scholarly journals The Dark Cube: dark character profiles and OCEAN

PeerJ ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. e3845 ◽  
Author(s):  
Danilo Garcia ◽  
Fernando R. González Moraga

BackgroundThe Big Five traits (i.e., openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism: OCEAN) have been suggested to provide a meaningful taxonomy for studying the Dark Triad: Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy. Nevertheless, current research consists of mixed and inconsistent associations between the Dark Triad and OCEAN. Here we used the Dark Cube (Garcia & Rosenberg, 2016), a model of malevolent character theoretically based on Cloninger’s biopsychosocial model of personality and in the assumption of a ternary structure of malevolent character. We use the dark cube profiles to investigate differences in OCEAN between individuals who differ in one dark character trait while holding the other two constant (i.e., conditional relationships).MethodParticipants (N = 330) responded to the Short Dark Triad Inventory and the Big Five Inventory and were grouped according to the eight possible combinations using their dark trait scores (M, high Machiavellianism; m, low Machiavellianism; N, high narcissism; n, low narcissism; P, high psychopathy; p, low psychopathy): MNP “maleficent”, MNp “manipulative narcissistic”, MnP “anti-social”, Mnp “Machiavellian”, mNP “psychopathic narcissistic”, mNp “narcissistic”, mnP “psychopathic”, and mnp “benevolent”.ResultsHigh narcissism-high extraversion and high psychopathy-low agreeableness were consistently associated across comparisons. The rest of the comparisons showed a complex interaction. For example, high Machiavellianism-high neuroticism only when both narcissism and psychopathy were low (Mnp vs. mnp), high narcissism-high conscientiousness only when both Machiavellianism and psychopathy were also high (MNP vs. MnP), and high psychopathy-high neuroticism only when Machiavellianism was low and narcissism was high (mNP vs. mNp).ConclusionsWe suggest that the Dark Cube is a useful tool in the investigation of a consistent Dark Triad Theory. This approach suggests that the only clear relationships were narcissism-extraversion and psychopathy-agreeableness and that the malevolent character traits were associated to specific OCEAN traits only under certain conditions. Hence, explaining the mixed and inconsistent linear associations in the Dark Triad literature.

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Danilo Garcia ◽  
Patricia Rosenberg

Background: Research addressing distinctions and similarities between people’s malevolent character traits (i.e., the Dark Triad: Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy) has detected mixed and inconsistent linear associations to temperament traits. On this basis, some researchers suggest that the dark traits are best represented as one global construct (i.e., the unification argument) rather than as ternary construct (i.e., the uniqueness argument). Here we put forward the dark cube (cf. Cloninger’s character cube) comprising eight dark profiles that can be used to compare individuals who differ in one dark character trait while holding the other two constant. Our aim was to investigate in which circumstances individuals who are high in each one of the dark character traits differ in Cloninger’s “light” character dimensions: self-directedness, cooperativeness, and self-transcendence. Additionally, we investigated if the people’s dark character profiles were associated to their light character profiles. Method: A total of 997 participants recruited from Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (MTurk) responded to the Short Dark Triad and the Short Character Inventory. Participants were allocated to eight different dark character profiles and eight light character profiles based on their scores in each of the traits and any possible combination of high and low scores. We used three-way interaction regression analyses and t-tests to investigate differences in Cloninger’s character dimensions between individuals with different dark profiles. As a second step, we compared the individuals’ dark profile with her/his character profile using an exact cell-wise analysis conducted in the ROPstat software ( http://www.ropstat.com ). Results: Individuals who expressed high levels of Machiavellianism and those who expressed high levels of psychopathy also expressed low self-directedness and low cooperativeness. Individuals with high levels of narcissism, in contrast, scored high in self-directedness. Moreover, individuals with a profile low in the dark traits were more likely to end up with a profile high in cooperativeness. The opposite was true for those individuals with a profile high in the dark traits. Conclusions: Our study suggests that individuals who are high in Machiavellianism and psychopathy share a unified non-agentic and uncooperative character (i.e., irresponsible, low in self-control, unempathetic, unhelpful, untolerant), while individuals high in narcissism have a more unique character configuration expressed as high in agency and, when the other dark traits are high, highly spiritual but uncooperative. In other words, based on differences in their associations to the light side of character, the Dark Triad seems to be a dyad rather than a triad.


