The dark triad

Delroy L. Paulhus is a personality psychology researcher and professor. He received his doctorate from Columbia University and has worked at the University of California, Berkeley and the University of California, Davis. Currently, Paulhus is a professor of psychology at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada where he teaches undergraduate and graduate courses.

Paulhus and Williams (2002) coined the term “dark triad” in referring to three socially aversive personalities: machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy. The research showed both similarities and differences among the three constructs. Their distinctiveness was confirmed in studies of associations with impulsivity, aggression, body modification, mate choice, sexual deviancy, scholastic cheating, revenge, and the personality of stalkers. A fourth member, everyday sadism, was recently added to the pantheon of dark personalities Questionnaire measures are available in a chapter by Paulhus and Jones (2015).

The dark triad personality traits are three closely related yet independent personality traits that all have a somewhat malevolent connotation. The three traits are machiavellianism (a manipulative attitude), narcissism (excessive self-love), and psychopathy (lack of empathy).

The dark triad has traditionally been assessed with three tests different tests, each of which had been developed individually. Most commonly, the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI) was used as the measure of narcissism, the MACH-IV for machiavellianism and the Self-Report Psychopathy Scale (SRP) for psychopathy. Format differences between these (multiple choice versus scale rating) complicated administration and analysis. The Short Dark Triad was developed in 2011 by Delroy Paulhus and Daniel Jones to provide a more uniform assessment and also to trim down the total length.

For those that want to help in the test or just want to know how dark you are. X_X
http://personality-testing.info/tests/SD3.php