Lecture 9: The Dark Triad & Dark Tetrad PDF

PERSONALITY PSYU/X2234 Lecture 9: The Dark Triad & the Dark Tetrad A/Prof Simon Boag email: [email protected] 1 Readings (suggested) Furnham, et al. (2013). The Dark Triad of personality: A 10 year review. Social & Personality Psychology Co...

PERSONALITY PSYU/X2234 Lecture 9: The Dark Triad & the Dark Tetrad A/Prof Simon Boag email: [email protected] 1 Readings (suggested) Furnham, et al. (2013). The Dark Triad of personality: A 10 year review. Social & Personality Psychology Compass, 7, 199-216 Koehn et al. (2019). A primer on the Dark Triad traits. Australian Journal of Psychology, 71, 7-15 2 Outline 1. Introduction Narcissism, Psychopathy & Machiavellianism Inter-correlations b/w D3 traits Assessing the Dark Triad 2. The Dark Tetrad (D4) Every sadism 3. The Light Triad Kantianism, Humanism, Faith in humanity 3 1. Introduction Dark Triad: Personality constellation of Psychopathy, Narcissism & Machiavellianism The “new kid on the (personality psychology) block to rival the Big Five” (Jonason et al, 2014) 4 (a) Psychopathy Psychopathy: Predatory, antisocial behaviour Emotional detachment Callous & insensitive Impulsive Lacks empathy Narcissism 5 (b) Narcissism Grandiose self-view: inflated self- importance Excessive need for admiration Lack of empathy & intimacy Sense of entitlement Self-enhancing regulation strategies Overt/covert narcissists (Wink, 1991) Both types self-absorbed & arrogant Overt: grandiose & exhibitionistic Covert: hypersensitive & vulnerable 6 (c) Machiavellianism Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527) Maximising self-interests via deception & disregard for others Cognition: viewing others as weak, stupid, exploitable, manipulative/bad Affect: emotionally detached, low affective empathy Motivation: outcome driven (“Ends justify the Means”); low moral commitment Behaviour: exploitative & deceptive 7 Inter-correlations b/w D3 traits Paulhus & Williams (2002): N = 245 Mach-IV, NPI, SRP-III, Big 5 Assessed intelligence & self- perceptions of intelligence Males > Females on all Dark Triad traits “… the maximum inter-correlation of.50 suggests that they cannot be considered equivalent” (p. 559) 8 9 Are the dark triad traits equivalent? Furnham et al (2013): follow-up review & meta-analysis: All DT correlations positive & significant; ¼ >.50 However: “The lion’s share of research … suggests that any apparent equivalence of the Dark Triad members is illusory” (p. 203) Furnham, et al. (2013). The Dark Triad of personality: A 10 year review. Social & Personality Psychology Compass, 7, 199-216 10  Are the dark triad traits equivalent? Muris et al (2017): meta- Dark triad analysis (N = 42,359) traits “Narcissism, substantially Machiavellianism, & intercorrelate psychopathy, although originally developed as d distinct traits, can be considered as “evil allies of personality” & that it makes sense to study them simultaneously within the context of transgressive behavior” 11 Dark Triad core Narcissism, Psychopathy, Machiavellianism Common element: “… all three entail a socially malevolent character with behaviour tendencies toward self-promotion, emotional coldness, duplicity & aggressiveness” (Paulhus & Williams, 2002) 12 The D3 & unethical behaviour Ternes et al (2019): assessed Academic Misconduct (AM) (eg. copying another student’s work, plagiarising) & D3 (N = 330 uni Ss) c.80% reported AM D3 predicted AM Psychopathy strongest predictor Ternes et al (2019). Academic misconduct: An examination of its association with the dark triad & antisocial behavior. Personality and Individual Differences, 138, 75-78 13 The D3 & unethical behaviour Harrison et al (2018) Study of D3 & online fraud D3 predicted intentional misrepresentation & willingness to profit Harrison, et al (2018) The effects of the Dark Triad on unethical 14 Behavior. Journal of Business Ethics, 153, 53–77 The D3 & selfishness Jonason et al (2015) Study of D3 & moral/social values in samples from US & Germany (N = 1353) Machiavellianism & psychopathy: lack of moral values & devaluing collective interests Narcissism: valuing individualism & self interest; group for self-enhancement D3 & valuing oneself over others Jonason, et al. (2015). Valuing myself over others: The Dark Triad traits & moral 15 & social values. Personality and Individual Differences, 81, 102-106 The D3 & psychosocial factors Muris et al (2017): 22 studies, 46,234 Ss Comparing darkNarcissism Mach Psychopathy triad & psychosocial factors Antisocial behaviour & aggression primarily associated with 16 Assessing the Dark Triad Short Dark Triad (SD3; Jones & Paulhus, 2014); 27 Likert items Mach: Make sure your plans benefit yourself, not others Narcissism: I know that I am special because everyone keeps telling me so Psychopathy: People who mess with me always regret it Jones, D. N., & Paulhus, D. L. (2014). Introducing the short dark triad (SD3): a brief measure of dark personality traits. Assessment, 21, 28-41 17 Problem with self report & the dark triad “We believe that asking individuals to complete a self report questionnaire containing a brief set of negative items describing some antisocial & malevolent features is not the way to go. We have to remind ourselves that the word personality originates from the Latin persona, which means “mask.” This etymological information is highly relevant for individuals scoring high on dark triad traits: narcissists, Machiavellians, & psychopaths often present themselves in a disguised way to other people & tend to wear a mask to hide the darker features of their personality” 18 2. The Dark Tetrad (D4) Is there a 4th dark dimension? Everyday Sadism: disposition to enjoy cruelty & suffering Johnson et al (2019) (615 undergrad Ss; 472 females) 19 The Dark Tetrad (D4) Buckels et al (2013): two studies Examining D3 & sadism Varieties of Sadistic Experience scale (“I enjoy hurting people”) Behavioural measures of sadism Buckels, et al. (2013). Behavioral confirmation of everyday sadism. Psychological Science, 24, 2201- 20 2209 The Dark Tetrad Buckels et al (2013): study 1 ‘Personality & tolerance for challenging jobs’ (n = 71 undergrads Ss) Assessed sadism, D3, ‘job choice’: Clean toilets (sanitation worker) Enduring pain (cold environment worker) Killing bugs (exterminator) Exterminator’s assistance 21  The dark tetrad Buckels et al (2013) For those who chose exterminator, exterminator assistant: Bug grinding (deception) Finding Greater sadism reported greater pleasure D3 not predictive 22  The dark tetrad Buckels et al (2013): study 2 (n = 71 undergrads Ss) White-noise paradigm & unprovoked aggression DV: Noise blast strength & duration No-work, work (boring task) conditions 23 3. Is there a Light Triad? 24 Is there a Light Triad? Kaufmann et al (2019): N = 1,518 Aim: develop a Light Triad scale Identify items that are conceptually opposite to Narcissism, Machiavellianism & Psychopathy Assessed normal personality (eg. FFM), dark personality, life satisfaction, virtue, sociosexuality, love styles, empathy, selfishness, competitiveness (Dictator game) etc. etc. 25 Light triad items 26 The Light Triad Kantianism: treating people as ends unto themselves When I talk to people, I am rarely thinking about what I want from them Humanism: valuing the dignity & worth of each individual: I enjoy listening to people from all walks of life Faith in Humanity: believing in the fundamental goodness of humans I think people are mostly good 27  Light vs Dark personalities Balance scores: LT – DT scores “…the average person is tipped more toward the Light Triad relative to the Dark Triad” 28 Questions? 29