PeerJ ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. e1675 ◽  
Author(s):  
Danilo Garcia ◽  
Patricia Rosenberg

Background.Research addressing distinctions and similarities between people’s malevolent character traits (i.e., the Dark Triad: Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy) has detected inconsistent linear associations to temperament traits. Additionally, these dark traits seem to have a common core expressed as uncooperativeness. Hence, some researchers suggest that the dark traits are best represented as one global construct (i.e., the unification argument) rather than as ternary construct (i.e., the uniqueness argument). We put forward the dark cube (cf. Cloninger’s character cube) comprising eight dark profiles that can be used to compare individuals who differ in one dark character trait while holding the other two constant. Our aim was to investigate in which circumstances individuals who are high in each one of the dark character traits differ in Cloninger’s “light” character traits: self-directedness, cooperativeness, and self-transcendence. We also investigated if people’s dark character profiles were associated to their light character profiles.Method.A total of 997 participants recruited from Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (MTurk) responded to the Short Dark Triad and the Short Character Inventory. Participants were allocated to eight different dark profiles and eight light profiles based on their scores in each of the traits and any possible combination of high and low scores. We used three-way interaction regression analyses andt-tests to investigate differences in light character traits between individuals with different dark profiles. As a second step, we compared the individuals’ dark profile with her/his character profile using an exact cell-wise analysis conducted in the ROPstat software (http://www.ropstat.com).Results.Individuals who expressed high levels of Machiavellianism and those who expressed high levels of psychopathy also expressed low self-directedness and low cooperativeness. Individuals with high levels of narcissism, in contrast, scored high in self-directedness. Moreover, individuals with a profile low in the dark traits were more likely to end up with a profile high in cooperativeness. The opposite was true for those individuals with a profile high in the dark traits. The rest of the cross-comparisons revealed some of the characteristics of human personality as a non-linear complex dynamic system.Conclusions.Our study suggests that individuals who are high in Machiavellianism and psychopathy share a unified non-agentic and uncooperative character (i.e., irresponsible, low in self-control, unempathetic, unhelpful, untolerant), while individuals high in narcissism have a more unique character configuration expressed as high agency and, when the other dark traits are high, highly spiritual but uncooperative. In other words, based on differences in their associations to the light side of character, the Dark Triad seems to be a dyad rather than a triad.


2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Danilo Garcia ◽  
Patricia Rosenberg

Background: Research addressing distinctions and similarities between people’s malevolent character traits (i.e., the Dark Triad: Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy) has detected mixed and inconsistent linear associations to temperament traits. On this basis, some researchers suggest that the dark traits are best represented as one global construct (i.e., the unification argument) rather than as ternary construct (i.e., the uniqueness argument). Here we put forward the dark cube (cf. Cloninger’s character cube) comprising eight dark profiles that can be used to compare individuals who differ in one dark character trait while holding the other two constant. Our aim was to investigate in which circumstances individuals who are high in each one of the dark character traits differ in Cloninger’s “light” character dimensions: self-directedness, cooperativeness, and self-transcendence. Additionally, we investigated if the people’s dark character profiles were associated to their light character profiles. Method: A total of 997 participants recruited from Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (MTurk) responded to the Short Dark Triad and the Short Character Inventory. Participants were allocated to eight different dark character profiles and eight light character profiles based on their scores in each of the traits and any possible combination of high and low scores. We used three-way interaction regression analyses and t-tests to investigate differences in Cloninger’s character dimensions between individuals with different dark profiles. As a second step, we compared the individuals’ dark profile with her/his character profile using an exact cell-wise analysis conducted in the ROPstat software ( http://www.ropstat.com ). Results: Individuals who expressed high levels of Machiavellianism and those who expressed high levels of psychopathy also expressed low self-directedness and low cooperativeness. Individuals with high levels of narcissism, in contrast, scored high in self-directedness. Moreover, individuals with a profile low in the dark traits were more likely to end up with a profile high in cooperativeness. The opposite was true for those individuals with a profile high in the dark traits. Conclusions: Our study suggests that individuals who are high in Machiavellianism and psychopathy share a unified non-agentic and uncooperative character (i.e., irresponsible, low in self-control, unempathetic, unhelpful, untolerant), while individuals high in narcissism have a more unique character configuration expressed as high in agency and, when the other dark traits are high, highly spiritual but uncooperative. In other words, based on differences in their associations to the light side of character, the Dark Triad seems to be a dyad rather than a triad.


