Dark personality traits linked to a higher tolerance for morally questionable behaviors

A study of a small group of undergraduate students found that those with more pronounced psychopathy are more likely to endorse non-violent dishonest or rule-breaking behaviors. On the other hand, students with more pronounced Machiavellianism tended to be more open to these behaviors as well, but also to personal-sexual morally debatable behaviors (e.g., abortion, prostitution, euthanasia, divorce, suicide). The paper was published in Advances in Social Sciences and Management.

The Dark Triad is a group of three socially aversive personality traits: narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy. It is a pattern of personality features centered on self-interest, manipulation, and reduced concern for others. Narcissism involves grandiosity, entitlement, a need for admiration, and an inflated sense of self-importance. Machiavellianism involves manipulation, strategic deceit, emotional coldness, and a willingness to use others for personal gain. Psychopathy involves impulsivity, low empathy, shallow emotions, fearlessness, and a tendency toward antisocial behavior.

These traits are called “dark” because they are often linked to harmful interpersonal behavior. A person high in Dark Triad traits may appear charming, confident, and socially skilled at first. However, they may exploit others, lie, break rules, or show little guilt when their actions hurt people. The traits are related but not identical, so a person can be high on one trait and lower on the others. In research, the Dark Triad is usually measured as personality tendencies, not as formal clinical diagnoses.

Study authors Emma P. Paulson and Terry F. Pettijohn II wanted to explore the relationship between the Dark Triad personality traits and moral judgments assessed using the Revised Morally Debatable Behaviors Scale. The authors hypothesized that individuals with higher levels of psychopathic traits would show greater endorsement of morally debatable behaviors, indicating reduced moral decision-making.

Study participants were 68 students from the Psychology Research Pool and psychology courses from a southeastern university who volunteered online through Sona Systems, an experimental management system. They received 1 research credit for their participation. Participants’ average age was 18.7 years.

Study participants completed an assessment of the Dark Triad traits (the Short Dark Triad Measure), and the Revised Morally Debatable Behaviors Scale, assessing endorsement of 30 morally debatable behaviors (e.g., prostitution, theft, political assassination, drunk driving, and abortion).

The latter scale produces three measures: honesty-dishonesty morality, personal-sexual morality, and legal-punitive morality. The honesty-dishonesty morality scale measures how justifiable a person considers dishonest or unfair behaviors, such as lying, cheating, stealing, or accepting bribes. The personal-sexual morality scale measures tolerance toward morally debated private-life issues, such as sexuality, abortion, divorce, prostitution, euthanasia, or suicide. The legal-punitive morality scale measures how justifiable a person considers illegal, coercive, violent, or punishment-related behaviors.

Results showed that participants with more pronounced psychopathy tended to score higher on the honesty-dishonesty scale, while those with more pronounced Machiavellianism tended to score higher on both the honesty-dishonesty and personal-sexual scales. In other words, participants with more pronounced psychopathy and Machiavellianism were more likely to endorse behaviors that included lying, cheating, stealing, or accepting bribes, while individuals with pronounced Machiavellianism were also more likely to accept behaviors such as abortion, prostitution, euthanasia, or suicide.

The study contributes to the scientific knowledge about dark personality traits. However, the study was conducted on a relatively small group of students and solely based on self-reports. Studies on larger groups, involving other demographics, and those using more objective measures of endorsement of morally debatable behaviors might not yield identical results.

The paper, “Relationships between the Dark Triad and Justification of Morally Debatable Behaviors in College Students,” was authored by Emma P. Paulson and Terry F. Pettijohn II.