2 research outputs found
As cold as a fish? Relationships between the Dark Triad personality traits and affective experience during the day: A day reconstruction study
The Dark Triad of personality is a cluster of three socially aversive personality traits: Machiavellianism,
narcissism and psychopathy. These traits are associated with a selfish, aggressive
and exploitative interpersonal strategy. The objective of the current study was to
establish relationships between the Dark Triad traits (and their dimensions) and momentary
affect. Machiavellianism, grandiose narcissism, vulnerable narcissism and the dimensions
of the Triarchic model of psychopathy (namely, boldness, meanness and disinhibition) were
examined. We used the Day Reconstruction Method, which is based on reconstructing
affective states experienced during the previous day. The final sample consisted of 270 university
students providing affective ratings of 3047 diary episodes. Analyses using multilevel
modelling showed that only boldness had a positive association with positive affective states
and affect balance, and a negative association with negative affective states. Grandiose
narcissism and its sub-dimensions had no relationship with momentary affect. The other
dark traits were related to negative momentary affect and/or inversely related to positive
momentary affect and affect balance. As a whole, our results empirically demonstrated distinctiveness
of the Dark Triad traits in their relationship to everyday affective states. These
findings are not congruent with the notion that people with the Dark Triad traits, who have a
dispositional tendency to manipulate and exploit others, are generally cold and invulnerable
to negative feelings. The associations between the Dark Triad and momentary affect were
discussed in the contexts of evolutionary and positive psychology, in relation to the role and
adaptive value of positive and negative emotions experienced by individuals higher in
Machiavellianism, narcissism and psychopathy