Dark Triad

12 Key excerpts on "Dark Triad"

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  Understanding and Recognizing Dysfunctional Leadership

  The Impact of Dysfunctional Leadership on Organizations and Followers

  • Annette B. Roter(Author)
  • 2017(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  p.71 Part II The Dark Triad Passage contains an image p.73 Chapter 5 The Dark Triad Introduction

  The Dark Triad is a topic in psychology that centers on three personality types, which include narcissism, psychopathy and Machiavellianism. Narcissism is focused on feelings of grandiosity, dominance and superiority as defined by Paulhus and Williams in 2002. Psychopathy features traits of impulsive behavior, thrill seeking, low empathy and low anxiety (Paulhus & Williams, 2002), while Machiavellianism is focused on the manipulation of others (Stead & Fekken, 2014). These three personality types are the most widely studied of all the dysfunctional leadership traits. Research has found that individuals who possess these traits share tendencies to be callous, selfish and spiteful in their dealings with others. Another component of these three constructs is that these individuals thrive in environments that are chaotic and lack structure, and cultures that do not have clear expectations or accountability. These personality types will exploit these types of environments to their advantage.

  While the three personalities are interconnected with each other and share several themes, they do manifest differently and produce different patterns. Where they intersect is in the areas of low agreeableness, impulsive behaviors and the use of interpersonal manipulation. All three characteristics entail characteristics of self-promotion, emotional detachment and aggressiveness. While the three constructs are very distinct, we find overlaps between Machiavellianism and psychopathy, narcissism and psychopathy, and Machiavellianism and narcissism. It is important to distinguish them from each other because of their uniqueness. The following provides behavioral insights into each of the three personality types that make up the Dark Triad.

  Table 5.1   Dark Triad traits (Paulhus & Williams, 2002)

  p.74

  Leaders who possess these behaviors demonstrate various traits. The narcissistic leader tends to be arrogant, self-centered, consistently self-enhancing and is characterized by cynicism. Psychopath leaders are characterized as cold, detached, emotionless, impulsive, interpersonal manipulators and have a tendency to engage in anti-social behaviors. The psychopath is associated with deviant behaviors in the workplace and, although this only occurs rarely, they can be considered violent. The Machiavellian leader tends to be more in touch with reality and is rooted in their own sense of self. In turn they are highly deceptive, cunning and manipulate others in order to get done what needs to be done.

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  The Elephant in the Boardroom

  The causes of leadership derailment

  • A. Furnham(Author)
  • 2016(Publication Date)
  • Palgrave Macmillan

    (Publisher)

  Overall, however, there seems sufficient evidence that these three features are sufficiently related to describe the Dark Triad as a recognizable syndrome, type or disorder. In the 2002 paper Paulhus and Williams note: Despite their diverse origins, the personalities composing this “Dark Triad” share a number of features. To varying degrees, all three entail a socially malevolent character with behaviour tendencies toward self-promotion, emotional coldness, duplicity, and aggres- siveness. In the clinical literature, the links among the triad have been noted for some time. The recent development of non-clinical measures of all three constructs has permitted the evaluation of empirical associations in normal populations. As a result, there is now empirical evidence for the overlap of (a) Machiavellianism with psychopathy, (b) Narcissism with psychopathy, and (c) Machiavel- lianism with narcissism. Given such associations, the possibility arises that, in normal samples, the Dark Triad of constructs may be equivalent. (p. 557) This research has stimulated other investigations in the area. Jakobwitz and Egan (2006) note that it could be argued that all three traits can confer some social advantage on individuals. They found, as predicted, that dark side people tended to be both disagreeable and lacking in conscientiousness. They believe the primary “normal” trait identifier of the dark side is low agreeableness, tough-mindedness, 18 RESEARCHING DERAILED, INCOMPETENT AND FAILED LEADERS non-empathy and coldness. A secondary feature is high on Neuroti- cism and low on Conscientiousness, which leads to bad decision mak- ing because of both an impulsive need for gratification and a sense of entitlement. Vernon et al. (2008) conducted a genetic investigation into the Dark Triad. They report that there are genetic studies on both psychopaths and narcissists so that it may be expected to find some clear indica- tor of the heritability of the dark side.

