A study of a small group of undergraduate students found that students with more pronounced psychopathy were more likely to endorse nonviolent cheating and rule-breaking behavior. On the other hand, students with more pronounced Machiavellianism tended to be more open to these behaviors as well as personally and sexually morally controversial behaviors (e.g., abortion, prostitution, euthanasia, divorce, suicide). The paper is Advances in social science and management.
The Dark Triad is a group of three sociophobic personality traits: narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy. This is a pattern of personality traits centered around self-interest, manipulation, and diminished concern for others. Narcissism involves grandiosity, entitlement, a desire for admiration, and an exaggerated sense of self-importance. Machiavellianism involves manipulation, strategic deception, emotional ruthlessness, and a tendency to exploit others for personal gain. Psychopathy includes impulsivity, low empathy, shallow emotions, fearlessness, and a tendency toward antisocial behavior.
These traits are called “dark” because they are often associated with harmful interpersonal behavior. People high in Dark Triad traits may initially appear charming, confident, and socially adept. However, they may take advantage of others, lie, break rules, and show little guilt even when their actions hurt others. The traits are related but not identical, so you may be high in one trait and low in another. In research, the Dark Triad is typically measured as a personality tendency rather than as a formal clinical diagnosis.
Study authors Emma P. Paulson and Terry F. Pettyjohn II wanted to investigate the relationship between Dark Triad personality traits and moral judgments assessed using the Revised Morally Arguable Behavior Scale. The authors hypothesized that people with higher levels of psychopathic traits would more strongly endorse morally controversial behaviors and show reduced moral decision-making.
Study participants were 68 psychology research pool and psychology course students at a southeastern university who volunteered online through Sona Systems, an experiment management system. They received 1 research credit for their participation. The average age of participants was 18.7 years.
Study participants completed an assessment of Dark Triad traits (Short Dark Triad Measure) and the Revised Morally Controversial Behavior Scale, which assesses support for 30 morally controversial acts (including prostitution, theft, political assassination, drunk driving, and abortion).
The latter measure yields three measures: honesty and dishonesty morality, personal and sexual morality, and legal and punitive morality. The Honesty-Dishonesty Morality Scale measures the extent to which people believe dishonest or unfair acts, such as lying, cheating, stealing, and accepting bribes, are justified. The Personal Sexual Morality Scale measures openness to morally debated private life issues such as sex, abortion, divorce, prostitution, euthanasia, and suicide. The Legal-Punitive Morality Scale measures the extent to which a person considers actions that are illegal, coercive, violent, or punitive to be just.
Results showed that participants with more pronounced psychopathy tended to score higher on the honesty-dishonesty scale, and participants with more pronounced Machiavellianism tended to score higher on both the honesty-dishonesty scale and the personal-sexual scale. In other words, participants with more pronounced psychopathy and Machiavellianism were more likely to endorse behaviors that included lying, cheating, stealing, or accepting bribes, while individuals with more pronounced Machiavellianism were also more likely to embrace behaviors such as abortion, prostitution, euthanasia, and suicide.
This study contributes to scientific knowledge about dark personality traits. However, this study was conducted with a relatively small group of students and was based solely on self-reports. Studies on larger groups that include other demographics or that use more objective measures of support for morally controversial behavior may not find the same results.
The paper, “The Dark Triad and its Relationship to the Justification of Morally Controversial Behavior in College Students,” was authored by Emma P. Paulson and Terry F. Pettyjohn II.
