Dark Triad Personalities: Narcissism, Machiavellianism, and Psychopathy
In psychology, the dark triad
represents three personality traits: Narcissism, Psychopathy, and Machiavellianism.
If we were to ask the three, “who has the darkest personality?” The Narcissist would
say “me”, the Psychopath would say, “I don’t care” and the Machiavellian would
say “it’s whoever I want it to be”.
People scoring high on the 3 traits are more
likely to commit crimes and create severe social problems in society, families, and organizations.
This is why the research on the dark triad is used widely in law enforcement, psychology, and
business.
Here is an overview of what we know.
The Narcissist displays grandiosity, entitlement,
and superiority and wants nothing more than admiration. Once he gets what he wants, the
narcissist is rarely interested in other people. When he does care, it’s to enhance his status, which is why he likes to
mingle with successful others. They seem as though they’re completely in
love with themselves, but at the root of their inflated egos are often deeply-held feelings
of inferiority. To protect their constructed self, they can never admit to being wrong, which
is why they lie or blame others.
Machiavellians are unprincipled, cold, and
have a cynical view of other human beings. They like money, power, and winning, and they use manipulation to get
what they want or exploit others.
If manipulation doesn’t work, they steal or
betray. Those high on the spectrum believe it’s better to be feared than to be liked and
offend others as a strategy to control them.
When you are a psychopath, you come
across as cold and others think you are scary. You also show little to no fear,
act impulsively, and enjoy mental thrills. Those high on the spectrum
don’t form any emotional bonds. The result is a complete lack of compassion.
That means they have no problem being mean. If something terrible happens, they later
often don’t feel any remorse or guilt.
The research tells us that men score significantly
higher on all three compared to women. And while these three personalities are
empirically distinct, they do overlap. Clinically, both narcissism and psychopathy are regarded as
mental disorders, while Machiavellianism isn’t.
Whether nature or nurture is responsible
for these traits has been somewhat answered by twin studies that show that narcissism and
psychopathy have substantial genetic components. Machiavellianism seems to be less prevalent in
pairs of twins.
However, the environment also matters. A psychopath may not only pass down his
genes but influence a child by being a role model. A machiavellian father shares with his son not
only genetic material but might also show him all his tricks. The son of a narcissist, not
only gets his dad’s chromosomes but maybe also experiences his perfectionism.
With the big five personality traits, also known as OCEAN, the three correlate
either positively or negatively.
Narcissists and psychopaths are often
open to new ideas and extroverted. Psychopath and Machiavellians
have low conscientiousness All three personality types
score low on agreeableness And Psychopaths are hardly neurotic –
whatever happens, leaves them cold.
An evolutionary explanation for these
traits could be a sexual strategy. Many of us pursue a “slow life”
invest in long-term relationships, have a few children, and spend time on parenting. Dark triad traits may have survived because
they looked to optimize a “fast life”. Their ancestors lived in an unpredictable and dangerous
world. Because of a shorter life, they sought many sexual partners, spent no time on parenting,
and did not invest in human relationships.
This may also explain why they strive
in competitive environments, such as corporations. Here a machiavellian may use charm
and insults to manipulate others. The narcissist, his physical appearance, and a psychopath, physical
threats.
And since they all lack compassion, they often elbow their way to
the top; which is maybe why all 3 dark traits are well-represented
in upper-level management.
But there are also downsides. If your mind
was programmed to be impulsive, aggressive, and selfish, you are also more likely to abuse
drugs, feel excluded, suffer from depression, or end up in jail. This is why we may not only find
ways to protect ourselves from these darker minds, but also have empathy for them. After all,
maybe they didn’t choose to be that way.
What about you? Did you inherit some dark triad
traits? And if that’s the case, and if you are aware of them, did you develop strategies to cope
with them? Share your thoughts in the comments below and read the description to dig deeper and
find relevant links, sources, and information.
This and all other Sprouts videos
are licensed under creative commons. That means teachers from all around the world
can use them in classrooms, online courses, or to start projects — and today, thousands
already do! To learn how it works, and download this video without ads or background music, check
our website or read the descriptions below. If you want to support our
mission and help change education, visit our Patreon — that’s patreon.com/sprouts.
