Abstract
This paper revisits the ongoing debate regarding the uniqueness of each of the Dark Tetrad traits. Extending Jones and Neria’s (Personality and Individual Differences, 86, 360–364, 2015) research, we investigated how these traits are differentially related to aggressive tendencies and whether these relationships are mediated by anger rumination. Data were collected from 314 university students who completed online self-report measures on the Dark Tetrad traits, trait aggression, and anger rumination. Psychopathy had the strongest correlation with physical aggression, while hostility was most strongly related to Machiavellianism. Supplementary analyses revealed that anger rumination mediated the relationship between psychopathy and aggressive tendencies while also playing a mediatory role between Machiavellianism and some expressions of trait aggression. Similar mediation patterns were observed for sadism. While sadism and psychopathy were very similar, these results support that the Dark Tetrad traits should also be viewed as unique constructs even as they are intercorrelated. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abell, L., & Brewer, G. (2014). Machiavellianism, self-monitoring, self-promotion and relational aggression on Facebook. Computers in Human Behavior, 36, 258–262. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2014.03.076
Allen, J. J., & Anderson, C. A. (2017). Aggression and violence: Definitions and distinctions. The Wiley Handbook of Violence and Aggression, 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119057574.whbva001.
Allen, J. J., Anderson, C. A., & Bushman, B. J. (2018). The General Aggression Model. Current Opinion in Psychology, 19, 75–80. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2017.03.034
Anestis, M. D., Anestis, J. C., Selby, E. A., & Joiner, T. E. (2009). Anger rumination across forms of aggression. Personality and Individual Differences, 46, 192–196. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2008.09.026
Ashton, M., Lee, K., Goldberg, L. R., & de Vries, R. (2009). Higher order factors in personality: Do they exist? Personality and Social Psychology Review, 13, 79–91. https://doi.org/10.1177/1088868309338467
Bartlett, C. P. (2016). Exploring the correlations between emerging adulthood, Dark Triad traits, and aggressive behavior. Personality and Individual Differences, 101, 293–298. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2016.05.061
Baughman, H. M., Dearing, S., Giammarco, E., & Vernon, P. A. (2012). Relationships between bullying behaviours and the Dark Triad: A study with adults. Personality and Individual Differences, 52, 571–575. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2011.11.020
Berkowitz, L. (1990). On the formation and regulation of anger and aggression: A cognitive-neoassociationistic analysis. American Psychologist, 45, 494–503. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.45.4.494
Book, A., Visser, B. A., Blais, J., Hosker-Field, A., Methot-Jones, T., Gauthier, N. Y., et al. (2016). Unpacking more “evil”: What is at the core of the dark tetrad? Personality and Individual Differences, 90, 269–272. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2015.11.009
Brown, W. M., Hazraty, S., & Palasinski, M. (2019). Examining the dark tetrad and its links to cyberbullying. Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking, 22, 552–557. https://doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2019.0172
Buckels, E. E., Jones, D. N., & Paulhus, D. L. (2013). Behavioral confirmation of everyday sadism. Psychological Science, 24, 2201–2209. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797613490749s
Burris, C. T., & Leitch, R. (2018). Harmful fun: Pranks and sadistic motivation. Motivation and Emotion, 42, 90–102. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-017-9651-5
Bushman, B. J. (2002). Does venting anger feed or extinguish the flame? Catharsis, rumination, distraction, anger, and aggressive responding. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 28, 724–731. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167202289002
Buss, A. H., & Perry, M. (1992). The aggression questionnaire. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 63, 452–459. https://doi.org/10.1037/t00691-000
Chabrol, H., Van Leeuwen, N., Rodgers, R., & Séjourné, N. (2009). Contributions of psychopathic, narcissistic, Machiavellian, and sadistic personality traits to juvenile delinquency. Personality and Individual Differences, 47, 734–739. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2009.06.020
Chester, D. S., & DeWall, C. N. (2018). Personality correlates of revenge-seeking: Multidimensional links to physical aggression, impulsivity, and aggressive pleasure. Aggressive Behavior, 44, 235–245. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/4w95m
Christie, R., & Geis, F. L. (1970). Studies in Machiavellianism. Academic Press.
