Understanding the Dark Triad Personality Traits

Narcissism, psychopathy, Machiavellianism (and sadism)

This essay is based on several lectures I’ve delivered on the Dark Triad personality traits. 

The Dark Triad encompasses 3 traits:

Narcissism: Encompasses an exaggerated sense of entitled self-importance, a need for admiration, and a lack of empathy

Psychopathy: The hallmarks for this trait include a disregard for others, impulsivity, a strong need for arousal and stimulation, and a tendency towards aggression

Machiavellianism: Characterized by strategic exploitation and duplicity. People who score highly on this trait are manipulative, cynical, and hold opportunistic attitudes towards people and organizations. 

To be clear, these traits exist on a spectrum. Dark Triad personality scales in particular are designed to measure subclinical psychopathy, narcissism, and Machiavellianism. 

In other words, these scales are designed so that people fall on a normal distribution; most of us have some amount of these traits. However, if you meet someone who scores in the top 1% of the Dark Triad, this person is someone you’d want to avoid. 

Relatedly, clinical and forensic psychologists use scales and checklists that have score thresholds. What this means is if you score above a certain cutoff, you would qualify as having Narcissistic Personality Disorder, or Psychopathy, or a related condition called Antisocial Personality Disorder). To some extent, this cut off is arbitrary—the difference between scoring, say, a 30 instead of a 29 on a psychopathy checklist isn’t going to suddenly make you go from being a nice person to being a monster. 

Still, lines have to be drawn somewhere for social, functional, and legal purposes. Just as we do with legally defining someone as an adult (is there a large difference between age 17 and 18?) or weight for child car seats (does it really matter if a kid weighs 64 pounds versus 65?) or academic exams (is there really a difference between someone who barely passes a test versus someone who barely fails?). 

I should also note here that in popular culture, people often conflate psychopathy and psychosis. These are very different concepts.

Someone who is psychopathic has a distorted emotional and moral compass, but they clearly understand how to appear “normal” to other people. They work very carefully to present the mask of social acceptability.

In contrast, someone who is psychotic has lost their grip on reality and experiences a disturbance in their core experience of self. They have behavioral and cognitive deficits and have a difficult time managing how they appear to the outside world. Someone experiencing psychosis would not be able to perceive what is socially appropriate and project a mask of normalcy.

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Let’s delve into each of these traits.

There are actually two different types of narcissism: Grandiose and vulnerable.

Both of them share some core features: Grandiose and vulnerable narcissists are self-centered, shallow, entitled, antagonistic, and hostile. Both believe they deserve special treatment.

But there are key differences as well.

What characterizes a grandiose narcissist? This is the type of narcissist measured in the Dark Triad scales. Researchers who study the Dark Triad are interested in grandiose as opposed to vulnerable narcissism.

Grandiosity is associated with low neuroticism, high extraversion, greater levels of energy and happiness, overconfidence, an imperviousness to insults or setbacks, and a greater willingness to self-promote, brag, and name-drop. I say grandiose narcissists are a wolf in wolf’s clothing. You can spot these guys from a mile away. I say guys, because men generally score higher on grandiose narcissism than women.

At moderate levels, some grandiosity might be advantageous, but at a certain level it can cause problems for both the individual and for those around them. You want a fighter pilot or a surgeon to be confident (as long as the confidence is based on competence and not arrogance) and have low emotional distress. But too much grandiosity might land you in prison and wreck your relationships with others.

Here are some sample items that measure grandiosity in research participants (1= strongly disagree; 5 = strongly agree):

•       Others’ opinions of me are of little concern to me.

•       I get lots of enjoyment from entertaining others.

•       Someday I believe that most people will know my name.

•       Others say I brag too much, but everything I say is true.

Unsurprisingly, men tend to score higher on grandiose narcissism. I just want to highlight that all of us have a bit of these traits within us. Very few of us would select “strongly disagree” on every single item, which implies that most of us are a little bit narcissistic. A grandiose narcissist, though, is someone who would respond “strongly agree” to many of these items.

Then there’s vulnerable narcissism. Again, this facet of narcissism is not captured by the Dark Triad, but I think it’s important to understand that narcissism is complex and is not limited to just grandiosity.