2019 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 117-125
Author(s):  
Johannes Schult ◽  
Rebecca Schneider ◽  
Jörn R. Sparfeldt

Abstract. The need for efficient personality inventories has led to the wide use of short instruments. The corresponding items often contain multiple, potentially conflicting descriptors within one item. In Study 1 ( N = 198 university students), the reliability and validity of the TIPI (Ten-Item Personality Inventory) was compared with the reliability and validity of a modified TIPI based on items that rephrased each two-descriptor item into two single-descriptor items. In Study 2 ( N = 268 university students), we administered the BFI-10 (Big Five Inventory short version) and a similarly modified version of the BFI-10 without two-descriptor items. In both studies, reliability and construct validity values occasionally improved for separated multi-descriptor items. The inventories with multi-descriptor items showed shortcomings in some factors of the TIPI and the BFI-10. However, the other scales worked comparably well in the original and modified inventories. The limitations of short personality inventories with multi-descriptor items are discussed.


2021 ◽  
Vol 168 ◽  
pp. 110350
Author(s):  
Sinan Alper ◽  
Fatih Bayrak ◽  
Onurcan Yilmaz
Keyword(s):  
Big Five ◽  

2021 ◽  
Vol 31 (Supplement_2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sonia Brito-Costa ◽  
Peter K Jonason ◽  
Michele Tosi ◽  
Rui Antunes ◽  
Sofia Silva ◽  
...  

Abstract Background There is considerable variation in people’s attitudes towards the COVID-19 pandemic. One way to understand why people differ in their attitudes is to examine how personality traits predict the degree to which people hold different attitudes. Methods We collected data (N = 1420) from Portugal and Spain using Facebook advertising. We measured the Dark Triad and Big Five traits, and negative affect, along with ad hoc items for religiousness, and attitudes towards and fear of COVID. Results Neuroticism and Negative affect was linked to various domains of insecurity or fear and provides insights into how personality predicts concerns and behaviors related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Religious people were less trusting in science, thought prayer was answer, and attributed the existence of the virus to an act of God. Women reported more fear of COVID-19 than men did, and this was enabled by women’s greater tendency to have Negative Affect and higher Neuroticism than men. Conclusions Neurotic people and those with more Negative Affect appear to be more fearful, more trusting in others and systems likely to protect them (e.g., scientists), and less likely to trust in systems shown to not help them (e.g., prayer). We found other effects for the Dark Triad traits and the Big Five traits. In total, we highlight some of the reasons that people may be in such disagreements about what to do about the virus at the individual and institutional levels. Personality, place, and participant’s sex all appear to play a role in the psychology of COVID-19 beliefs.


