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The Dark Triad and Life History Theory

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Abstract

The current research applied a mid-level evolutionary theory that has been successfully employed across numerous animal species—life history theory—in an attempt to understand the Dark Triad personality trait cluster (narcissism, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism). In Study 1 (N = 246), a measure of life history strategy was correlated with psychopathy, but unexpectedly with neither Machiavellianism nor narcissism. Study 2 (N = 321) replicated this overall pattern of results using longer, traditional measures of the Dark Triad traits and alternative, future-discounting indicators of life history strategy (a smaller-sooner, larger-later monetary dilemma and self-reported risk-taking behaviors). Additional findings suggested two sources of shared variance across the Dark Triad traits: confidence in predicting future outcomes and openness to short-term mating.

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Notes

  1. This is not to say that these or any personality traits are “real,” merely that they tap into some latent psychological disposition.

  2. When age was not included in the model, the effect for the Dark Triad was nonsignificant (p < 0.10).

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank Laura Madson for help preparing this manuscript. The authors also thank Chelsea Adams and Lauren Lopez for data entry.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Psychology Department, University of South Alabama, Life Sciences Building, Room 320, Mobile, AL, 36688-0002, USA

    Peter K. Jonason

  2. Singapore Agency for Science, Technology, and Research, Singapore, 178903, Singapore

    Bryan L. Koenig

  3. Department of Psychology, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM, 88003, USA

    Jeremy Tost

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  1. Peter K. Jonason
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  2. Bryan L. Koenig
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  3. Jeremy Tost
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Correspondence to Peter K. Jonason.

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Jonason, P.K., Koenig, B.L. & Tost, J. Living a Fast Life. Hum Nat 21, 428–442 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12110-010-9102-4

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