Investigating the psychology of dark personalities 1

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Personality psychology

Investigating the psychology of dark personalities

Investigating the psychology of dark personalities

When conducting research in personality psychology, certain seemingly similar traits

are separated into groups for ease of research. This process can be detrimental to the future

study of psychological phenomena that are boxed into these groups if the links between them

are not strong. The Dark Tetrad (referred to as DT in this essay) is a group of personality traits

clumped together as a result of their “evil” nature (Book et al., 2016). Evidence suggests that

this simplification and conjoining of the traits of psychopathy, narcissism, Machiavellianism

and sadism is non-sensical (Jones & Neria, 2015; Pajevic, Vukosavljević-Gvozden,

Stevanovic, & Neumann, 2018; Rogoza & Cieciuch, 2020). The practical absence of literature

including sadism as a part of the DT forces this essay to focus mainly on the remaining traits.

A multitude of studies indicate narcissism to be largely a separate construct from its

counterparts in the DT (Buckels, Trapnell, & Paulhus, 2014; Crysel, Crosier, & Webster, 2013;

Peter K. Jonason & Krause, 2013; Jones & Neria, 2015; Pajevic et al., 2018). Additionally,

various studies highlight the immense similarities between psychopathy and Machiavellianism

and speculate on whether the latter should be considered a sub-section of psychopathy (P. K.

Jonason et al., 2017; Lyons & Brockman, 2017; Trahair, Baran, Flakus, Kowalski, & Rogoza,

2020). The gap between the sub-clinical traits of Machiavellianism and sadism and the

classified personality constructs of psychopathy and narcissism is misleading and thus the

concept of a Dark Dyad has been suggested (Miller, Hyatt, Maples-Keller, Carter, & Lynam,

2017; Rogoza & Cieciuch, 2020; Rogoza et al., 2020). This essay will explore the literature

surrounding research conducted in relation to the DT traits, and argue that despite the links

between them, the model of the DT must be altered in order for its use to remain justified.

The DT traits are linked in a psychological sense. Narcissism involves “a pursuit of

gratification from vanity” and causes a person affected by this trait to become enamoured by

their own attributes (Muris, Merckelbach, Otgaar, & Meijer, 2017). Psychopathy encompasses
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thrill-seeking and unemotional behaviour, with a disregard for others (Paulhus, 2014).

Machiavellianism puts a desire to succeed above all else, including the wellbeing and

manipulation of others, and the main component of everyday sadism is inflicting pain on others

for pleasure (Paulhus, 2014). As Book et al. (2016) discover in their study of 499 undergraduate

students, the core element which binds these traits together is a low level of honesty-humility,

as per the HEXACO model of personality. The HEXACO model also places lower

agreeableness and emotionality as main features of the DT traits. Much of the other research

surrounding the DT indicates that this may be the only link between all the traits.

Research indicates that the link between the DT traits and narcissism is weak, and

suggests that studying these traits through the current method may prove detrimental to future

study. Jones and Neria (2015) explored the traits of narcissism, psychopathy, and

Machiavellianism in relation to dispositional aggression in their study. Due to the callous

nature of each of these traits, they hypothesised that each would be pre-disposed to be more

interpersonally aggressive than the average person. The results from two samples illustrated

that psychopathy and Machiavellianism were both positively associated with hostility, whilst

narcissism had a negative association with the same characteristic (Jones & Neria, 2015). A

study conducted in 2014 with 797 participants explored the DT and their experience of trolling

online (Buckels et al., 2014). Results indicated that sadism, psychopathy, and

Machiavellianism all showed a positive correlation with an enjoyment of trolling, whilst

narcissism showed a negative correlation. In a study of risk behaviour amongst the DT traits,

overall, the traits were positively related to impulsivity and sensation-seeking, as well as higher

blackjack bets (Crysel et al., 2013). However, narcissism in this study was consistently related

to the behavioural risk-taking tasks, and thus it may be the cause of this positive association.

Peter K. Jonason and Krause (2013) concluded through multiple regressions that all DT traits
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were associated with low levels of cognitive empathy, but only psychopathy and

Machiavellianism were correlated with low levels of affective empathy. When comparing the

traits by a two-dimensional view of empathy, Pajevic et al. (2018) highlighted that all dark

traits except narcissism were negatively correlated with total empathy. The researchers of this

study described the DT as being a set of “similar yet distinctive” traits, suggesting that studying

them as one is a poor decision (Pajevic et al., 2018).

One significant limitation of the research conducted in this field of psychology is the

nature of the data collected. Often this data is self-reported, and thus can introduce bias into

the results (Pajevic et al., 2018). Additionally, university level psychology students are often

given course credit to complete such studies, which may lead to additional bias as students may

be aware of the phenomena they are taking part in research for (Pilch, 2020). One other

limitation of this is the lack of research on the separate facets of narcissism; there is barely any

mention of vulnerable narcissism in these studies (Lyons & Brockman, 2017).

As the research exemplifies, narcissism is a separate concept from the traits of

psychopathy, Machiavellianism, and sadism. Making generalisations about each trait as a result

of overarching research may prove damaging to one’s understanding as the links between them

are not as strong as they seem (Jones & Neria, 2015).