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  Dark Sides of Organizational Behavior and Leadership

  • Maria Fors Brandebo, Aida Alvinius, Maria Fors Brandebo, Aida Alvinius(Authors)
  • 2019(Publication Date)
  • IntechOpen

    (Publisher)

  Introduction Industrial/organizational (henceforth: I/O) psychologists have begun examining the “dark” side of personality [1–3]. Machiavellianism, psychopathy and narcissism are regarded as socially aversive personality traits [4]. These three traits have been deemed to be socially undesirable and leaving antagonistic impression in the organizations [5]. Therefore, any per-son exhibiting any one of the dark personality traits, Machiavellianism, psychopathy and narcissism personality may be included in the “Dark Triad” (DT) [ 6, 7]. © 2018 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Researchers argue that “the Dark Triad is a constellation of three theoretically separable, albeit empirically overlapping, personality constructs” [ 8], which are considered maladaptive in interpersonal relationships. Many researchers tend to study each of the three traits of the triad in isolation but seem to agree upon their overlapping characteristics as well [5, 9, 10]. Therefore, the occurrence and manifestation of the DTs either singularly or mixed reflects multidimensionality and complexity of the constructs needing further deep investigation. However, DTs are not such an unusual phenomenon [11]; Dark personalities embody many desirable traits like charm, leadership, assertiveness and impression management skills [12, 13]. Such leaders are masters of influence through “manipulation and they can easily force or push people toward achievement of their personal goals, such as they can easily manage teachers to work an extra hour or to work on weekends without getting compensation. Such people when in leadership position tend to change their workforce’s behaviors, attitude, needs and values in a beguiling manner [1, 12].

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  Why Leaders Fail and What It Teaches Us About Leadership

  • Willem Fourie(Author)
  • 2023(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  Machiavellianism, the third trait in the triad, is based on the writings of the Italian political philosopher Niccolò Machiavelli and refers to manipulative personalities without regard for morality and a singular emphasis on one’s self-interest. In practice, such individuals can come across as impressively strategic and confident, and because of their disregard for morality, they have no qualms about manipulating followers into trusting them. Again, the resonance with what we expect of heroic leaders is clear.

  As the case is with so much research in psychology, the initial research on the topic by Paulhus and Williams involved students enrolled at their home university, in this case, the University of British Columbia in Canada. They found strong correlations between the three traits, as shown in Figure 3.1 .

  FIGURE 3.1

  Correlations among measures of narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy (Paulhus and Williams 2002).

  There is a large and growing body of research on the interaction between narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy. A study by Andrew Harrison and colleagues on the Dark Triad and fraud, for example, found synergies between Dark Triad elements but with an important footnote.

  23

  Each Dark Triad element plays a different role. Narcissism affects a person’s motivation to commit fraud as well as their perception that they have the capability to do so successfully. Machiavellianism helps the person to seize the opportunity to commit fraud, whereas psychopathy aids the person in rationalising why they committed fraud. Another study, this time on the relationship of the Dark Triad to positive personality traits, found that the Dark Triad is highly correlated with low levels of honesty humility.

  24

  How generalisable is the Dark Triad? Is it, as is the case with much of the research on leadership, that its negative effects hold true only for so-called WEIRD – Western, educated, industrialised, rich, and democratic – countries? In a recent study more than 70 researchers pursued this question. They investigated the prevalence of the Dark Triad in 49 countries.

  25

  In addition to the study’s broad scope, it was novel in that the researchers used socio-economic factors to explain their results.

  The study’s major finding was that the trait of narcissism was sensitive to countries’ cultural values and socio-economic context. This led them to the somewhat controversial conclusion that ‘less developed, less free, more corrupt, less peaceful, and more sex-asymmetrical’ countries tend to be more narcissistic.

