More or less than the sum of its parts? Mapping the Dark Triad of personality onto a single Dark Core

Autor(en)
Bianca Bertl, Jakob Pietschnig, Ulrich S. Tran, Stefan Stieger, Martin Voracek
Abstrakt

The Dark Triad of personality has received considerable attention since its introduction to the literature. However, this personality configuration has been assumed to be merely based on observed positive intercorrelations between narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy, whereas the underlying factorial structure has not yet been thoroughly investigated. This study set out to test the factorial structure of the Dark Triad, and further examined one proposed conceptual extension, namely the Dark Tetrad, with trait sadism included. A large, community-based sample (N = 2463, 56% women, mean age = 41.4 yr.) completed self-report measures of the adverse personality traits narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and sadism. Structural equation modelling indicated a better fit for a single latent Dark Core, as compared with assuming the Dark Triad traits as independent constructs. Adding sadism did not improve the explanatory value of the construct. These findings suggest that aversive personalities may best be represented by a single Dark Core of personality.

Organisation(en)
Institut für Psychologie der Kognition, Emotion und Methoden, Institut für Klinische und Gesundheitspsychologie
Externe Organisation(en)
Middlesex University Dubai, Universität Konstanz
Journal
Personality and Individual Differences
Band
114
Seiten
140-144
Anzahl der Seiten
5
ISSN
0191-8869
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2017.04.002
Publikationsdatum
08-2017
Peer-reviewed
Ja
ÖFOS 2012
501021 Sozialpsychologie, 501004 Differentielle Psychologie
Schlagwörter
ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete
Allgemeine Psychologie
Link zum Portal
https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/de/publications/6d6a3925-05f6-4cfd-87d1-40a8dea09854