Author(s):  
Amanda Friesen

Individual differences in personality, religiosity, and political dispositions often are explained in conjunction with one another. Though the religious and political may share common themes of meaning-making, group identity, and societal organization, personality also influences these orientations. Specifically, the Big Five traits (openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, emotional stability) and authoritarianism demonstrate consistent relationships with religious/ political beliefs and behaviors. Personality is often thought of as the first mover to develop with an individual before exposure to the other two domains, leading to a conceptual influence model of: personality → religiosity → politics. Using longitudinal studies and genetically informed samples, however, some scholars suggest that these dispositions influence one another and could develop concurrently within individuals. Examining the measured boundaries and relationships between the three domains suggests these dispositions comprise an individual’s personhood, and the varied expression of traits, beliefs, and behaviors are somewhat dependent on culture and context.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sinan Alper ◽  
Fatih Bayrak ◽  
Onurcan Yilmaz

Some of the recent studies suggested that people can make accurate inferences about the level of the Big Five and the Dark Triad personality traits in strangers by only looking at their faces. However, later findings provided only partial support and the evidence is mixed regarding which traits can be accurately inferred from faces. In the current research, to provide further evidence on whether the Big Five and the Dark Triad traits are visible in the face, we report three studies, two of which were preregistered, conducted on both WEIRD (the US American) and non-WEIRD (Turkish) samples (N = 880). The participants in both US American and Turkish samples were successful in predicting all Dark Triad personality traits by looking at a stranger’s face. However, there were mixed results regarding the Big Five traits. An aggregate analysis of the combined dataset demonstrated that extraversion (only female), agreeableness, and conscientiousness were accurately inferred by the participants in addition to the Dark Triad traits. Overall, the results suggest that inferring personality from faces without any concrete source of information would be an evolutionarily adaptive trait.


2017 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 179-193 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter K. Jonason ◽  
Ashley N. Lavertu

How do individual differences in personality and sexuality relate to social attitudes? We contend that personality traits and sexual orientation are descriptions of underlying biases (e.g., perceptual) that exert top-down influences into all of life's domains including social attitudes. The present study (N=200 women) examined individual differences in sex-based and race-based social attitudes as a function of the Big Five traits, the Dark Triad traits, and sexual orientation. We found that affiliative-based motivations in the form of agreeableness, openness, and narcissism predicted the desire and tendency to affiliate with other women. We also found fear-based (i.e., neuroticism) and entitlement-based (i.e., narcissism) traits were associated with efforts towards political action for gender equality. We found a "go-along" disposition (i.e., agreeableness and openness) was associated with greater endorsement of traditional gender roles. We replicated associations between the Big Five traits (i.e., openness and agreeableness) and race-based social attitudes. Uniquely, Machiavellianism was associated with more race-based social attitudes but with diminished endorsement of traditional gender roles. And last, we suggest that experienced discrimination among bisexual women may lead them to be less likely to hold both undesirable race-based and sex-based social attitudes.


Author(s):  
Katharina Kupper ◽  
Dorothea Krampen ◽  
Beatrice Rammstedt ◽  
Sonja Rohrmann

Abstract. The other-rating version of the Big Five Inventory for Children and Adolescents (BFI-K KJ-F) serves to record the five basic personality traits of Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Neuroticism and Openness to Experience via reference persons and it is an addition to the German-language self-assessment questionnaire for children and adolescents (BFI-K KJ; Kupper, Krampen, Rammstedt, & Rohrmann, 2019 ). To determine the psychometric characteristics of the questionnaire comprising 26 items, personality assessments of 258 reference persons (predominantly parents) of 9–16-year-old children and adolescents ( M = 11.66, SD = 2.04; 52% girls) are available. The reliability of the method could be substantiated by internal consistency analyses (Cronbach’s α = .70–.86 and McDonald’s ω = .71–.86, respectively) and a retest analysis ( rp,tt = .74–.90). The five-factor structure was supported by an exploratory factor analysis (EFA). The analyses of age and gender, which were in conformity with literature, as well as the comparison of self- and other-rating, which predominantly showed moderate to high accordance, also speak in favor of validity. The other-rating version of the BFI-K KJ proves to be reliable and valid as well as economic.


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