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  The Dark Triad of Personality

  Narcissism, Machiavellianism, and Psychopathy in Everyday Life

  • Minna Lyons(Author)
  • 2019(Publication Date)
  • Academic Press

    (Publisher)

  Szabó, Czibor, Restás, and Bereczkei (2018) studied OCBs in a sample of 256 Hungarian working adults. Thy categorized OCBs into those that are directed toward individual work colleagues (e.g., “I go out of my way to help new colleagues”) and those that are beneficial to the organization (e.g., “I give advance notice when I’m unable to come to work”). They also measured self-rated in-role behaviors (e.g., “I meet formal performance requirements for the job” in order to evaluate how the dark traits relate to performance in their actual jobs. As control, they also assessed the participants’ job satisfaction, the extent that people identify with the organization, and the Big Six personality traits. In cross-correlational analyses, they showed that all of the Dark Triad traits were associated with less OCBs directed toward the organization, and Machiavellianism and psychopathy were negatively related to OCBs directed toward individuals. However, a different picture appeared when the control variables were added as predictors in regression analyses. Psychopathy emerged as the only dark trait that had a negative relationship with both individual and organizational OCBs, as well as in-role behaviors. This suggests that high psychopathy individuals are employees who are unwilling to voluntarily help others and the organization as a whole. Furthermore, high psychopathy individuals are reluctant to perform the tasks that have been assigned to them as part of their role. In turn, the relationship with OCBs and Machiavellianism told a very different story. When the shared variance between the two other Dark Triad traits and the control variables was taken into account, those who were high on Machiavellianism reported performing OCBs toward the organizational at higher frequencies. This speaks for the strategic nature of high Machiavellian individuals, who may see extra role tasks that are viewed positively by their superiors as a way to advance their careers.

  6.8 Conclusion

  Research into the Dark Triad traits in organizations is still in its infancy. Emerging evidence suggests that people who have socially aversive personality traits self-select to careers and occupations that allow them to use ruthless tactics in gaining power and money. At the job interview stage, high Dark Triad individuals, especially those high in narcissism, may use tactics of strategies of self-promotion and self-enhancement in charming the employers into hiring them. When in employment, high Dark Triad traits relate to CWBs, including stealing, bullying, and sabotage of work property. When Dark Triad individuals are promoted into a leadership role, their followers report being more stressed, with intentions to find a new job. However, the success of the Dark Triad depends on the organizational context and other characteristics of the individual. There certainly is a need for more research looking at moderating factors between the Dark Triad and workplace outcomes. Overall, the exploitative cheater strategy embodied by socially antagonistic personalities translates into selfish behavior in the workplace context as well as in other aspects of life.

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  Research in Personnel and Human Resources Management

  • M. Ronald Buckley, Jonathon R. B. Halbesleben, Anthony R. Wheeler, M. Ronald Buckley, Jonathon R. B. Halbesleben, Anthony R. Wheeler(Authors)
  • 2016(Publication Date)
  • Emerald Group Publishing Limited

    (Publisher)

  Results indicated that the presence of corporate psychopaths can lead to increased conflict in the workplace and a decline in employee well-being ( Boddy, 2014 ). The existence of psychopathic traits in management has also been linked to psychological distress in employees and decreased job satisfaction ( Mathieu, Neumann, Hare, & Babiak, 2014 ). We propose these findings are also applicable for high Machiavellians and narcissists in the workplace. Additionally, we believe the effects are likely magnified when an entrepreneur has a Dark Triad personality given the prominent role an entrepreneur occupies in the venture. These findings by Boddy (2014) and Mathieu et al. (2014) highlight the potential for poor human resources man-agement by Dark Triad entrepreneurs as they facilitate conflict, diminish employee well-being, and decrease employee job satisfaction. This could also result in a decrease in available human capital as conflict and/or low job satisfaction impedes the employee’s ability to complete work responsibilities. We also propose that Dark Triad entrepreneurs are unlikely to implement commitment-based HR systems, which prioritize long-term relationships with employees ( Arthur, 1992, 1994 ). The practices implemented by commitment-based HR systems include employee involvement in decision-making and training ( Arthur, 1992, 1994 ). These practices run counter to the general disposition and tendencies of Dark Triad personalities, as grant-ing autonomy and providing training to employees encourage a dispersion of power and a focus on long-term relationships. Instead, we propose that overtime Dark Triad entrepreneurs will foster a corrupt and aggressive cul-ture that values short-term gains ( Cohen, 2016 ). The culture will be fueled by the lack of respect and mistreatment of others exhibited by the Dark Triad entrepreneur, which will become apparent to those involved in the venture overtime.

