People High On Dark Triad Personality Traits Employ Distinct Defense Mechanisms
Passive aggression, denial, and autistic fantasy
The Dark Triad encompasses three personality traits:
Narcissism (grandiosity, self-importance, entitlement)
Psychopathy (callousness, cynicism, impulsivity)
Machiavellianism (strategically exploitative, duplicitous, manipulative)
The Light Triad is a constellation of three prosocial traits:
Humanism (appreciation of the successes and creations of others)
Kantianism (tendency toward behaving with integrity and honesty rather than deceit and charm)
Faith in humanity (believing that people are generally good and worthy of trust)
To be clear, both the Light and Dark Triad concepts exist on a spectrum. There is a bit of both in all of us. But a person who scores particularly high on one or the other would be someone you’d either trust or avoid.
In a 2019 study titled “The Light vs. Dark Triad of Personality: Contrasting Two Very Different Profiles of Human Nature,” researchers asked people how much they agreed with statements like:
“I tend to applaud the successes of other people” and “I enjoy listening to people from all walks of life” (Humanism)
“I prefer honesty over charm” and “When I talk to people, I am rarely thinking about what I want from them” (Kantianism)
“I tend to see the best in people” and “I tend to trust that other people will deal fairly with me” (Faith in humanity)
Here, I’ll discuss how each personality constellation (Dark Triad and Light Triad) relates to relationship styles, the Big Five personality traits, defense mechanisms, earnings, and other interesting variables.
Relationship styles differ between people high on the Dark vs. Light Triad.
People high on the Dark Triad experience more insecurity in their relationships. They agree more with statements such as, “In relationships, I often worry that my partner does not really love me” and “I am nervous when anyone gets too close.”
When you think about it, there are good reasons for Dark Triad types to be more insecure.
Toxic people are usually fun to be around at first. But as they reveal themselves, people tend to be repelled. People high on narcissism often make very good first impressions, but gradually the glow fades as people discover the empty void beneath the charming surface.
The personality psychologist W. Keith Campbell has proposed the “Chocolate Cake Model” for narcissistic romantic partners:
“Narcissistic relationships usually start with a big rush of satisfaction and then end with a full-on collapse. With non-narcissists, the initial rush doesn’t exist, but satisfaction grows over time—and doesn’t end in a crash.”
In contrast, people high on the Light Triad were more secure.
The Big Five personality trait most closely linked to the Dark Triad is agreeableness. Effect sizes typically range of r = -.4 to r = -.6.
And the Light Triad is positively correlated with agreeableness (r = .68).
In short, people high on the Dark Triad tend to be very disagreeable. And people high on the Light Triad tend to be quite agreeable.
For other traits:
People high on the Light Triad and the Dark Triad are slightly more extraverted than average. Both types have a slim preference for being around others.
People with Dark Triad traits are a little more neurotic than average, while people high on the Light Triad are less neurotic than average.
How does each personality constellation relate to people’s defense mechanisms in response to unpleasant emotions like anxiety and embarrassment?
Interesting findings:
People high on the Dark Triad are more likely to use immature defense mechanism (r = .53) including passive aggression, denial, and autistic fantasy (e.g., responding to emotional conflict with excessive daydreaming)
In contrast, people high on the Light Triad were less likely to use immature defense mechanisms (r = -.33)
People high on Light Triad traits were more likely to respond to negative emotion with mature defense mechanisms including humor, anticipation (e.g., attempting to solve similar future problems before they arise) and sublimation (e.g., working through anxiety by doing something creative or productive)
In contrast, there was no correlation between Dark Triad traits and mature defense mechanisms
In short, people high on the Dark Triad respond to negative emotion by taking it out on others, or withdrawing into themselves.
Conversely, people high on Light Triad traits respond to negative emotion by using humor, seeking solutions, or through creative or productive pursuits.
People high on Dark Triad traits carry more guilt. They are more likely to agree with statements like “If something bad happens to me I feel I must have deserved it” and “I do not deserve other people’s respect or admiration.”
People high on Light Triad traits are less likely to agree with such statements.
Which is interesting. It makes sense that Dark personality types would feel more guilt. Still, it’s interesting that they tend to agree that they deserve to experience bad things and don’t deserve other’s respect or admiration.
These are things Dark Triad types crave.
But it’s one thing to desire something. It’s another to feel you deserve it.
Unsurprisingly, people high on the Dark Triad are more likely to engage in conspicuous consumption. They enjoy displaying their social position through material goods and imagery.
Light Triad types are less likely to engage in conspicuous consumption.
Dark Triad positively correlates with belief in utilitarian moral judgments (sacrificing smaller number of people to save a larger number; think Thanos or Ozymandias). The Light Triad negatively correlates with endorsement of this kind of “ends justify the means” thinking.
Interestingly, scores for both Dark and Light Triads have a small positive relationship with income. And the effect for both is the same (r = .09).
Put differently, Dark Triad traits correlate with slightly higher earnings. And Light Triad traits also correlate with slightly higher earnings.
Two different paths to $.
And both were positively related to self-esteem. Though the Light Triad (r = .27) had a stronger association than the Dark Triad (r = .18).
Two different paths to sense of personal worth.
People high on the Light Triad likely derive their self-esteem from helping others, while people high on the Dark Triad derive their feelings of worth by helping themselves.
Age is negatively correlated with the Dark Triad, meaning that younger adults score significantly higher on dark traits than older adults.
And age is positively correlated with the Light Triad. Older adults have a more positive view of humanity than younger adults.
This could be because older adults are more secure in their positions and in their identity. They have some wealth, they have some status, they have a romantic partner. Less need to use deception to impress others.
