,
sism), “I tend to lack remorse” (i.e., psychopathy), and “I have used
but others might be worth pursuing as well (Stern, Barak & Gould,
deceit or lied to get my way” (i.e., Machiavellianism). Items were
1987). Fourth, we confined our study to psychological aspects of gender
averaged together to create an index of narcissism (α = 0.66), Ma-
roles, but physiological factors like 2D:4D and testosterone might also
chiavellianism (α = 0.78), and psychopathy (α = 0.65).3
be worth examining. Fifth, we only examined higher-order traits in
Study 1 and cannot examine lower-order traits in Study 2. Examination
5. Results and discussion of these might be fruitful, but we saw them as exploratory in nature and
refrained from reporting them here. Future work should attempt to
Men were more psychopathic and Machiavellianism than women address these limitations.
were, and women were more feminine than men were, but the sexes did In conclusion, we examined the associations between individual
not differ in masculinity or narcissism (Table 1, bottom panel). At the differences in gender roles and the Dark Triad traits. Psychopathy, in
zero-order level (Table 2, bottom panel), more masculinity was asso- particular, was low on femininity which may reflect its antisocial, un-
ciated with more psychopathy and narcissism whereas more femininity empathetic, and selfish tendencies. In contrast, it was narcissism's
was associated with less psychopathy and less Machiavellianism. When masculine tendencies may step from ambition, status-seeking, and as-
we partialed the shared variance in the Dark Triad traits, it was only sertiveness. And last, we found that sex differences in the Dark Triad
narcissism that was correlated with masculinity and narcissism was traits appear to be a function of low rates of femininity (not necessarily
now also associated with more femininity suggesting the residual of high rates of masculinity). We conclude that high masculinity and low
narcissism was both feminine and masculine. femininity (in particular) are part of the coordinated system of ex-
Like above, we tested whether sex differences in the Dark Triad ploitation found in the Dark Triad traits.
traits were a function of gender roles. However, because there were no
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