The perceived attractiveness and traits of the Dark Triad: Narcissists are perceived as hot, Machiavellians and psychopaths not

The current work investigated how a fictitious opposite-sex narcissist, Machiavellian, and psychopath are perceived in an experimental between subjects-design with three groups (total N = 184). Participants rated personality traits (Big Five and Agency/Communion) and different domains of interpersonal attraction (likeability, attractiveness, friend value, short-term mate value, long-term mate value) of the target persons. While all three target persons were not perceived particularly favorably by participants, the narcissist was consistently perceived more favorably than the Machiavellian and the psychopath who were perceived quite similarly to each other. It is discussed why narcissists may be judged more favorably and Machiavellians and psychopaths converge in people’s lay perceptions.

[1]  J. Rauthmann.  Towards multifaceted Machiavellianism: Content, factorial, and construct validity of a German Machiavellianism Scale , 2012 .

[2]  R. Salekin,et al.  Psychopathy, Empathy, and Perspective -Taking Ability in a Community Sample: Implications for the Successful Psychopathy Concept , 2006 .

[3]  Brittany Gentile,et al.  Searching for a vulnerable dark triad: comparing Factor 2 psychopathy, vulnerable narcissism, and borderline personality disorder. , 2010, Journal of personality.

[4]  Carolyn C. Morf,et al.  Narcissism and Self-Evaluation Maintenance: Explorations in Object Relations , 1993 .

[5]  D. Schmitt,et al.  What Have You Done for Me Lately? Friendship-Selection in the Shadow of the Dark Triad Traits , 2012, Evolutionary psychology : an international journal of evolutionary approaches to psychology and behavior.

[6]  Peter K. Jonason,et al.  The costs and benefits of the Dark Triad : implications for mate poaching and mate retention tactics , 2010 .

[7]  John F. Rauthmann,et al.  How ''dark'' are the Dark Triad traits? Examining the perceived darkness of narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy , 2012 .

[8]  J. Rauthmann,et al.  Proposing a Multidimensional Machiavellianism Conceptualization , 2011 .

[9]  J. Rauthmann.  The Dark Triad and Interpersonal Perception: Similarities and Differences in the Social Consequences of Narcissism, Machiavellianism, and Psychopathy , 2012 .

[10]  D. Paulhus,et al.  The Dark Triad of personality: Narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy , 2002 .

[11]  J. McHoskey,et al.  Narcissism and Machiavellianism , 1995, Psychological reports.

[12]  R. R. Miller,et al.  Machiavellianism: a synthesis of the evolutionary and psychological literatures. , 1996, Psychological bulletin.

[13]  Gregory D. Webster,et al.  A protean approach to social influence: Dark Triad personalities and social influence tactics ☆ , 2012 .

[14]  Ashley L. Watts,et al.  An examination of the Dirty Dozen measure of psychopathy: a cautionary tale about the costs of brief measures. , 2012, Psychological assessment.

[15]  D. Paulhus.  Interpersonal and intrapsychic adaptiveness of trait self-enhancement: a mixed blessing? , 1998, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[16]  D. Paulhus,et al.  Big Two Personality and Religiosity Across Cultures , 2013 .

[17]  W. Worzel,et al.  Machiavellianism and psychopathy. , 1998, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[18]  Michael J. Strube,et al.  Narcissism and attractiveness , 2010 .

[19]  R. Hare.  Comparison of procedures for the assessment of psychopathy. , 1985, Journal of consulting and clinical psychology.

[20]  John F. Rauthmann,et al.  Acquisitive or protective self-presentation of dark personalities? Associations among the Dark Triad and self-monitoring , 2011 .

[21]  Gregory D. Webster,et al.  The Antihero in Popular Culture: Life History Theory and the Dark Triad Personality Traits , 2012 .

[22]  Boris Egloff,et al.  Why are narcissists so charming at first sight? Decoding the narcissism-popularity link at zero acquaintance. , 2010, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[23]  K V Petrides,et al.  Trait Emotional Intelligence and the Dark Triad Traits of Personality , 2011, Twin Research and Human Genetics.

[24]  Ronald J. Deluga.  Relationship among American presidential charismatic leadership, narcissism, and rated performance. , 1997 .

[25]  Kenneth G. DeMarree,et al.  Leader Emergence: The Case of the Narcissistic Leader , 2008, Personality & social psychology bulletin.

[26]  M. Strube,et al.  The Intertwined Evolution of Narcissism and Short‐Term Mating , 2012 .

[27]  S. Lilienfeld,et al.  Development and preliminary validation of a self-report measure of psychopathic personality traits in noncriminal populations. , 1996, Journal of personality assessment.

[28]  Delroy L. Paulhus,et al.  The construct of Machiavellianism: Twenty years later. , 1992 .

[29]  Vincent Egan,et al.  The dark triad and normal personality traits , 2006 .

[30]  C. Hall,et al.  A Narcissistic Personality Inventory , 1979, Psychological reports.

[31]  S. Young,et al.  Narcissism and celebrity , 2006 .

[32]  R. Christie,et al.  Studies in Machiavellianism , 1970 .

[33]  C. Morf,et al.  Unraveling the Paradoxes of Narcissism: A Dynamic Self-Regulatory Processing Model , 2001 .

[34]  Philip A. Vernon,et al.  A behavioral genetic investigation of the Dark Triad and the Big 5 , 2008 .

[35]  Gregory D. Webster,et al.  (www.interscience.wiley.com) DOI: 10.1002/per.698 The Dark Triad: Facilitating a Short-Term Mating Strategy in Men , 2022 .

[36]  J. McHoskey,et al.  Machiavellianism and personality dysfunction. , 2001 .

[37]  M. Leary,et al.  Handbook of individual differences in social behavior , 2009 .

[38]  Stacy M. Campbell,et al.  On the Self-regulatory Dynamics Created by the Peculiar Benefits and Costs of Narcissism: A Contextual Reinforcement Model and Examination of Leadership , 2009 .

[39]  R. Raskin,et al.  A principal-components analysis of the Narcissistic Personality Inventory and further evidence of its construct validity. , 1988, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[40]  Gregory D. Webster,et al.  The dirty dozen: a concise measure of the dark triad. , 2010, Psychological assessment.

[41]  C. Spielberger,et al.  Advances in personality assessment , 1982 .

[42]  Norman P. Li,et al.  Mate-selection and the Dark Triad: Facilitating a short-term mating strategy and creating a volatile environment , 2011 .

[43]  M. Back,et al.  The two pathways to being an (un-)popular narcissist. , 2013, Journal of personality.

[44]  Michael Weinhardt,et al.  BFI-S: Big Five Inventory-SOEP , 2013 .

[45]  Delroy L. Paulhus,et al.  Differentiating the Dark Triad Within the Interpersonal Circumplex , 2012 .