Daniel N. Jones

Introducing the Short Dark Triad (SD3): A Brief Measure of Dark Personality Traits

Three socially aversive traits—Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy—have been studied as an overlapping constellation known as the Dark Triad. Here, we develop and validate the Short Dark Triad (SD3), a brief proxy measure. Four studies (total N = 1,063) examined the structure, reliability, and validity of the subscales in both community and student samples. In Studies 1 and 2, structural analyses yielded three factors with the final 27 items loading appropriately on their respective factors. Study 3 confirmed that the resulting SD3 subscales map well onto the longer standard measures. Study 4 validated the SD3 subscales against informant ratings. Together, these studies indicate that the SD3 provides efficient, reliable, and valid measures of the Dark Triad of personalities.

Different Provocations Trigger Aggression in Narcissists and Psychopaths

Although previous research has demonstrated that ego-threatened narcissists react aggressively, no allowance was made for the overlap of subclinical narcissism with subclinical psychopathy. Nor is there research directly comparing the reactions of these two personalities to physical threat. To investigate these distinctions, the present study examined the degree to which narcissists and psychopaths respond with aggression to ego threat versus physical provocation. Participants were given the opportunity to aggress with a white noise blast against an ostensible partner who had provoked them. Results replicated previous findings that narcissists aggress in response to ego threat provocation (a personal insult), even when overlap with psychopathy is controlled. By contrast, psychopathy emerged as the unique predictor of aggression in response to physical provocation (a gratuitous blast of loud white noise). The results point to qualitatively different aggression mechanisms underlying narcissistic and psychopathic aggression.

The Core of Darkness: Uncovering the Heart of the Dark Triad

The Dark Triad consists of three overlapping but distinct personality variables: narcissism, Machiavellianism and psychopathy. To date, however, no research has empirically identified what leads these three variables to overlap or whether other variables share the same core. The present research addresses why and how dark personalities overlap. Drawing from classic work in psychopathy, Hares Factor 1 or manipulation and callousness were found to be the common antagonistic core. A series of latent variable procedures, including Multisample Structural Equation Models, revealed that for both samples, manipulation and callousness, completely accounted for the associations among the facet scores of the psychopathy, narcissism and Machiavellianism scales. Sample 2 also included Social Dominance Orientation, and results further confirmed that Social Dominance Orientation has the same common core as the Dark Triad. In sum, Hares Factor 1—manipulation–callousness—emerged as common dark core that accounts for the overlap among antagonistic traits. Copyright

Behavioral Confirmation of Everyday Sadism

Past research on socially aversive personalities has focused on subclinical psychopathy, subclinical narcissism, and Machiavellianism—the “Dark Triad” of personality. In the research reported here, we evaluated whether an everyday form of sadism should be added to that list. Acts of apparent cruelty were captured using two laboratory procedures, and we showed that such behavior could be predicted with two measures of sadistic personality. Study 1 featured a bug-killing paradigm. As expected, sadists volunteered to kill bugs at greater rates than did nonsadists. Study 2 examined willingness to harm an innocent victim. When aggression was easy, sadism and Dark Triad measures predicted unprovoked aggression. However, only sadists were willing to work for the opportunity to hurt an innocent person. In both studies, sadism emerged as an independent predictor of behavior reflecting an appetite for cruelty. Together, these findings support the construct validity of everyday sadism and its incorporation into a new “Dark Tetrad” of personality.

Factor structure of the B-Scan 360: a measure of corporate psychopathy.

Psychopathy is a clinical construct defined by a cluster of personality traits and behaviors, including grandiosity, egocentricity, deceptiveness, shallow emotions, lack of empathy or remorse, irresponsibility, impulsivity, and a tendency to ignore or violate social norms. The majority of empirical research on psychopathy involves forensic populations most commonly assessed with the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R), a 20-item rating scale that measures 4 related factors or dimensions (Interpersonal, Affective, Lifestyle, and Antisocial) that underpin the superordinate construct of psychopathy. Recently, researchers have turned their attention to the nature and implications of psychopathic features in the workplace. This research has been hampered by the lack of an assessment tool geared to the corporate/organizational world. Here we describe the B-Scan 360, an instrument that uses ratings of others to measure psychopathic features in workplace settings. In this study, large samples of participants used an online survey system to rate their supervisors on the B-Scan 360. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses supported a reliable 20-item, 4-factor model that is consistent with the PCL-R 4-factor model of psychopathy. Although more research is needed before the B-Scan 360 can be used in organizational settings, we believe that these results represent an important step forward in the study of corporate psychopathy.