Chung, K. L., Tay, C. E., Gan, A. Z. Q., & Tan, C. S. N. (in press). Attitudes toward corporal punishment of children: The role of past experience, Dark Tetrad traits, and anger rumination. Journal of Individual Differences. https://doi.org/10.1027/1614-0001/a000364
Crysel, L. C., Crosier, B. S., & Webster, G. D. (2013). The Dark Triad and risk behavior. Personality and Individual Differences, 54, 35–40. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2012.07.029
Denson, T. F. (2013). The Multiple Systems Model of angry rumination. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 17, 103–123. https://doi.org/10.1177/1088868312467086
Dowgwilo, E. A., & Pincus, A. L. (2017). Differentiating Dark Triad traits within and across interpersonal circumflex surfaces. Assessment, 24, 24–44. https://doi.org/10.1177/1073191116643161
Fives, C. J., Kong, G., Fuller, J. R., & DiGiuseppe, R. (2011). Anger, aggression, and irrational beliefs in adolescents. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 35, 199–208. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-009-9293-3
Furnham, A., Richards, S., & Paulhus, D. (2013). The Dark Triad: A 10-year review. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 7, 199–216. https://doi.org/10.1111/spc3.12018
Glenn, A. L., & Sellbom, M. (2015). Theoretical and empirical concerns regarding the Dark Triad as a construct. Journal of Personality Disorders, 29, 36–377. https://doi.org/10.1521/pedi_2014_28_162
Goodboy, A. K., & Martin, M. M. (2015). The personality profile of a cyberbully: Examining the Dark Triad. Computers in Human Behavior, 49, 1–4. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2015.02.052
Guerra, R. C., & White, B. A. (2016). Psychopathy and functions of aggression in emerging adulthood: Moderation by anger rumination and gender. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 39, 35–45. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10862-016-9563-9
Hayes, A. F. (2017). Introduction to mediation, moderation, and conditional process analysis: A regression-based approach. Guilford publications. https://doi.org/10.1111/jedm.12050
Hughes, S., & Samuels, H. (2021). Dark desires: The Dark Tetrad and relationship control. Personality and Individual Differences, 171(110), 548. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2020.110548
Johnson, L. K., Plouffe, R. A., & Saklofske, D. H. (2019). Subclinical sadism and the Dark Tetrad: Should there be a Dark Tetrad? Journal of Individual Differences, 40, 127–133. https://doi.org/10.1027/1614-0001/a000284
Jonason, P. K., Li, N. P., Webster, G. D., & Schmitt, D. P. (2009). The Dark Triad: Facilitating a short-term mating strategy in men. European Journal of Personality, 23, 5–18. https://doi.org/10.1002/per.698
Jones, D. N. (2014). Risk in the face of retribution: Psychopathic individuals persist in financial misbehavior among the Dark Triad. Personality and Individual Differences, 67, 109–113. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2014.01.030
Jones, D. N., & Figueredo, A. J. (2013). The core of darkness: Uncovering the heart of the Dark Triad. European Journal of Personality, 27, 521–531. https://doi.org/10.1002/per.1893
Jones, D. N., & Mueller, S. M. (2021). Is Machiavellianism a dead or dormant? The perils of researching a secretive construct. Journal of Business Ethics, 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-020-04708-w
Jones, D. N., & Neria, A. L. (2015). The Dark Triad and dispositional aggression. Personality and Individual Differences, 86, 360–364. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2015.06.021
Jones, D. N., & Paulhus, D. L. (2010). Different provocations trigger aggression in narcissists and psychopaths. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 1, 12–18. https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550609347591
Jones, D. N., & Paulhus, D. L. (2011). The role of impulsivity in the Dark Triad of personality. Personality and Individual Differences, 51, 679–682. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2011.04.011
Jones, D. N., & Paulhus, D. L. (2014). Introducing the Short Dark Triad (SD3): A brief measure of dark personality traits. Assessment, 21, 28–41. https://doi.org/10.1177/1073191113514105
Jones, D. N., & Paulhus, D. L. (2017). Duplicity among the Dark Triad: Three faces of deceit. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 113, 329. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspp0000139
Jones, D. N., & Weiser, D. A. (2014). Differential infidelity patterns among the dark triad. Personality and Individual Differences, 57, 20–24. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2013.09.007
Karandikar, S., Kapoor, H., Fernandes, S., & Jonason, P. K. (2019). Predicting moral decision-making with dark personalities and moral values. Personality and Individual Differences, 140, 70–75. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2018.03.048
Kerig, P. K., & Stellwagen, K. K. (2010). Roles of callous-unemotional traits, narcissism, and Machiavellianism in childhood aggression. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 32, 343–352. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10862-009-9168-7
Kjærvik, S. L., & Bushman, B. J. (2021). The link between narcissism and aggression: A Meta-analytic review. Psychological Bulletin, 147, 477–503. https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000323
Kowalski, C. M., Vernon, P. A., & Schermer, J. A. (2021). The Dark Triad and facets of personality. Current Psychology, 40, 5547–5558. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-019-00518-0
Krizan, Z., & Johar, O. (2015). Narcissistic rage revisited. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 108, 784–801. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspp0000013.
