Evidence doesn’t support the notion that dark personalities are clinically disturbed. They can be aggressive and duplicitous, but unless social malevolence is used as a criterion, the Dark Tetrad traits shouldn’t be considered inherently psychopathological.

Boston University

“Dark personalities” refer to a set of socially aversive traits in the subclinical range. People with dark personalities don't meet enough of the criteria to be diagnosed with any of the disorders in a clinical setting and are able to flourish in everyday work settings, scholastic settings, and the broader community.


Dark Personalities

Paulhus, D. L. (2014). Toward a Taxonomy of Dark Personalities. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 23(6), 421–426. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721414547737

Toward a Taxonomy of Dark Personalities

The dark tetrad is a collection of “dark personality” traits, including psychopathy, everyday sadism, narcissism, and Machiavellianism. High scores in these traits is associated with a statistically higher likelihood of not only engaging in cruel behavior, but also committing violent crimes (i.e. murder).

The Dark Tetrad

Are Dark Personalities Clinically Disturbed?

References for the four dark personality traits are attached in the child nodes.

Dark Personalities References

Reference for Personality Traits of Dark Personalities 

Studies done on personality traits of dark personalities examined whether traits such as dominance, lack of empathy, aggression, resistance, impulsivity, and narcissism develop from childhood and emerge into adulthood. The researchers found that individuals’ dominance, impulsivity, and aggression decrease over time, whereas their lack of empathy, resistance, and narcissism remains unchanged. If these traits were measured in childhood, they could predict dark traits in adulthood. This means that an early intervention can be a promising possibility.

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