The dark triad refers to three personality traits in the field of psychology: Narcissism, Psychopathy and Machiavellianism. If you were to ask the three of them: ‘who among us would have the darkest personality?’, the Narcissist would probably reply ‘me’, the Psychopath would probably say ‘I don’t care’ and the Machiavellian would say ‘whomever I want it to be’. People who score on dark-triad traits create more crime and larger social problems in society, families and organisations. Thus, the dark-triad research can be applied widely to law enforcement, psychology, business and other industries. In what follows, let me give you an overview, a sort of cliff note, if you will, of what we know.
Self-centred, superficial, grandiose, entitled, and superior, the Narcissist wants to be admired. And once s/he gets it, what else would they want from other people? There are periods of caring but it is rarely about others. Sometimes it’s a need to boast because their sense of grandiosity relies on status-enhancing associates; that’s why narcissists like to fly with, dine with or dance with the really beautiful, wealthy, or successful others. They appear as though they are wallowing in self-love — think Kim K — but at the heart of their big and inflated ego are some pretty deep feelings of inferiority. Because of their need to protect their grandiose, constructed sense of self, the narcissist can never be wrong. He or she never admits it, even in private. They lie or they try to pass the blame on to someone else.
Machiavellians hold few principles, have little compassion, are cynical in their view of other human beings, love money, power and winning, try to obtain advantage or exploit others through manipulation, resort to stealing if manipulation does not work, and betray if stealing fails. Being feared rather than being liked is far better, according to those in the upper echelons of the scale, and offending others is a strategy to keep control of them.
You appear cold when you are a psychopath. So you are perhaps scary.’ ‘You have no fear inherent in you. You are quite impulsive. You like mental thrills. Those in the high end of the spectrum do not bond emotionally. You will have no empathy. That means you can be a real bastard. So if something bad happens, then often later you don’t feel any remorse or guilt.
The research indicates that Males score significantly higher on all three than Females, and that while these three personalities are empirically distinct from one another, they do significantly overlap. Clinically, both narcissism and psychopathy are considered to be mental disorders, whereas Machiavellianism is not.
Nature or nurture has taken a back seat to twin studies showing that narcissism and psychopathy have large hereditary influences, whereas Machiavellianism appears to be less prevalent among twins. Like any characteristic, genotype is not destiny; environment takes its toll, too. A psychopath not only passes his genes on but also acts as a role model for a child. A Machiavellian dad doesn’t pass on only the chromosomes, but shares his tricks with his son. The narcissist’s son doesn’t just receive his dad’s chromosomes, but perhaps even his striving for perfection.
The correlations, with the big five personality traits (OCEAN), are all positive (or negative) for the first three: narcissists, psychopaths, and Machiavellians tend to score highly on openness to experience and on extraversion. Psychopaths and Machiavellians are also quite low on conscientiousness. All three score at the lower end on agreeableness. Meanwhile, psychopaths are hardly neurotic: whatever happens, happens.
Perhaps a sexual strategy explains the evolution of their traits. We invest heavily, both in non-sexual long-term relationships, and in our children. All the while, we spend time parenting. But perhaps dark triad traits have managed to survive because they are doing their best to optimise a ‘fast life’. After all, their ancestors lived in a much more capricious and dangerous predator-filled world: With a shortened life expectancy, they sought many sexual partners and spent no time on parenting or human relationships. This might also partly explain their vigour in competitive environments such as corporations. There, the Machiavellian orchestrates others using charm and insults. The narcissist is the handsome face to it all, and a psychopath wields his physical threats. This might also help to explain why they are so prominent in upper-level management — all three dark traits, you might say, are well-represented in upper-level management.
The downsides might be fewer, but they are there too. If your mind was wired to be impulsive, aggressive, and selfish, you are more likely to use drugs, feel socially excluded, become depressed, or go to jail. This is why we seem poised not only to protect ourselves against the darkness of other minds, but also to feel sympathy for them. Perhaps, after all, they didn’t have a choice.
But you? Did the dark triad have any hold on you? And if it did, and if you’ve become aware of it, have you found ways to lessen its impact? Let me know in the comments.