A meta-analysis of studies examining the relationship between Dark Triad personality traits and personal values found that higher Dark Triad traits tend to be associated with values that are more open to self-improvement and change. On the other hand, the relationships with self-transcendence and conservation values tended to be negative. The paper is Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.
The Dark Triad refers to three sociophobic personality traits: narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy. Narcissism involves an inflated sense of self-worth, a strong desire for admiration, and a tendency to feel entitled to special treatment. Machiavellianism refers to a cynical, manipulative, and strategic approach to others, often involving deception when achieving personal goals. Psychopathy includes decreased empathy, limited guilt, impulsivity, and emotional coldness, and an increased tendency to ignore rules and harm others.
Although these characteristics overlap, they are not identical. A person may score high on one trait but relatively low on another. People with high Dark Triad scores may be more likely to take advantage of others, engage in manipulation, and prioritize personal advantage over cooperation. However, having some of the characteristics associated with these traits does not automatically mean that a person has a mental disorder or engages in harmful behavior in all situations. The Dark Triad is primarily used in personality research to study patterns of interpersonal behavior, leadership, relationships, and workplace behavior.
Study author Nikolai B. Petrov and his colleagues wanted to synthesize existing research on the relationship between Dark Triad traits and personal values. Personal values are the enduring motivational goals that people consider important in life and that guide their judgments, priorities, and actions. Although values are generally stable, their relative importance can change depending on social experience, life circumstances, and normative expectations.
Schwartz’s theory of personal values identifies ten broad values: power, achievement, hedonism, stimulation, self-direction, universalism, benevolence, conformity, security, and tradition. These values form a circular structure, with adjacent values representing compatible motives and values on opposite sides of the circle reflecting competing motives. The ten values can be divided into two broader contrasts: self-transcendence and self-enhancement, and openness to change and conservation. Unlike goals, which are tied to specific situations, personal values operate across different areas of life and help explain attitudes, ethical decisions, and behavioral patterns.
The study authors searched databases of published scientific papers for studies that reported on the association between Dark Triad traits and personal values. They started with Google Scholar but expanded their search to PsycINFO, ProQuest, and Web of Science. They used a combination of keywords focused on the Dark Triad and personal values.
After removing duplicates, the search resulted in 119 records. After screening these 119 records, the researchers identified 34 studies (with 38 samples) that contained the type of findings they were looking for. These studies were included in the analysis.
Overall, the results showed that all three Dark Triad traits were positively correlated with values of self-enhancement and openness to change. On the one hand, they were negatively associated with values of self-transcendence and conservation. In other words, people with more pronounced Dark Triad traits tended to endorse values of self-enhancement and openness to change more strongly, and values of self-transcendence and conservation to a lesser extent.
Generally, self-enhancement values emphasize personal success, status, power, and achievement. Self-transcendence values emphasize concern for the welfare of others and broader society. Openness to change values independence, curiosity, novelty, stimulation, and the freedom to pursue new experiences. Conservation values emphasize safety, stability, tradition, conformity, and the maintenance of established norms.
Interestingly, researchers found subtle differences in the strength of these motives. Psychopathy had the strongest relationship with openness to change, self-transcendence, and conservation. Self-development was the exception and was most strongly associated with narcissism. The negative relationship between psychopathy/Machiavellianism and self-transcendence was twice as strong as the relationship between narcissism and self-transcendence. The authors suggest that this means that narcissistic people simply don’t care about the well-being of others, whereas psychopaths and Machiavellians may have an active aversion to considering the well-being of others.
“Dark triad traits showed meaningful patterns of association with personal values, although there were some differences between traits,” the study authors concluded.
This study contributes to scientific knowledge in the field of personality psychology. However, the study authors note that they only investigated the association between Dark Triad personality traits and personal values without digging deeper into causal relationships. Therefore, it remains unclear whether Dark Triad traits lead to the formation of specific values or whether motivational goals drive individuals to behave in line with their unique traits.
Furthermore, the study authors did not include sadism in their study. Sadism is a personality trait that is often considered the fourth dark trait (making a whole set called the Dark Tetrad rather than the Triad). This is because there was not enough data available to investigate it meaningfully.
The paper, “Values and the Dark Side: A Meta-Analysis of the Links between Dark Triad Traits and Personal Values,” was authored by Nikolai B. Petrov, Velvetina Lim, Adrian Fillon, and Gilad Feldman.
