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6. The Dark Triad of Personality
Created @August 11, 2025 3:15 PM
Class PS2050
The Dark Triad
Paulhus and Williams (2002)
All three entail a socially malevolent character with behaviour tendencies
toward self- promotion, emotional coldness, duplicity, and aggressiveness
Psychopathy Machiavellianism Narcissism
Callousness and Manipulative, Pursuing ego
impulsivity exploitative, gratification and
calculating, amoral vanity
Enduring antisocial
and bold behaviour All for personal Sense of
gain superiority
First considered
within clinical never considered Initially linked with
populations but within clinical social aversive
now considered populations personality within a
within subclinical clinical population
Contradictory
views as but this does not
findings
psychopathy is not capture the range
always related to of narcissistic
poor mental health behaviours
Research To Support Dark Triad Traits
Trait Method Results
Psychopathy Hypothesised psychopathy is Advantages to
Ray and Ray 1982 merely an extreme of normal having
personality traits psychopathic traits
6. The Dark Triad of Personality 1
, MMPI “PD” scale was high “PD” scores
administered together with associated w/
other scales to a sample(128) honesty (low lie
scale scores),
The resulting sample showed a permissiveness,
representative demographic good perceived
structure relationships with
others, rejections
of being tough and
punitiveness
High
machiavellianism
Cluster analytic study
scores low
675 uni students anonymously
correlation w/
completed an online survey
Machiavellianism depression levels
Bianchi and Mirkovic 2020
Depression: PHQ-9
No substantial link
Machiavellianism: Mach-IV
btwn M and
inventory
student
satisfaction
Patients w/
Delusional Disorder
showed impaired
executive
machiavellianism linked with functioning (task)
delusional disorder and other correlated to
mental health issues greater
Machiavellianism
fMRI and cognitive task
Machiavellianism
similar to findings in
Brüne et al 2010
22 w/ delusion disorder 22 patients w/
healthy control Parkinson‘s,
(matched for sex, intelligence, indicates frontal
and education, no diff btw lobe dysfunction
groups) may influence
interpersonal
attitudes and
personality in
Delusional Disorder
Narcissim five independent non-clinical Findings provided
Papageorgiou et al 2023 cross-cultural samples (3649) cross-cultural
support for a
6. The Dark Triad of Personality 2
6. The Dark Triad of Personality
Created @August 11, 2025 3:15 PM
Class PS2050
The Dark Triad
Paulhus and Williams (2002)
All three entail a socially malevolent character with behaviour tendencies
toward self- promotion, emotional coldness, duplicity, and aggressiveness
Psychopathy Machiavellianism Narcissism
Callousness and Manipulative, Pursuing ego
impulsivity exploitative, gratification and
calculating, amoral vanity
Enduring antisocial
and bold behaviour All for personal Sense of
gain superiority
First considered
within clinical never considered Initially linked with
populations but within clinical social aversive
now considered populations personality within a
within subclinical clinical population
Contradictory
views as but this does not
findings
psychopathy is not capture the range
always related to of narcissistic
poor mental health behaviours
Research To Support Dark Triad Traits
Trait Method Results
Psychopathy Hypothesised psychopathy is Advantages to
Ray and Ray 1982 merely an extreme of normal having
personality traits psychopathic traits
6. The Dark Triad of Personality 1
, MMPI “PD” scale was high “PD” scores
administered together with associated w/
other scales to a sample(128) honesty (low lie
scale scores),
The resulting sample showed a permissiveness,
representative demographic good perceived
structure relationships with
others, rejections
of being tough and
punitiveness
High
machiavellianism
Cluster analytic study
scores low
675 uni students anonymously
correlation w/
completed an online survey
Machiavellianism depression levels
Bianchi and Mirkovic 2020
Depression: PHQ-9
No substantial link
Machiavellianism: Mach-IV
btwn M and
inventory
student
satisfaction
Patients w/
Delusional Disorder
showed impaired
executive
machiavellianism linked with functioning (task)
delusional disorder and other correlated to
mental health issues greater
Machiavellianism
fMRI and cognitive task
Machiavellianism
similar to findings in
Brüne et al 2010
22 w/ delusion disorder 22 patients w/
healthy control Parkinson‘s,
(matched for sex, intelligence, indicates frontal
and education, no diff btw lobe dysfunction
groups) may influence
interpersonal
attitudes and
personality in
Delusional Disorder
Narcissim five independent non-clinical Findings provided
Papageorgiou et al 2023 cross-cultural samples (3649) cross-cultural
support for a
6. The Dark Triad of Personality 2