Young adults are still early in their journey, trying to establish their careers, find a romantic partner, make friends, etc. This requires some assertiveness and antagonism and inveigling. Which is often accompanied by guilt if they go too far. And followed up with suboptimal coping responses. I get it. I don’t think I was fully human until I reached my mid-twenties. And even then I still had to exert what felt like a lot of effort to activate the abilities of perspective-taking, empathy, suppression of impulsivity and self-centeredness, and so on. Probably lots of guys can relate when they look back.
As people age, they tend to calm down once they’ve found some success and figured out who they are. Though I also wonder how much physiological decline plays a role here. Perhaps when we’re young and strong, we can take more risks and challenge more people. We’re robust. But when our health and strength declines, we take on a kinder outlook to avoid being mired in dangerous situations. Our bodies couldn’t handle it.
I’ve written before about the relationship between childhood instability and later outcomes:
The correlation between unpredictability in childhood and criminal behavior in adulthood is particularly striking (r = .40, p < .01). This correlation is roughly the same size as the correlation between socioeconomic status and SAT scores. The educated class loves to talk about the effect of wealth on test scores. Seldom do they discuss the effect of instability in childhood giving rise to harmful behaviors in adulthood.
Since then, I’ve been curious about how childhood instability affects other life outcomes.
And found that childhood instability is linked to both the Dark Triad and the Light Triad personality traits.
In a 2016 study published in the journal Evolutionary Psychology titled “Resources, Harshness, and Unpredictability: The Socioeconomic Conditions Associated with the Dark Triad Traits,” researchers measured Dark Triad traits in people.
They reported how much they agreed with statements such as:
“Many group activities tend to be dull without me” and “People see me as a natural leader” (Narcissism)
“People who mess with me always regret it” and “I like to pick on losers” (psychopathy)
“It’s wise to keep track of information that you can use against people later” and “Avoid direct conflict with others because they may be useful in the future”
They then responded to various statements about their childhood:
“My parents had a difficult divorce or separation during this time” and “People often moved in and out of my house in a pretty random basis” (childhood instability)
“I grew up in a relatively wealthy neighborhood” and “My family usually had enough money for things when I was growing up” (childhood socioeconomic status)
Researchers found that instability in childhood was associated with all three dimensions of the Dark Triad in adulthood. The strongest link was with psychopathy (r = .23). Across the entire Dark Triad scale, the correlation was r = .20. Not huge, but still noteworthy. Roughly equivalent to the link between grades and future earnings.
The effect was especially large for men, relative to women. That is, boys raised in unstable homes were particularly likely to have high Dark Triad scores in adulthood.
Interestingly, childhood socioeconomic status had no association with Dark Triad traits in adulthood.
Being poor doesn’t have the same effect as living in chaos.
As the researchers conclude:
“All people may have the potential to be high or low on the Dark Triad traits…exposure to specific conditions is the precipitating factor, which determines people trait activation and position on the Dark Triad continuum. Experiences (or at the very least, recollection of) of childhood unpredictability may be some of the prerequisite conditions to activate the dormant selfishness, competitiveness, and antisociality found in the Dark Triad traits.”
The psychologist and author Tamás Bereczkei has written that, “Although genetic factors may have a certain role in the development of the Machiavellian lifestyle and thinking, Machiavellianism is primarily a result of environmental effects.”
Others have suggested that environmental factors can affect the behavioral expression of psychopathy.
Robert Hare, the foremost expert on psychopathy, has written, “social factors and parenting practices help to shape the behavioral expression of psychopathy, but have less effect on the inability to feel empathy or develop a conscience. No amount of social conditioning by itself will generate a capacity for caring.” Hare is saying that the psychology of psychopaths can’t be changed.
But the behavioral expression of psychopathy can be shaped by parental and environmental factors. For fans of the TV series Dexter, this was the reasoning behind “the code of Harry.” Dexter’s adoptive father recognized that Dexter would always have the desire to kill. So he directed Dexter’s impulse away from innocent people.
To be clear, the Dark Triad is not a diagnostic tool for mental disorders. It measures subclinical psychopathy and narcissism. Though if someone scores at the uppermost end of those sub-scales, they might qualify for an official diagnosis.
In a real life case of psychopathy, a few years ago a neuroscientist named James Fallon discovered that he himself is a psychopath. He was once a self-proclaimed genetic determinist, but later changed his mind. He considered how his warm upbringing constrained his darker impulses, and said, “I was loved, and that protected me.” Fallon believes that had he been raised in a different environment (i.e., not in an intact middle-class family), his life would look very different today. I’m personally skeptical that love alone was enough (though it’s not nothing). Rigid rules, good role models, limited avenues for destructive choices, and many other factors likely played a role in steering him away from a ruinous life.
Instability in childhood was negatively associated with Light Triad traits (r = -.21). In other words, the more unstable a person’s childhood, the lower their scores on the Light Triad.
Childhood socioeconomic status had no relationship with Light Triad traits in adulthood. This mirrors the finding that childhood socioeconomic status did not predict Dark Triad traits in adulthood.
In short, having an unstable childhood appears to lead to an increase in deception, coldness, impulsivity, and aggression. And a decrease in kindness, trust, generosity, and honesty.
If we want less psychopathic behavior and more humanistic behavior, promoting stable and secure homes and environments for children would be a good place to start.
I thought the observation that Dark Triads are more prone to conspicuous consumption and displays of social status really interesting. Would like to know more about this kind of signaling.
Promoting stable homes for kids makes sense…except that the unstable people creating unstable homes don’t give a f*ck about the needs of their kids; they are entirely wrapped up in their own needs. We need solutions for dealing with these unstable people hell-bent on creating destruction and misery wherever they go.