Vulnerable narcissists are sometimes called “covert” or “hidden” or “shy” narcissists. They are prone to shame, humiliation, and depression. Unlike grandiose narcissists, vulnerable narcissists score highly on neuroticism and are more unhappy than average. They are prone to envy and denigrate others and their accomplishments. People who score highly on vulnerable narcissism crave status and recognition, but are often disappointed when they achieve it. They are extremely sensitive to insults and really don’t like being belittled. They are also more likely to lash out at others or seek revenge if they feel they are not respected. I call them a wolf in sheep’s clothing, because you often don’t know when you’re dealing with a vulnerable narcissist. Vulnerable narcissists are good at concealing this aspect of themselves, whereas grandiose narcissists let people know who they are up front. Interestingly, unlike with grandiosity, there are no sex differences in vulnerable narcissism.

Here are some sample items that measure vulnerable narcissism:

•       I often feel as if I need compliments from others in order to be sure of myself.

•       It really makes me angry when I don’t get what I deserve.

•       When I realize I have failed at something, I feel humiliated.

•       I often interpret the remarks of others in a personal way.

Those are the two facets of narcissism. Again, very few of us would strongly disagree with all of these items. But someone who consistently strongly agrees with these statements would exemplify a vulnerable narcissist.  

Now we’ll move to psychopathy. This has been described as the “darkest” of the three Dark Triad traits. It is associated with callousness, cruelty, and a disregard for other people.

It was originally described by a psychiatrist named Hervey Cleckley as a “mask of sanity.” True psychopaths are mentally unwell, but often come across as normal. The Dark Triad isn’t intended to measure clinical levels of psychopathy or narcissism, but people who score very highly on the Dark Triad scales are people who would likely have severe challenges in their personal lives.

People who are high in Dark Triad psychopathy are habitual social comparers. People who are psychopathically-oriented constantly implicitly monitor where they are on the social ladder relative to others. They have what’s called shallow or blunted affect; a poverty of emotion, with a reduced ability to feel guilt or remorse. They can fake emotions. Some psychopaths report that they watch movies and TV shows and when they see characters make expressions associated with certain emotions, they will then practice those emotions in the mirror in order to convince others that they are capable of feeling.

Low impulse control is another hallmark of psychopathy. They have difficulty restraining their desires. Around 20-30% of prison inmates are psychopaths.

People high on psychopathy are also interested in creating an attractive appearance. Some studies indicate that people high on the Dark Triad traits are rated as more attractive. But when researchers asked people to wear the same clothes, remove makeup, adopt a neutral facial expression, and so on, they found that people high on the Dark Triad traits were no more attractive than anyone else. It seems that the reason they are rated as attractive is that they invest more time in their appearance than most other people.

Other studies have found that people judge individuals who are high on psychopathy to be more sincere in their emotional expressions than average. This might be because they spend a lot of time honing this ability in order to get along with or exploit other people.

Here are some sample items that measure Dark Triad psychopathy:

•       I like to pick on losers.

•       People who mess with me always regret it.

•       I sometimes get into dangerous situations.

•       I like to get revenge on authorities.

The third trait of the Dark Triad is Machiavellianism. It is marked by strategic exploitation and duplicity. People high on this trait tend to be cynical and suspicious of others’ motives. They are highly self-interested and believe others are as well. When they are the recipient of an act of kindness, their immediate impulse is to respond with intense analysis, trying to figure out why such a kind thing has happened to them, and whether the other person has a hidden motive. This is likely because they themselves have hidden agendas, and believe others around them do as well.

A recent study found that Machiavellians are likely to cancel plans at the last minute if something better comes along.

Similar to psychopaths, Machiavellians have shallow affect and a low ability to experience joy. Unlike people high on grandiose narcissism (who are happier than average), Machiavellians are prone to experiencing depression and anxiety, and often only feel positive emotion when they have successfully duped or taken advantage of another person.

Compared with psychopathy, people high on Machiavellianism tend to have higher impulse control. Machiavellians deploy anger and take risks strategically in the service of longer-term goals.

Here are some sample items that measure Machiavellianism:

•       I like to use clever manipulation to get my way.

•       It’s wise to keep track of information that you can use against people later.

•       You should wait for the right time to get back at people.

•       It’s not wise to tell your secrets.

Logan Roy from HBO’s Succession would score very highly on trait Machiavellianism, as would his three youngest children. Logan sometimes asks people, “What’s your angle?” This character thinks others have a hidden agenda, and thinks poorly of them if they don’t.

So we’ve described the three Dark Triad traits. Let’s investigate whether any of them predict status pursuit and status attainment.

What do you think, do people high on these traits desire lots of status? Are they more likely to pursue it, and to attain it?

Among the Big Five personality traits, the Dark Triad is most highly correlated with disagreeableness. That is, agreeable people tend to score low on these traits, and disagreeable people are more likely to score highly.

