Class 34

The Dark Triad

of Personality
 NARCISSIST

MACHIAVELLIAN PSYCHOPATH

The Dark Triad

 First distinguished by

Paulhus & Williams (2002)

 Narcissist: egotistical attention-seeker

 Machiavellian: strategic manipulation

 Psychopath: impulsive thrill-seeker

What is the common factor?

callousness
N

M P
CLINICAL LEVEL
-serious problems
-requires professional intervention

SUB-CLINICAL LEVEL
-mild version, can manage in everyday
society
-BUT maladaptive because aversive to
others
Psychopath
Clinical version
 key features:

 impulsive & callous

 Most of adult life spent in prison

Subclinical Version

The Successful Psychopath:

 milder or paired with a desirable

attribute

 Has avoided prison – so far

 Dark Niches: Bullies, nasty bosses

 Hockey Goons

-paid big salary to be nasty

- often nasty outside of sport
 e.g.,

- drill instructors in military

- paid to toughen you up
Narcissist
Clinical Version

 SYNDROME

 Sense of superiority
 Constant bragging
 Feels entitled to superior treatment
 Needs attention

 WHY?
 Deep insecurity
Sub-clinical Version
 SYNDROME

 Begins with conceit – i.e., true belief?

 Usually have some desirable attribute

 e.g., admired celebrities

 Acquired narcissism?

 Can encourage destructive behavior

 Examples – harmless?

Charlie Sheen Lindsay Lohan

Not so harmless ?

Donald Trump
The Machiavellian
Niccolo Machiavelli
history
 Advisor to the Medici family in Italy (ca. 1500)

 To succeed in politics, you must manipulate

others

 TACTICS: e.g., flatter important people

 EXCUSE: Most people are ignorant and deserve

to be manipulated
Ancient Precedent

Sun-Tzu:

The Art of War

(ca. 500 B.C.)
Bernie Madoff

Financial manipulator
Relations among the DARK TRIAD:

Q: are they actually the same person?

A: No, but positively correlated

Q: Are they mutually exclusive?

A: No, they can be found in the same person.
 OUR RESEARCH
 Designed to differentiate the Dark Triad

 Used questionnaires to predict actual

behavior
 WHO CHEATS ?

 A. Copying answers during exams

 Subclinical psychopaths

B. Plagiarizing term papers

•Machiavellians
WHO AGGRESSES?

Jones & Paulhus study

(2013)
 white noise paradigm

 Advertised as Competitive Game Study

Results

 DEPENDS ON PROVOCATION

 Narcissists aggressed after being

insulted

 Psychopaths aggressed after being

attacked
CONCLUSIONS
Summary of D3 Features

 Narcissists feel entitled to privileged treatment

 Psychopaths impulsively hurt others

 Machiavellians manipulate to get what they want

 All are callous

 They can co-occur

Hitler Stalin

Gadhafi