The Associations Among Dark Personalities and Sexual Tactics Across Different Scenarios

Although malevolent individuals may be willing to use any tactic necessary to obtain sex, not all antagonistic traits will predict coercion or coaxing in all situations. A sample of 447 adult men, collected in two waves, reported their intentions to engage in coercion or coaxing of hypothetical targets. Study 1 provided three hypothetical scenarios that result in sexual rejection: (a) an expensive date, (b) a stranger, and (c) a relationship partner, and Study 2 provided the same scenarios, and three additional scenarios: (d) a rival’s partner, (e) a bet, and (f) a powerful person. A Structural Equations Model indicated that a common antagonistic factor, indicated by Social Dominance and the Dark Triad traits of psychopathy, narcissism, and Machiavellianism, predicted coaxing across all situations, whereas only psychopathy predicted coercion across all situations. In addition, narcissism accounted for additional variance in coaxing when rejected by an expensive date. These findings suggest that across the different scenarios, psychopathy is primarily associated with coercive tactics and the common malevolent core among the traits is associated with coaxing tactics.

Duplicity Among the Dark Triad: Three Faces of Deceit

Although all 3 of the Dark Triad members are predisposed to engage in exploitative interpersonal behavior, their motivations and tactics vary. Here we explore their distinctive dynamics with 5 behavioral studies of dishonesty (total N = 1,750). All 3 traits predicted cheating on a coin-flipping task when there was little risk of being caught (Study 1). Only psychopathy predicted cheating when punishment was a serious risk (Study 2). Machiavellian individuals also cheated under high risk—but only if they were ego-depleted (Study 3). Both psychopathy and Machiavellianism predicted cheating when it required an intentional lie (Study 4). Finally, those high in narcissism showed the highest levels of self-deceptive bias (Study 5). In sum, duplicitous behavior is far from uniform across the Dark Triad members. The frequency and nature of their dishonesty is moderated by 3 contextual factors: level of risk, ego depletion, and target of deception. This evidence for distinctive forms of duplicity helps clarify differences among the Dark Triad members as well as illuminating different shades of dishonesty.

Perceiving pain in others: Validation of a dual processing model

&NA; Accurate perception of another person’s painful distress would appear to be accomplished through sensitivity to both automatic (unintentional, reflexive) and controlled (intentional, purposive) behavioural expression. We examined whether observers would construe diverse behavioural cues as falling within these domains, consistent with cognitive neuroscience findings describing activation of both automatic and controlled neuroregulatory processes. Using online survey methodology, 308 research participants rated behavioural cues as “goal directed vs. non–goal directed,” “conscious vs. unconscious,” “uncontrolled vs. controlled,” “fast vs. slow,” “intentional (deliberate) vs. unintentional,” “stimulus driven (obligatory) vs. self driven,” and “requiring contemplation vs. not requiring contemplation.” The behavioural cues were the 39 items provided by the PROMIS pain behaviour bank [27], constructed to be representative of the diverse possibilities for pain expression. Inter‐item correlations among rating scales provided evidence of sufficient internal consistency justifying a single score on an automatic/controlled dimension (excluding the inconsistent fast vs. slow scale). An initial exploratory factor analysis on 151 participant data sets yielded factors consistent with “controlled” and “automatic” actions, as well as behaviours characterized as “ambiguous.” A confirmatory factor analysis using the remaining 151 data sets replicated EFA findings, supporting theoretical predictions that observers would distinguish immediate, reflexive, and spontaneous reactions (primarily facial expression and paralinguistic features of speech) from purposeful and controlled expression (verbal behaviour, instrumental behaviour requiring ongoing, integrated responses). There are implicit dispositions to organize cues signaling pain in others into the well‐defined categories predicted by dual process theory. People reliably organize cues signaling pain in others into well‐defined categories that represent a distinction between automatic and controlled pain behaviour.

Transient CD30+ nodal transformation of cutaneous T‐cell lymphoma associated with cyclosporine treatment

Background  Mycosis fungoides (MF) may evolve from pre‐existing chronic atopic or psoriasiform dermatitis and the histology can be equivocal. Early patch and plaque lesions of MF may evolve into tumors, disseminate to lymph nodes, bone marrow, and internal organs, and/or undergo transformation to a large cell size.

Measures of Dark Personalities

We review self-report measures of socially aversive personalities. Rather than the clinical or forensic domains, our focus is on those variables that apply in normal work settings, community surveys, college samples, and laboratory research. Three of these personalities – Machiavellianism, narcissism and subclinical psychopathy – form an overlapping constellation called the ‘Dark Triad’. Because of their prominence in the literature, we pay special attention to measures of those three constructs. Recent work on traditional measures is reviewed briefly, but more detailed information is provided on newer combination measures. In addition, we cover measures of other ‘dark’ constructs such as sadistic personality, amoralism, and sensational interests. Finally, we review recent brief measures of various dark personalities: They can be used by researchers with a need for short screening scales.