The relationship between disagreeableness and the Dark Triad is moderate to large in terms of effect size, hovering around r = .3 to .4. We’re not getting into statistics in these lectures, but it’s worth noting that those are fairly large correlation coefficients in personality psychology research.

Predictably, narcissists assign great value to acquiring fame, wealth, and leadership positions. Narcissism does predict a small boost in income as well. However, the link between narcissism and status attainment is inconsistent. High-status people do tend to be more narcissistic than average; but narcissistic individuals are not more likely to have high status.

Think of it like height and basketball. Generally, professional basketball players are tall, height is a necessity to play in the NBA. However, not all tall people are professional basketball players.

Similarly, high status people are more narcissistically oriented than average, and a bit of narcissism is likely necessary to be motivated to pursue and attain status. However, not all narcissists achieve prominence and fame and fortune.

Why doesn’t narcissism predict status? There’s an idea called the chocolate cake model of narcissism, discussed by the personality psychologist W. Keith Campbell in his book The New Science of Narcissism. Chocolate cake looks good, and for the first few bites it tastes great. But if you eat too much, it makes you sick.

Narcissism is similar. Narcissists tend to make great first impressions. They look good (remember, they spend a lot of time on their appearance) and they enjoy social attention, and are often good conversationalists, so long as the topic is themselves. But after a while, people catch on, and narcissists have to move on. They make good first impressions, but it doesn’t last.

Then there’s psychopathy. Psychopathically oriented people are more impulsive and more inclined to take risks in order to attain status.

Here’s a sample item from the status-driven risk-taking scale: “I would enjoy being a famous and powerful person, even if it meant a high risk of assassination.”

People who score highly on Dark Triad psychopathy are much more likely to answer yes to this question. Among the three Dark Triad traits, psychopathy is by far the strongest predictor of status-driven risk-taking.

However, though they have the drive to attain status, people high on this trait are not more likely to attain it. Psychopathy has no statistical relationship with either income or occupational prestige. This might be because psychopathic people tend to be impulsive, which is not necessarily a good trait to have when seeking prominence.

However, my speculation is that although most psychopaths do not attain high status, high-status people are more likely to score highly on this trait.

Numbers vary depending on the scale used and the specific sample tested, but broadly, in the general population, about 2 percent of adults can be classified as psychopaths.

In prisons, unsurprisingly, the number is around 20 to 30 percent. Interestingly, though, for many white collar occupations, such as business executives and people who work in advertising, the number is about 13 percent. This is smaller than for prisons, but also far higher than the general population. Robert Hare, the world’s foremost expert on psychopathy, has characterized these types as organizational psychopaths, or corporate psychopaths. They likely have higher impulsive control than is typical for psychopathy, but still possess the hallmarks of callousness, cynicism, exploitative behavior, and so on.

What’s also interesting is that about 8 percent of college students are psychopaths. Some of this might be due to age. Young people score higher on Dark Triad traits. A clinical psychologist once told me that he was taught during his training not to use adult psychopathy scales on teenage boys. The reason was that a false positive was likely to result. Anyway, my sense is that high-pressure academic environments in which there is a lot of status to be obtained might attract people who are psychopathically oriented. Again, think of the basketball analogy.

Finally, there’s Machiavellianism. This trait predicts a slight increase in income and leadership. However, it has been proposed that intelligence is what’s called a moderator for the effectiveness of this trait. Basically, for people high in intelligence, Machiavellianism is linked to higher earnings. But for people with low intelligence, Machiavellianism is actually linked to lower earnings. It’s possible, then, that smart people know how and when to employ strategic duplicity and manipulative tactics to their advantage. Less adept people might try to use such strategies and fumble, or get caught out, and thus spoil their ambitions.

This is likely the case for the other Dark Triad traits as well. High intelligence amplifies their effectiveness, and low intelligence causes these traits to backfire. This is speculation, but I think there’s a similar pattern for autism as well. Autism is actually, on average, correlated with lower intelligence. But for highly intelligent people, some of the traits associated with this condition might be beneficial for certain kinds of tasks.

Overall, I think there is an availability bias issue here for the Dark Triad and success. If I ask you, are exploitative and duplicitous people more likely to achieve fame and fortune? You’ll ask yourself, “Can I think of a rich and famous person who is exploitative and duplicitous? Yes!” You might not consider all the people who have such traits who are not rich and famous. Many of these people are in prison or live on the margins of society, having burned so many bridges in their social relationships with their manipulative or abusive behavior.

