The burgeoning popularity of this model has been evidenced in reviews by Furnham, Richards, and Paulhus (2013), Muris, Merckelbach, Otgaar, and Meijer (2017), and, most recently, Zeigler-Hill and Marcus (2019). For that reason, Paulhus and Williams advised that the three variables be studied jointly. If ignored, this overlap can lead to a misattribution of empirical associations – for example, falsely concluding that narcissism is responsible for an outcome, when psychopathy is actually the active ingredient. Despite radically different conceptual origins, the three variables invariably show positive intercorrelations – sometimes substantial. These so-called “dark” variables – although they have parallels to clinical disorders – show substantial variance in non-clinical samples. We also uncovered a novel link between sadism and sexuality, but no association with maladjustment.Īlmost 20 years ago, Paulhus and Williams (2002) coined the term Dark Triad to refer to a constellation of three socially offensive personality variables: narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy. Although they overlap to a moderate degree, the four subscales show distinctive correlates – even with a control for acquiescence. In sum, the four-factor structure replicated across student and community samples. Moreover, the resulting 7-item subscales each showed coherent links with the Big Five and adjustment. In Study 3 ( N = 660), a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) of the final 28 items showed acceptable fit for a four-factor solution. Associations with adjustment and sex drive provided insight into unique personality dynamics of the four constructs. Study 2 ( N = 999 students) applied EFA to a reduced 37-item set.
A 4-factor solution revealed a separate sadism factor, as well as a shifted Dark Triad.
Study 1 ( N = 868) applied exploratory factor analysis (EFA) to a diverse 48-item pool using data collected on MTurk.
FACT B SPSS CODE FOR THE SUBSCALES SERIES
A series of three studies yielded the Short Dark Tetrad (SD4), a four subscale inventory with 7 items per construct. To build a four-factor measure, we modified and extended the Short Dark Triad (SD3) measure to include sadism. Consensus is emerging that the constellation of dark personalities should include the sadistic personality.