Women with high Dark Triad scores exhibit more anhedonia and alexithymia

A study in Belgium found that high levels of Dark Triad traits are linked to anhedonia and alexithymia in women, but not in men. Additionally, individuals with high levels of Dark Triad traits tended to report more severe depressive symptoms. The paper was published in Behavioral Sciences.

The Dark Triad traits are a group of three socially aversive personality characteristics: narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy. Narcissism involves an inflated sense of self-importance, a constant need for admiration, and sensitivity to criticism. Machiavellianism reflects a manipulative, strategic, and calculating interpersonal style focused on personal gain. Psychopathy is marked by low empathy, impulsivity, shallow emotions, and a willingness to engage in harmful or risky behavior.

People high in Dark Triad traits are prone to using others instrumentally and prioritizing their own goals above social norms or moral considerations. In everyday life, they may appear charming at first but later reveal exploitative or callous behavior. Research shows that these traits are linked to aggression, infidelity, unethical decision-making, and lower prosocial behavior. However, in certain competitive environments, some aspects of the Dark Triad may provide short-term advantages.

Study author Daniel French and his colleagues wanted to examine the association between the Dark Triad traits and emotional functioning in the general population. They were also interested in exploring whether there were any sex differences in these associations. The study authors hypothesized that Machiavellianism and psychopathy would be associated with higher levels of alexithymia and anhedonia, but that the strength of these associations would depend on participants’ sex.

Alexithymia is a difficulty in recognizing, describing, and understanding one’s own emotions. Anhedonia is an inability to feel pleasure from activities that are normally enjoyable.

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Study participants were 492 adults recruited via the social network Facebook, chain emails sent among students and staff members of the Université Libre de Bruxelles, and word of mouth between July 2017 and August 2018. 323 participants were women. Participants’ median age was 29 years. 17% were students.

Participants completed an online questionnaire containing assessments of Dark Triad traits (the Short Dark Triad scale), alexithymia (the Toronto Alexithymia Scale), anhedonia (the Consumptive and Anticipatory Anhedonia Questionnaire), and depressive symptoms (the Beck Depression Inventory – II).

Results showed that men, on average, scored higher than women on all three Dark Triad traits. Individuals scoring higher on the Dark Triad traits tended to report more severe depressive symptoms. They also tended to report higher levels of alexithymia and anhedonia. However, further analyses found that associations between Dark Triad traits, anhedonia, and alexithymia are present in women, but not in men. More specifically, it was Machiavellianism and psychopathy that were associated with anhedonia and alexithymia in women.

“In line with the existing literature, the findings confirm that Machiavellianism and psychopathy—but not grandiose narcissism— are associated with depressive symptoms and specific emotional deficits, particularly difficulty identifying emotions (alexithymia) and a reduced capacity to experience pleasure (anhedonia), even after adjusting for depression. The present sample showed that these associations are not uniform across sex: they are clearly present in females but absent in males,” the study authors concluded.

The study sheds light on the links between emotional functioning and Dark Triad traits. However, it should be noted that all study data came from self-reports, leaving room for reporting bias to have affected the results.

The paper, “Dark Triad, Depression, Anhedonia and Alexithymia: The Role of Sex Differences,” was authored by Daniel French, Gwenolé Loas, and Matthieu Hein.