Studies suggest that psychopathy and Machiavellianism are highly intercorrelated and

thus should be researched as one personality type, rather than one clinical and one subclinical

trait. Paulhus (2014) discusses that the overall DT should be studied together as correlations

may be applicable to elements of the core, callousness. In the case of psychopathy and

Machiavellianism, this suggests that overlap between the two is so vast that concepts applicable

to one may be attributable to the other. In many studies, the conclusions about
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Machiavellianism and psychopathy are the same, indicating their overlap. One such study

analysed the facial expressions of participants as they viewed emotional video clips (Lyons &

Brockman, 2017). Both Machiavellianism and psychopathy reported a lower emotional

expressivity and identification with negative emotions after viewing a positive video clip.

Trahair et al. (2020) conducted an analysis of the structure of the DT using 1012 participants

responses. The results of the analysis indicated psychopathy and Machiavellianism to be

located in very close proximity, exemplifying their similarity and large overlap (Trahair et al.,

2020). A study of life history strategies amongst the DT implies that both psychopathy and

Machiavellianism are associated with fast life strategies, whilst narcissism was associated with

a slow life strategy (P. K. Jonason et al., 2017). These fast life strategies include early

maturation, high number of detached sexual partners and detached or an absence of parenting

(Csathó & Birkás, 2018).

Some research psychologists argue that Machiavellianism itself is a facet of the broader

term of psychopathy. The correlation between psychopathy and Machiavellianism can be

higher than 0.8 in some cases (Rogoza et al., 2020). A Polish study conducted online by Rogoza

and Cieciuch (2020) suggests that the three-factor (or four-factor with the addition of sadism)

model of the DT should not be used due to the “high theoretical overlap” of Machiavellianism

and psychopathy. They instead propose the concept of a Dark Dyad made up of psychopathy

and Machiavellianism, with narcissism as a separate construct (Rogoza & Cieciuch, 2020). It

is also important to discuss the study completed by Miller et al. (2017) in which the concepts

of Machiavellianism and psychopathy were tested to see their true correlation. The results

indicate that on a purely structural level in the DT, the two concepts are virtually identical.

However, this research is not without limitations. Overall, almost every single study

researched was done using self-report measures, allowing for personal bias to impact the

legitimacy of the results. Additionally, many of these studies use data from educated,
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individualist, rich and democratic regions, and thus little perspective is given on how this model

may be used globally (Rogoza et al., 2020). In some cases, smaller sample sizes may limit the

usefulness of the study. Furthermore, there was often a disparity between sex, with male

participants taking up a lesser portion of the study than females (Lyons & Brockman, 2017).

Overall, psychopathy and Machiavellianism are significantly correlated, which

suggests that results may be skewed by these traits being treated as two different concepts. It

may be useful to combine these two concepts together when studying the DT.

Evidence suggests that the use of a model is key to efficient research (Book et al., 2016;

Rogoza & Cieciuch, 2020; Trahair et al., 2020). Thus, instead of abolishing the model

altogether, some adaptations should be made. Various studies have proposed the key

similarities between the current elements of the DT. Referring back to the analysis completed

by Book et al. (2016), all traits were positively correlated with an exploitative nature and a

sense of entitlement, and negatively correlated with honesty-humility, emotionality and

agreeableness. They found high correlations between the traits of psychopathy,

Machiavellianism, and sadism and thus an overlap does exist across the DT. Additionally, the

researchers suggest that sadism may be a better fit for the model than narcissism as a result of

this high correlation (Book et al., 2016). Muris et al. (2017) argue that psychopathy is likely

the dominant trait amongst the DT, and one can infer that as a result of this the model should

be arranged around a correlation to psychopathy. Thus the current model of the DT is not

appropriate for research purposes and must be altered in order for research to be conducted on

the overall DT rather than individual traits.

In conclusion, the DT brings together a collection of intriguing personality traits.

Although the current model is linked through the concept of callousness, and low honesty-

humility, it is ultimately flawed as the correlation between some members is less than

significant. As argued in this essay, with some adaptations, a more appropriate version of the

model could be used to assist in research. The DT would be vastly improved by the

solidification of sadism as a member of the model in research (Book et al., 2016). The removal

of narcissism, the most weakly correlated trait, would allow for a more interconnected series

of traits which could be researched as one (Pajevic et al., 2018). By combining psychopathy

and Machiavellianism into one, or acknowledging Machiavellianism as a subset of

psychopathy, the DT could become more balanced to avoid the skewing of results towards the

outcomes these traits generally provide (Rogoza et al., 2020). Through consideration of the

research explored in this essay, the model of the DT could become a much more efficient

research tool.
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References

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Buckels, E. E., Trapnell, P. D., & Paulhus, D. L. (2014). Trolls just want to have fun.
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Crysel, L. C., Crosier, B. S., & Webster, G. D. (2013). The Dark Triad and risk behavior.
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Csathó, Á., & Birkás, B. (2018). Early-Life Stressors, Personality Development, and Fast Life
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Miller, J. D., Hyatt, C. S., Maples-Keller, J. L., Carter, N. T., & Lynam, D. R. (2017).
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Pajevic, M., Vukosavljević-Gvozden, T., Stevanovic, N., & Neumann, C. (2018). The
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Rogoza, R., & Cieciuch, J. (2020). Dark Triad traits and their structure: An empirical approach.
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