Law, H., & Falkenbach, D. M. (2018). Hostile attribution bias as a mediator of the relationships of psychopathy and narcissism with aggression. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, 62, 3355–3371. https://doi.org/10.1177/0306624x17742614
Lee, I. A., & Preacher, K. J. (2013). Calculation for the test of the difference between two dependent correlations with one variable in common [Computer software]. Available from http://quantpsy.org.
Lee, S. A. (2019). The Dark Tetrad and callous reactions to mourner grief: Patterns of annoyance, boredom, entitlement, schadenfreude, and humor. Personality and Individual Differences, 137, 97–100. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2018.08.019
Lobbestael, J., Baumeister, R. F., Fiebig, T., & Eckel, L. A. (2014). The role of grandiose and vulnerable narcissism and self-reported and laboratory aggression and testosterone activity. Personality and Individual Differences, 69, 22–27. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2014.05.007
Malesza, M., & Ostaszewski, P. (2016). Dark side of impulsivity—Associations between the Dark Triad, self-report and behavioral measures of impulsivity. Personality and Individual Differences, 88, 197–201. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2015.09.016
Mayabramha, R. (2019). Dr. Priyanka Reddy case: The brutal rape and murder that left the entire nation in shock. The Hans India. Retrieved from https://www.thehansindia.com/telangana/dr-priyanka-reddy-case-the-brutal-rape-and-murder-that-left-entire-nation-in-shock-585940.
McHoskey, J. W., Worzel, W., & Szyarto, C. (1998). Machiavellianism and psychopathy. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74, 192. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.74.1.192
Miller, J. D., & Campbell, W. K. (2008). Comparing clinical and social personality conceptualizations of narcissism. Journal of Personality, 76, 449–476. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6494.2008.00492.x
Miller, J. D., Hyatt, C. S., Maples-Keller, J. L., Carter, N. T., & Lynam, D. R. (2017). Psychopathy and Machiavellianism: A distinction without a difference? Journal of Personality, 85, 439–453. https://doi.org/10.1111/jopy.12251
Miller, J. D., Vize, C., Crowe, M. L., & Lynam, D. R. (2019). A critical appraisal of the Dark Triad literature and suggestions for moving forward. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 28, 353–360. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721419838233
Miller, N., Pedersen, W. C., Earleywine, M., & Pollock, V. E. (2003). A theoretical model of triggered displaced aggression. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 7, 75–97. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327957pspr0701_5
Min, H., Pavisic, I., Howald, N., Highhouse, S., & Zickar, M. J. (2019). A systematic comparison of three sadism measures and their ability to explain workplace mistreatment over above the Dark Triad. Journal of Research in Personality, 82(103), 862. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2019.103862
Muris, P., Merckelbach, H., Otgaar, H., & Meijer, E. (2017). The malevolent side of human nature: A Meta-analysis and critical review of the literature on the Dark Triad (narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy). Perspectives on Psychological Science, 12, 183–204. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691616666070
O’Boyle, E. H., Forsyth, D. R., Banks, G. C., Story, P. A., & White, C. D. (2015). A Meta-analytic test of redundancy and relative importance of the dark triad and five-factor model of personality. Journal of Personality, 83, 644–664. https://doi.org/10.1111/jopy.12126
Pajevic, M., Vuksavljevic-Gvozden, T., Stevanovic, N., & Neumann, C. S. (2018). The relationship between the Dark Tetrad and a two-dimensional view of empathy. Personality and Individual Differences, 122, 125–130. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2017.11.009
Paulhus, D. L., Curtis, S. R., & Jones, D. N. (2018). 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
Paulhus, D. L., Neumann, C. S., & Hare, R. D. (2016). Manual for the Hare Self-Report Psychopathy Scale. Multi-Health Systems.
