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

Reidy, D. E., Shelley-Tremblay, J. F., & Lilienfeld, S. O. (2011). Psychopathy, reactive aggression, and precarious proclamations: A review of behavioral, cognitive, and biological research. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 16(6), 512–524. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.avb.2011.06.002

Psychopathy, reactive aggression, and precarious proclamations: A review of behavioral, cognitive, and biological research

Miller, J. D., Back, M. D., & Lynam, D. R. (2021). Corrigendum: Narcissism Today: What We Know and What We Need to Learn. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 30(6), 519–525. https://doi.org/10.1177/09637214221086630

Narcissism Today: What We Know and What We Need to Learn

Bonfá-Araujo, B., Lima-Costa, A. R., Hauck-Filho, N., & Jonason, P. K. (2022). Considering sadism in the shadow of the Dark Triad traits: A meta-analytic review of the Dark Tetrad. Personality and Individual Differences, 197, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2022.111767

Considering sadism in the shadow of the Dark Triad traits: A meta-analytic review of the Dark Tetrad

Jones, D. N., & Paulhus, D. (2009). Machiavellianism. Handbook of Individual Differences in Social Behavior, 93–108.

Machiavellianism

Paulhus, D. L., Curtis, S. R., & Jones, D. N. (2018, February). Aggression as a trait: the Dark Tetrad alternative. Current Opinion in Psychology, 19, 88–92. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2017.04.007

Aggression as a trait: the Dark Tetrad alternative

Buckels, E. E. (2006). The psychology of everyday sadism. University of British Columbia, 1–165. https://doi.org/10.14288/1.0369056

The psychology of everyday sadism

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

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

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

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.

Are Dark Personalities Clinically Disturbed?

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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