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  The Role of Leadership in Occupational Stress

  • William A. Gentry, Cathleen Clerkin, Pamela L. Perrewé, Jonathon R. B. Halbesleben, Christopher C. Rosen, William A. Gentry, Cathleen Clerkin, Pamela L. Perrewé, Jonathon R. B. Halbesleben, Christopher C. Rosen(Authors)
  • 2016(Publication Date)
  • Emerald Group Publishing Limited

    (Publisher)

  The Dark Tetrad approach associated with Paulhus’ work is focused on characteristic motives to elevate the self and harm others ( Paulhus & Williams, 2002 ). An alternative approach to dark personality is based on models of DSM-IV Axis II personality disorders ( Hogan & Hogan, 2001, 2009 ), and focuses on the dark side as potentially aversive personality char-acteristics that emerge when individuals let down their guard ( Hogan & Hogan, 2001 ). Dark Tetrad Machiavellianism , which refers to a manipulative personality, based on questioning individuals about how much they agree with statements Emotion-related Antecedents of Various Dark Traits Lack of empathy Inability to read emotions Lack of emotional regulation Deep-seated insecurity Dark Personality Characteristics Destructive or Dysfunctional Leadership Behaviors Follower Well-Being Environmental Stress Triggers Fig. 1. A General Model of Emotions, Stress, and Well-Being for Dark Leadership. Notes: We would argue that “dark personality” characteristics are isomorphic to behavioral tendencies that are driven by the emotion-related antecedents. These behavioral tendencies are frequently functional under normal conditions, but stress triggers in the person’s environment change the functional value of these behaviors, such that these typical behaviors become dysfunctional at best or destructive at worst. In either case, the expected impact on follower well-being is negative. 35 Stress and the Dark Side of Leadership derived from sentiments and prescriptions for leader behavior in the writ-ings of Niccolo Machiavelli ( Christie & Geis, 1970 ). Machiavellians show a lack of empathy, display little emotion, and hold an unconventional moral perspective. Specifically, they are willing to lie to, manipulate, and exploit other people, and they focus exclusively on their own goals, displaying no concerns about the wishes of others ( Christie & Geis, 1970 ; Wu & LeBreton, 2011 ).

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  Leadership, Work, and the Dark Side of Personality

  • Seth M. Spain(Author)
  • 2019(Publication Date)
  • Academic Press

    (Publisher)

  Blackburn, 1975 ).

  Though their origins are diverse, all Dark Triad characteristics reflect what Paulhus and Williams (2002) referred to as a “socially malevolent character” and tendencies toward self-promoting behavior, emotional coldness, facility with lying (or, at least, disinterest in the immorality of lying), and aggressiveness. Paulhus’s approach to subclinical traits has been a major influence on the study of “normal” personality in aberrant or dysfunctional operation. His introduction of the “Dark Triad” nomenclature is probably the main reason that researchers in the area refer to the study of subclinical traits as the “dark side,” in contrast to the bright side of the Big Five. For example, the term Dark Triad is the main reason my colleagues and I used the term “dark side” in our first research on subclinical personality characteristics and leadership (Harms, Spain, & Hannah, 2011 ). Paulhus’s work effectively places dark personality characteristics as a sort-of middle ground between normal-range personality characteristics like the Big Five and clinical-level personality pathologies, such as those assessed by the DSM. Unfortunately, majority of research on these characteristics has used either student samples for the study of narcissism and Machiavelliansism or samples from incarcerated populations for the study of psychopathy. Consequently, until rather recently, a great deal was known about the nature of these traits, but comparatively little had crossed over into workplace research. This has begun to change in the last few years.