Paulhus, D. L., & Williams, K. M. (2002). The Dark Triad of personality: Narcissism, Machiavellianism and psychopathy. Journal of Research in Personality, 36, 556–563. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0092-6566(02)00505-6
Pedersen, W. C., Denson, T. F., Goss, R. J., Vasquez, E. A., Kelley, N. J., & Miller, N. (2011). The impact of rumination on aggressive thoughts, feelings, arousal, and behaviour. British Journal of Social Psychology, 50, 281–301. https://doi.org/10.1348/014466610X515696
Plouffe, R. A., Saklofske, D. H., & Smith, M. M. (2017). The assessment of sadistic personality: Preliminary psychometric evidence for a new measure. Personality and Individual Differences, 104, 166–171. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2016.07.043
Plouffe, R. A., Smith, M. M., & Saklofske, D. H. (2019). A psychometric investigation of the Assessment of Sadistic Personality. Personality and Individual Differences, 140, 57–60. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2018.01.002
Ramos-Cejudo, J., Salguero, J. M., Kannis-Dymand, L., García-Sancho, E., & Love, S. (2017). Anger rumination in Australia and Spain: Validation of the Anger Rumination Scale. Australian Journal of Psychology, 69, 293–302. https://doi.org/10.1111/ajpy.12154
Raskin, R. N., & Hall, C. S. (1979). A Narcissistic Personality Inventory. Psychological Reports, 46, 590. https://doi.org/10.2466/pr0.1979.45.2.590
Reidy, D. E., Zeichner, A., & Seibert, L. A. (2011). Unprovoked aggression: Effects of psychopathic traits and sadism. Journal of Personality, 79, 75–100. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6494.2010.00691.x.
Ritchie, M., & B., Blais, J., & Forth, A. E. (2019). “Evil” intentions: Examining the relationship between the Dark Tetrad and victim selection based on nonverbal gait cues. Personality and Individual Differences, 138, 126–132. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2018.09.013
Rogers, K. H., Le, M. T., Buckels, E. E., Kim, M., & Biesanz, J. C. (2018). Dispositional malevolence and impression formation: Dark Tetrad associations with accuracy and positivity in first impressions. Journal of Personality, 86, 1050–1064. https://doi.org/10.1111/jopy.12374
Sandvik, A. M., Hansen, A. L., Kristensen, M. V., Johnsen, B. H., Logan, C., & Thornton, D. (2012). Assessment of psychopathy: Inter-correlations between psychopathy checklist revised, comprehensive assessment of psychopathic personality–institutional rating scale, and self-report of psychopathy scale–III. International Journal of Forensic Mental Health, 11(4), 280–288. https://doi.org/10.1080/14999013.2012.746756
Schoemann, A. M., Boulton, A. J., & Short, S. D. (2017). Determining power and sample size for simple and complex mediation models. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 8, 379–386. https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550617715068
Sest, N., & March, E. (2017). Constructing the cyber-troll: Psychopathy, sadism, and empathy. Personality and Individual Differences, 119, 69–72. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2017.06.038
Sukhodolsky, D. G., Golub, A., & Cromwell, E. N. (2001). Development and validation of the Anger Rumination Scale. Personality and Individual Differences, 31, 689–700. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0191-8869(00)00171-9
Thomas, A. (2019). Suspected New Zealand mosque gunman pleads not guilty. Al Jazeera Media Network. Retrieved from https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/06/suspected-zealand-mosque-shooter-pleads-guilty-190613233346021.html.