Most people who have these traits do not achieve fame and fortune.

The overall picture is that psychopathy is likely detrimental for status attainment. Machiavellianism appears to be beneficial for those with higher intelligence. Grandiose narcissism is likely helpful in small amounts. These are the general findings. Narcissism has the most consistent link with status. Unlike with psychopaths and Machiavellians, narcissists enjoy being admired. They are generally prestige-oriented, as opposed to dominance-oriented. They don’t typically get a thrill from duping or hurting others.

In sum, the link between Dark Triad traits and status is tenuous. People generally despise bullies, manipulation, and cruelty. Remember, we are self-domesticated apes who are hyper-sensitive to people who exert unwanted dominance.

Some researchers are now investigating at a fourth associated trait and have proposed a “Dark Tetrad” model. The proposed fourth trait is sadism, along with the aforementioned three traits we’ve been discussing. I’m unaware of any research looking specifically at the link between sadism and status-seeking, but figured I’d mention this for the sake of completeness.

One researcher named Delroy Paulhus has described the difficulties of testing sadism in experimental settings. One method he and his colleagues used: studies in which participants were led to believe they could kill insects using a machine.

The insects had cute names like “Muffin” and “Tootsie.” Participants had the option to place the insects onto the machine and press down to kill them. The machine made a loud “grinding sound” similar to coffee beans. Some participants really enjoyed the task, crunching lots of insects, and asking the experimenters if they had any more they could kill. These people scored highly on sadism. Other participants were horrified by the task and asked to leave. These individuals scored low on sadism. By the way, in reality, the machine was rigged so that no bugs were actually harmed in the study.

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A person who scores relatively high on the Dark Triad traits is generally high functioning and blends into most groups. They tend to have outwardly successful lives but have a negative effect on the people close to them and the organizations they're embedded in. 

Because these traits are considered subclinical, they're often invisible to the individual who is exhibiting them. Put differently, a person with high Dark Triad traits doesn’t not walk around thinking, "I'm a psychopath," or, "I'm a malignant narcissist," or, "I'll crush anyone who challenges my authority." Instead, they'll find avenues to express these traits in subtle ways. 

They might create a religious sect, or a political system, or a social group, or an online presence that validates their most toxic qualities. They find ways to seek social permission to be cruel or hateful or destructive, and receive praise for it. They’re (often unconsciously) seeking free rein to indulge their cruelty and their desire to treat others viciously.

There is research indicating that online trolling behavior is correlated with Dark Triad traits. Psychopathic and narcissistic people frequently experience glee when provoking, insulting, and humiliating others. 

They’ll seek allies to cheer them on who also believe they're on the correct side. 

A person with a Dark Triad personality style will often identify specific individuals to go after, to injure, or humiliate, or torment. If the person who's being attacked responds with anger, that's often seen as confirmation that the accusations from the Dark Triad person are true. Otherwise why would behave so defensively? Of course, there’s a double-bind here–if the target of the attacks doesn’t respond defensively, that too suggests that they are guilty. The aim isn’t truth, but confirmation bias—the Dark Triad person wants to validate his or her cruelty while simultaneously denying that this is their motive. 

So there’s this delicate mix of self-delusion, social manipulation, and a resistance to being challenged.

A hallmark of these traits is power-seeking, and the desire to dominate. 

People high on Machiavellianism agree that it’s okay to cheat and cut corners. And tend to behave in a more exploitative way in experimental lab settings. A recent study found that Machiavellians are likely to cancel plans at the last minute if something better comes along.

People who are high on psychopathy, narcissism, and Machiavellianism constantly operate from a strategic perspective, implicitly asking themselves, "What can I get out of this encounter?" or “How can I materially benefit from this interaction?” 

One common strategy they use is to curate a persona that will help them optimize the outcomes that they're looking for. If they’re trying to have as many romantic or sexual conquests as possible, they will adopt the persona required to do that. If they need to secure trust in a business organization or from a sales client, they’ll adopt that persona. 

Depending on which of these traits is more or less dominant, people will manipulate others around them to extract specific rewards. 

-If someone is primarily narcissistically oriented, they’ll seek proof that they’re valuable, that others approve of them, or that they’re envied for their personal attributes or their material possessions. 

-For psychopathically inclined people, they seek to exert power over others, because one-upping others and dominating others is a source of arousal for them. As the clinical psychologist Jonathan Shedler has written, “Others may puzzle over the person’s motive for manipulation or cruelty where there seems little to be gained. The reason is: because they can. Dominance and exerting power over another are their own rewards."

