A meta-analysis of studies examining the relationship between the Dark Triad personality traits and personal values found that higher Dark Triad traits tend to be associated with higher self-enhancement and openness-to-change values. On the other hand, their association with self-transcendence and conservation values tended to be negative. The paper was published in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.
The Dark Triad refers to three socially aversive personality traits: narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy. Narcissism involves an inflated sense of self-importance, a strong need for admiration, and a tendency to feel entitled to special treatment. Machiavellianism refers to a cynical, manipulative, and strategic approach to other people, often involving deception when it serves personal goals. Psychopathy involves low empathy, limited guilt, impulsivity, emotional coldness, and a greater willingness to disregard rules or harm others.
These traits overlap, but they are not identical. A person may score high on one trait and relatively low on the others. People with higher Dark Triad scores may be more likely to exploit others, engage in manipulation, or prioritize personal advantage over cooperation. However, having some characteristics associated with these traits does not automatically mean that a person has a mental disorder or behaves harmfully in every situation. The Dark Triad is mainly used in personality research to study patterns of interpersonal behavior, leadership, relationships, and workplace conduct.
Study author Nikolay B. Petrov and his colleagues wanted to integrate the existing findings on the links between the Dark Triad traits and personal values. Personal values are enduring motivational goals that people consider important in their lives and that guide their judgments, priorities, and behavior. Although values are generally stable, their relative importance can change in response to social experiences, 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 in which neighboring values express compatible motivations, while values on opposite sides of the circle reflect competing motivations. The ten values can be grouped into two broader contrasts: self-transcendence versus self-enhancement and openness to change versus conservation. Unlike goals tied to a specific situation, personal values operate across different areas of life and can help explain attitudes, ethical decisions, and patterns of behavior.
The study authors searched databases of published scientific papers looking for studies reporting on the links between the Dark Triad traits and personal values. They started with Google Scholar, but extended their search to PsycINFO, ProQuest, and Web of Science. They used combinations of keywords focusing on the Dark Triad and personal values.
After removing duplicates, their search resulted in 119 records. Screening these 119 records, the researchers identified 34 studies (involving 38 samples) that contained the types of research results they were looking for. These studies were included in their analyses.
Overall, the results showed that all three Dark Triad traits were positively associated with self-enhancement and openness-to-change values. On the other hand, they were negatively associated with self-transcendence and conservation values. In other words, people with more pronounced Dark Triad traits tended to endorse self-enhancement and openness-to-change values to a greater degree, and self-transcendence and conservation values to a lesser degree.
In general, self-enhancement values emphasize personal success, status, power, and achievement. Self-transcendence values emphasize concern for the welfare of other people and for society more broadly. Openness-to-change values emphasize independence, curiosity, novelty, stimulation, and freedom to pursue new experiences. Conservation values emphasize security, stability, tradition, conformity, and the preservation of established norms.
Interestingly, the researchers found a subtle difference in the strengths of these motivations. Psychopathy had the strongest relationship with openness-to-change, self-transcendence, and conservation. Self-enhancement was the exception, being most strongly related to 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 this means that while a narcissistic person simply doesn’t care about the well-being of others, a psychopathic or Machiavellian person may actively have an aversion to considering others’ welfare.
“Dark Triad traits showed meaningful patterns of associations with personal values with some differences between the traits,” the study authors concluded.
The study contributes to scientific knowledge in the field of personality psychology. However, the study authors note that they only explored associations between the Dark Triad personality traits and personal values without delving into causality. Because of this, it remains unknown whether Dark Triad traits lead to the formation of certain values or if motivational goals drive individuals to behave in ways that align with their inherent traits.
Additionally, the study authors did not include sadism in their study, a personality trait that is often considered the fourth dark trait (making the whole set called the Dark Tetrad, rather than Triad), because there was not enough available data to meaningfully explore it.
The paper, “Values and the Dark Side: MetaAnalysis of Links Between Dark Triad Traits and Personal Values,” was authored by Nikolay B. Petrov, Velvetina Lim, Adrien Fillon, and Gilad Feldman.