Tuente, S. K., Bogaerts, S., & Veling, W. (2019). Hostile attribution bias and aggression in adults– A systematic review. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 46, 66–81. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.avb.2019.01.009
Vasquez, E. A., Pedersen, W. C., Bushman, B. J., Kelley, N. J., Demeestere, P., & Miller, N. (2013). Lashing Out after Stewing over Public Insults: The Effects of Public Provocation, Provocation Intensity, and Rumination on Triggered Displaced Aggression: Rumination and Displaced Aggression. Aggressive Behavior, 39, 13–29. https://doi.org/10.1002/ab.21453
Vize, C. E., Lynam, D. R., Miller, J. D., & Collison, K. L. (2018). Differences among dark triad components: A Meta-analytic investigation. Personality Disorders, Theory, Research, and Treatment, 9, 101–111. https://doi.org/10.1037/per0000222
Weisstein, E. W. (2004). Bonferroni correction. https://mathworld.wolfram.com/.
White, B. A., & Turner, K. A. (2014). Anger rumination and effortful control: Mediation effects on reactive but not proactive aggression. Personality and Individual Differences, 56, 186–189. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2013.08.012
Yang, M., Zhu, X., Sai, X., Zhao, F., Wu, H., & Geng, Y. (2019). The Dark Triad and sleep quality: Mediating role of anger rumination. Personality and Individual Differences, 151, 109484. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2019.06.027
Yildirim, B. O., & Derksen, J. J. (2015). Clarifying the heterogeneity in psychopathic samples: Towards a new continuum of primary and secondary psychopathy. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 24, 9–41. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.avb.2015.05.001
Zhang, H., & Zhao, H. (2020). Dark personality traits and cyber aggression in adolescents: A moderated mediation analysis of belief in virtuous humanity and self-control. Children and Youth Services Review, 119, 105565. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.105565
Zhu, W., Chen, Y., & Xia, L. X. (2020). Childhood maltreatment and aggression: The mediating roles of hostile attribution bias and anger rumination. Personality and Individual Differences, 162, 110007. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2020.110007
Acknowledgments
This research was conducted with the support of scholarships awarded to the second and third authors from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
A version of this manuscript was originally submitted as an Honors Thesis paper by the first author to the Department of Psychology at the University of Western Ontario.
Availability of Data and Material
Available as Supplementary Materials.
Code Availability
Not applicable.
Funding
This research was conducted with the support of scholarships awarded to the second and third authors from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Ethics Approval
University of Western Ontario Research Ethics Board.
Consent to Participate
Yes
Consent for Publication
Yes
Conflicts of Interest/Competing Interests
Not applicable.
Additional information
Publisher’s note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Contribution to Field
The Dark Tetrad is a group of malevolent personality traits including psychopathy, Machiavellianism, narcissism, and sadism. Since its inception, there has been a debate about the redundancy of the Dark Tetrad traits – are these traits unique or are they similar and should be treated as one construct? We contend that the Dark Tetrad traits are intercorrelated, but they are still unique enough to be studied on their own. We examine the correlations among the Dark Tetrad traits themselves, and how they are expressed behaviorally. We look at the links between aggression, its subtypes, and the Dark Tetrad traits, and then compare these relationships with each other. Further, we consider how the link between aggression and a Dark trait is mediated by anger rumination. We found that there are differential correlations between the Dark traits and aggressive tendencies, suggesting that even while the traits are interrelated, they are related to different forms of expressing the same trait. Moreover, anger rumination, a cognitive process, uniquely mediates the relationships between Dark trait and aggression. However, the differences between psychopathy and sadism become nonsignificant after accounting for multiple comparisons, both in how they correlate with aggressive tendencies, and how they are mediated by anger rumination.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Jain, N., Kowalski, C.M., Johnson, L.K. et al. Dark thoughts, dark deeds: An exploration of the relationship between the Dark Tetrad and aggression. Curr Psychol 42, 18017–18032 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-022-02993-4
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-022-02993-4