-For people who are particularly high on Machiavellianism, they aim to manipulate the social world and strangle it in order to ensure that they own the channels through which security and pleasure and resources flow to them. 

Interestingly, while narcissism and psychopathy are both highly heritable at around 60-70%, Machiavellianism has low heritability at about 30%, suggesting Machiavellianism is primarily the result of environmental effects. 

Often, underneath these traits is an ocean of unfelt feelings and unmet needs. People with these traits deal with their emotional dysregulation by taking action, and constantly feeling the need to move forward—new jobs, different social circles, novel sexual partners, new experiences in the form of thrill-seeking or substance abuse, and so on. 

Anything that makes them feel anything can be experienced as an attack, and depending on their temperament or their predisposition, they’ll launch defenses to make sure that those feelings are held at bay.

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Studies indicate that people with high Dark Triad scores are more likely to support extremist political ideologies. Interestingly, the research makes clear that such people are overrepresented on both the far-right and the far-left, with one team of researchers concluding that “some leftist political activists do not actually strive for social justice and equality but rather use political activism to endorse or exercise violence against others to satisfy their own ego-focused needs.”

Relatedly, each trait seems to be accompanied by a pernicious belief. 

-The narcissistic belief is, "I can and should be perfect, and I deserve the resources to be as perfect as possible" This person will manipulate or harass or abuse others in order to at least provide the illusion that they are perfect and will attack anyone who doesn’t validate that illusion. 

-The psychopathic belief is, "I can make anything happen." Without this belief, psychopathic people fall into what some criminologists describe as the “zero state.” They require constant stimulation to avoid boredom, which feels deadening to psychopaths. They have a particularly pronounced need for hyper arousing experiences, and will take action in order to seek stimulation in order to avoid feelings of impotence. 

-The Machiavellian belief is, "I can own anything I want, including people." This mindset leads to a manipulative and exploitative approach to relationships, where others are seen as mere tools to achieve personal goals. This belief fuels the willingness to deceive, lie, or betray others to maintain control and power.

These traits peak in the late teens and early twenties. My view is that these traits are slightly enhanced during this period because, at moderate levels, these traits are adaptive in young adulthood for achieving success, winning allies, and obtaining romantic partners. But at high levels, they become self-defeating, and you end up ostracized, imprisoned, or dead. Relatedly, I note in my PhD thesis, “clinical researchers have observed that many individuals with high scores on psychopathy and narcissism ‘burn out’ in middle age—that is, scores on such traits decline—and suggest that this ‘may reflect the loss of physical power that occurs at midlife.’” Our psychologies adapt as our bodies deteriorate. When we are young, we can afford to be a bit aggressive and thrill-seeking. Our bodies can handle it. But when we are old, we become more cautious and risk-averse; our personalities become less “Dark” to keep us out of potentially dangerous situations.

Who is most likely to be exploited by people high on these Dark Triad traits? Psychopaths are especially adept at pinpointing potential victims based on “walking gait,” or people’s bodily movements when they walk. In the same way that a jaguar on the hunt can sense which deer is vulnerable, a social predator can detect which fellow human is exploitable. Relatedly, from The Last Psychiatrist: “If a street hustler challenges you to a game of 3 card monte you don't need to bother to play, just hand him the money, not because you're going to lose but because you owe him for the insight: he selected you. Whatever he saw in you everyone sees in you.”

For what it’s worth, there’s no evidence that people high on the Dark Triad are smarter. There is no relationship between intelligence as measured by IQ tests and any of the DT traits.

The misconception that people high on the Dark Triad are also intelligent is likely due to some combination of interaction effects and the availability bias. In short, people who are both intelligent and high on the Dark Triad can be particularly effective. Moreover, people who are intelligent and high on the DT often stand out in our minds; we pay attention to and remember them. Thus, people come to believe that there is a general link between IQ and the DT, when in reality only a few people who are very high on both traits receive enough attention that they become prominent in our minds. 

Of the three Dark Triad traits, psychopathy is the most likely to damage people’s chances of success. This is likely because psychopathy is accompanied by impulsivity and hostility. A hallmark of psychopathy is low conscientiousness, so they can’t control their own aggression. They get into trouble with the law and get shunted into lower levels of society.

Narcissism, in contrast, is weakly correlated with occupational success and leadership roles, including in politics. Perhaps because of narcissists’ outsized confidence, which can motivate them to take social risks.