  Paulhus recently suggested the inclusion of everyday sadism to the Dark Triad (naming the emerging four-factor model the Dark Tetrad; Buckels, Jones, & Paulhus, 2013 ; Paulhus, 2014 ). Sadism is defined most directly by the desire and intention to hurt others, either verbally or physically, simply for the enjoyment of the act. These people cause personal physical and especially emotional harm to others because they like doing it. Everyday sadists simply enjoy seeing others in distress and derive satisfaction from placing them into distress. Paulhus (2014)

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  Handbook of Interpersonal Psychology

  Theory, Research, Assessment, and Therapeutic Interventions

  • Leonard M. Horowitz, Stephen Strack, Leonard M. Horowitz, Stephen Strack(Authors)
  • 2010(Publication Date)
  • Wiley

    (Publisher)

  4

  Differences among the Dark Triad have also emerged in work on behavior genetics. Machiavellianism has a substantial shared-environment component whereas narcissism and psychopathy were accounted for almost entirely by genetic and nonshared environmental factors (Vernon, Villani, Vickers, & Harris, 2008). The shared-environment component suggests that individuals acquire Machiavellian traits over time, and possess enough phenotypic plasticity to adjust to their environment. In contrast, results with the other members of the Dark Triad suggest a genetic etiology.

  The same research team extended this line of research in an even more recent study addressing the origins of moral reason (Campbell, Shermer, Villani, Vickers, & Vernon, 2009). Machiavellianism and psychopathy share a positive phenotypic and genetic correlation with the lowest level of moral development—that based on a “personal interest schema” (e.g., it is right to do what benefits the self). By contrast, psychopathy was the only member of the Dark Triad correlated (negatively) with higher stages of abstract moral reasoning. This finding suggests that those high on Machiavellianism, unlike those high in psychopathy, are not impaired in their ability to reason through moral dilemmas; they can see others' perspectives, but act selfishly nonetheless.

  Taken together, the studies in this section indicate that—contrary to the unificationist claim—the Dark Triad members differ in important ways. While helpful, those studies do not specify the precise nature of those differences.

  Note that we are not arguing the Dark Triad members are entirely different—some overlap does exist. Indeed, the range of data cited under the unificationist section above points to substantial overlap. But what characteristics overlap? And what characteristics are distinct? To tease apart the array of similarities and differences, we must return to the conceptual roots of each Dark Triad member.

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  Toxic Organizational Cultures and Leadership

  How to Build and Sustain a Healthy Workplace

  • Susan Hetrick(Author)
  • 2023(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  As discussed in the previous chapter, the ‘Dark Triad’ is a constellation of three traits: narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy. While these traits can overlap, they are distinguished as follows:

  • Narcissism has a strong sense of entitlement, self-importance, and a strong need for power
  • Machiavellianism is defined as having a calculating and deceitful interpersonal style
  • Psychopathy is described as a lack of empathy, with a reckless and manipulative style

  While the last chapter looked at the Dark Triad in respect to leadership, how the Dark Triad traits are likely to show up in followers will now be examined. Followers who scored highly in Dark Triad personality traits are likely to have self-serving preferences. Their actions will be aimed at achieving their own self-interested goals, which can be harmful or negative to others.

  6.7.1 Narcissistic Followers

  Narcissists have a need to shine in the workplace. They are likely to make career choices that enable them to do so. In terms of OCBs, they are likely to use the behaviours that serve their own interests.

  Narcissists use two different ways to do this: using charm of admiration (being self-assured, dominant, and expressive) and aggressiveness towards rivals (annoyed, hostile, and socially insensitive).

  While narcissistic leadership is characterized by overconfident decision making, volatile leadership performance, and poor management, narcissistic followers tend to overestimate themselves. They are more likely, for instance, to overclaim their influence by name dropping. They are more likely to take credit for someone else’s work. They will also proclaim themselves as creative. All these will reinforce their grandiose self-belief. More worryingly, narcissists do not feel bound by rules.

