The ‘Dark Triad’ of personality
Though personality consists of many combination of traits working in a very complex pattern and contributing to our behavior and personality and presence of single trait in higher levels is not appropriate cause of a behavior ,the 3 of the traits observed to be the key ingredient traits in most of individuals ,undesirable,impulsive and socially aversive behaviors are Narcissism,Machiavellianism and Psychopathy,infamously called as ‘The Dark Triad’ of the personality.
These trait do exist independently but if present are rather overlapping i.e. it is likely the individual being narcissist but more likely that the individual is narcissist and Machiavellian too.
Narcissism
it is one of the most known trait of the dark triad. Dr. Greg House of House M.D. , Amy of Gone Girl, Miranda Priestly of Devils wears a Prada are some examples of narcissistic individuals in cinemas.The term Narcissism originates from Greek myth ‘Narcissus’ ,who one day fell in love with his own reflection and died after he refused to eat or drink so that he could see his own reflection every moment.
Narcissist never get bored of talking about themselves,a sense of grandiose and superiority is very hard to miss in such individuals.They constantly seek attention and validation,extremely exploitative and selfish and susceptible to ego threat easily.They make very hard-to-deal with ,authoritative individuals if in leadership positions and at extreme levels, it is diagnosed as Narcissistic personality disorder.
In spite of their shortcomings, narcissist are highly extroverts, with above average IQ's , are socially charming ,have a high self concept and known skill for creative thinking.
Machiavellian
Like narcissism, Machiavellian too find its origin from literature aspects. The term Machiavellian is coined after Niccolo Machiavelli, an Italian political writer , who in his most popular book ‘The Prince’ , gave a quite brutal portrayal of selfish politicians,who possessed some of the traits later known as ‘Machiavellian traits’ and they believed in the phrase ‘the end justifies the means used to achieve it’.According to Machiavelli’s book these traits were important requirement to those who seek and are entitled to higher positions in society, in medieval Europe.
This trait includes individuals skilled in interpersonal manipulation, strategic exploitation,have a justification for every amoral behavior, are cynicist, skilled liars ,poor social competency and emotional intelligence and masterminds of most of the plans.Lord Petyr Baelish and Lord Varys of Game of Thrones, Tony Soprano of The Sopranos and Francis Urquhart aka FU of House of Cards are some some examples of Machiavellian characters.
Psychopathy
It is known as the darkest of all traits in dark triad and most commonly observed traits in criminals .Psychopathy is characterized by interpersonal manipulation, callousness, irresponsibility, social deviance, and lack of remorse for hurting others.
Psychopaths have a rather deep connect and history with violence,low on conscientiousness and lack empathy makes them a dangerous individuals.Ramsay Bolton and Joffery Baratheon of Game of Thrones,Arthur Mitchell of Dexter are some Psychopathic characters.
Of all the traits of Dark Triad, the narcissism is the brightest of all three as the narcissist are ambitious ,charming and goal-oriented and are capable of harming self more than the other.It is followed by Machiavellian and in the end psychopathy.
Research has found that Psychopathy and Machiavellian were correlated with adopting hard tactics whereas Machiavellian and narcissism were correlated with adopting soft tactics( Jonason, Slomski, Partyka,2012).
I took test given below and I found out many aspects of each trait ,were coinciding with each other.Not all the items were negative ,indicating some level of these traits or their components may actually be helpful.
To find out your ‘Dark triad’ levels in your personality click here.Narcissism, Machiavellian,psychopathy..
References
Jonason, P. K., Slomski, S., & Partyka, J. (2012). The Dark Triad at work : how toxic employees get their way. Personality And Individual Differences, 52(3), 449–453. https://doi.org/doi:10.1016/j.paid.2011.11.008
Whitbourne, S. K. (2013, January 26). Shedding Light on Psychology’s Dark Triad. Retrieved June 15, 2019, from https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/fulfillment-any-age/201301/shedding-light-psychology-s-dark-triad
Jonason, P. K., & Middleton, J. P. (2015). Dark Triad: The “Dark Side” of Human Personality. International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences,671–675. doi:10.1016/b978–0–08–097086–8.25051–4
Visser, B. A., & Campbell, S. (2018). Measuring the Dark Side of Personality. The SAGE Handbook of Personality and Individual Differences: Volume I: The Science of Personality and Individual Differences,573–591. doi:10.4135/9781526451163.n27
Understanding the Dark Triad: Managing “Dark” Personality Traits. (n.d.). Retrieved June 15, 2019, from https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/understanding-dark-triad.htm