  Providing feedback to a narcissist follower can be challenging. This type of follower will see any feedback, unless overly positive, as negative. In response, the narcissistic follower is likely to respond in a hostile way and look to devalue the feedback or seek to undermine the leader.39

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  The Power of Kindness

  Why Empathy Is Essential in Everyday Life

  • Dr. Brian Goldman, Brian Goldman(Authors)
  • 2018(Publication Date)
  • HarperCollins Publishers

    (Publisher)

  Chapter Three Psychopaths, Narcissists, and Machiavellians—The Dark Triad “I’ve attached a couple of questionnaires,” writes Derek Mitchell in an email. “Your results will do nicely for your objectives. I will have someone in my lab score them tomorrow. I look forward to meeting you.” My objectives are the same ones that took me to Quebec City to have Philip Jackson do an fMRI scan of my brain: the same ones that are sending me across North America and around the world. Call it the quest to recover my kindness quotient—the thing I seem to have misplaced somewhere along the road to becoming a veteran ER physician. Mitchell is a neuroscientist at Western University in London, Ontario. He’s interested in how the brain is wired up incorrectly for empathy. His passion is studying people who for one reason or another aren’t kind at all. There are three broad types of people who make the list. The first are narcissists. Narcissistic personality disorder is a condition in which people have an inflated sense of their own importance, a deep need for admiration, and a lack of empathy for others. The second are psychopaths and sociopaths. Psychopaths are defined as being amoral, extremely egocentric, unable to love or establish meaningful personal relationships, and unable to learn from experience. Sociopaths are defined by lack of empathy toward others coupled with amoral conduct and an inability to conform with the norms of society. The third category is Machiavellianism, a disorder of people who are so focused on their own interests that they manipulate, deceive, and exploit others to get what they want. According to a 2014 paper published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences, the common denominators to each of these states of mind are “feelings of superiority and privilege . .. coupled with a lack of remorse and empathy . .

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  Corporate Psychopathy

  Investigating Destructive Personalities in the Workplace

  • Katarina Fritzon, Nathan Brooks, Simon Croom(Authors)
  • 2019(Publication Date)
  • Palgrave Macmillan

    (Publisher)

  2018 ) offers a promising solution, that is to request that participant provide email addresses of superior and subordinate colleagues, who are then invited to complete questionnaires using a randomly generated code.

  The worry is that the findings presented in this chapter for the CPI-R and CPI-3R are equivalent to a Dodo-Bird verdict; there is a lack of clear differentiation amongst the subscales as to whether they are assessing sub-components of psychopathy, or Dark Triad personality traits more broadly. Dark Triad researchers have been categorised as “splitters” or “lumpers” (Furnham et al., 2014 ), and it is unclear as yet which of those prosaic descriptors best applies to the research presented in this chapter. Given the average effect size for the relationship between the three Dark Triad constructs is very high (r  = .58 for M and P; r  = .38 for N and P; and r  = .34 for N and M; Muris et al., 2017 ), and that recent research by Jones and Figueredo (2013 ) identified that the combination of callousness and manipulation accounted for the entirety of the overlap between the Dark Triad traits, the question remains as to whether there is value in continuing to partial these constructs (Persson, 2019 ), i.e. what is Machiavellianism measuring when Narcissism and Psychopathy are removed (Sleep, Lynam, Hyatt, & Miller, 2017 ). The question of whether the subscales of the CPI-R are measuring Dark Triad traits more broadly or conceptual domains of psychopathy specifically requires further investigation, using additional measures beyond the NPI and Mach-IV. For example, a recently created inventory of Machiavellianism which was derived from expert ratings on FFM facets (Collison, Vize, Miller, & Lynam, 2018 ) was found to differentiate more clearly from the other elements of the Dark Triad. Future research should test the convergent validity of the CPI-R against this measure, as well as the Elemental Psychopathy Assessment (Lynam et al. 2011 ), and the Five-Factor Narcissism Inventory (Glover et al., 2012

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