The Dark Triad consists of three overlapping personality traits: Psychopathy, Machiavellianism, and Narcissism, (Paulhus & Williams, 2002). This investigation examines two main research goals. The first aims to identify the common traits that occupy the core of the Dark Triad of personality. The literature suggests that the Dark Triad Core traits are low agreeableness (e.g., Jakobwitz & Egan, 2006), aggression (e.g., Kerig & Stellwagen, 2010), impulsivity (e.g., Thomaes, Bushman, De Castro, & Stegge, 2009), low emotional intelligence (e.g., Ali, Amorim & Chamorro-Premuzic, 2009), and potentially low neuroticism (Paulhus & Williams, 2002). The second research goal aims to identify a developmental trajectory of how early life risk factors influence each other and the Dark Triad. The literature suggests that being raised in a low SES environment (e.g., Chapple & Johnson, 2007), experiencing trauma (e.g., Tackett et al., 2009), and being the child of poor parenting styles (e.g., De Clercq et al., 2008), are related to the occurrence of the Dark Triad. An anxious or avoidant attachment style (Loeber & Hay, 1997) and low self-control (Gramzow et al., 2004) may also predict the Dark Triad. Using a sample of 546 adults, the first study demonstrated that the proposed Dark Triad Core traits represent a construct that is overlapping, but not equivalent to, the construct represented by the Dark Triad personality traits. Psychopathy, Machiavellianism, Narcissism, low agreeableness, and aggression load one factor, while aggression, impulsivity, low emotional intelligence, neuroticism, Narcissism and Machiavellianism load a second correlated factor. Using Structural Equation Modeling, several models were tested and a final model was generated that provides a preliminary developmental trajectory of the Dark Triad. This model indicates that poor parenting practices tend to increase the expression of anxious attachment in children. Furthermore, fathers’ poor parenting marginally decreases children’s self-control. Experiencing trauma also tends to increase anxious attachment and decrease self-control in victims. Then, anxious attachment and low self-control influence the expression of the Dark Triad. This line of research begins to define the core of the Dark Triad, while also defining the impact of childhood experiences and personal characteristics in the expression of the Dark Triad. / Thesis (Master, Psychology) -- Queen's University, 2012-08-30 14:58:10.637

The Dark Triad constructs – Machiavellianism, psychopathy, narcissism – are typically associated with socially aversive behaviours, including insensitivity and exploitation. Despite this, individuals high in Dark Triad traits can be successful and popular outside of clinical and forensic contexts. Research suggests that individuals susceptible to exploitation possess traits signalling vulnerability, and Dark Triad individuals are adept at identifying these when choosing victims. Language is also known to reveal traces of Dark Triad characteristics. This project examined patterns of interpersonal perception among Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and narcissism, with the aim to highlight similarities and differences across the three traits. Three studies explored these traits and the ways they manifest in social contexts. Study 1 investigated the extent to which perceptions of individuals high in Dark Triad traits accurately correspond to personality, emotional attributes, and vulnerability within their targets for manipulation. The cues they use for their judgements were considered. Participants who completed Dark Triad measures watched four video clips of dyadic interactions. Results indicated that Dark Triad individuals demonstrated a negative–other bias, whereby they generally perceived all targets as being vulnerable. Study 2 examined the characteristics of individuals who seemingly condone and abet Dark Triad individuals. Results showed that predictors of vulnerability included low extraversion, low conscientiousness, high neuroticism, and high agreeableness. The vignette method was used to elicit perceptions towards Dark Triad behaviours. Response styles on Likert-type statements and open-ended questions between high and low vulnerability groups differed significantly; the less vulnerable were more derogatory whereas the more vulnerable were less harsh. Study 3 qualitatively assessed language as a marker of Dark Triad traits using text analysis. Case studies of individuals high on the Dark Triad scales revealed that their linguistic patterns were consistent with their respective theoretical conceptions. This mixed methods research established that the Dark Triad traits do not uniformly entail the same behavioural outcomes. It also highlighted the importance of the interactive context between the destructive and the susceptible, through which researchers can devise strategies to help organisations better manage such individuals.

Three studies were undertaken to examine the relationship between the Dark Triad (i.e., psychopathy, Machiavellianism, and narcissism) and faking ability. Study 1 examined the relationship between psychopathy and the ability to fake good and fake bad on self-report personality inventories in a sample of 84 male federal offenders. Results showed that when faking good, successful fakers scored significantly higher than unsuccessful fakers on carefree nonplanfulness, and significantly lower on stress immunity. When faking bad, successful and unsuccessful fakers did not differ significantly on psychopathy total or subscale scores. Study 2 examined the effect of the Dark Triad on the ability to fake good and fake bad on self-report personality inventories in a sample of 166 undergraduates. Results indicated that when faking good, total psychopathy significantly predicted successful faking for 1 of 3 methods of evaluation, while Machiavellianism significantly predicted success at faking good for 2 of 3 methods of evaluation. Narcissism was unrelated to success at faking good. In addition, the Dark Triad constructs did not predict success at faking bad. Study 3 examined the relationship between the Dark Triad constructs and the ability to fake good interpersonally. In this study, 32 undergraduates comprising four groups (i.e., controls, and individuals high in psychopathy, Machiavellianism, and narcissism) provided videotaped self-presentations. A separate group of 134 university students subsequently rated the veracity of these presentations. Results indicated that when faking good, psychopathy and narcissism groups were rated as more believable than the control group. Conversely, the Machiavellianism group was less successful at faking good than the control group. Contributions of this research to the fields of personality assessment and self-presentation are discussed. / Thesis (Ph.D, Psychology) -- Queen's University, 2008-10-14 11:24:45.946

In this study perceived ethical leadership was examined as a moderator of the relationship between the dark triad personality traits of narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy and counterproductive work behavior (CWB) using a sample of 208 employees recruited through Amazon Mechanical Turk. These participants completed measures of personality (Short Dark Triad; Jones & Paulhus, 2014), counterproductive workplace behavior (Counterproductive Work Behavior Checklist; Spector et al., 2006), and employee perception of their direct supervisor’s ethical leadership (Brown, Treviño, & Harrison, 2005). Participants were compensated $0.65 for completing the survey. Correlation and moderation analyses (Hayes, 2012) were used to analyze data. Significant correlations suggest that individuals scoring high on Machiavellianism and psychopathy also reported engaging in more CWB. The relationship between Narcissism and counterproductive workplace behavior approached significance in the predicted direction. Machiavellianism and psychopathy were not negatively related to the employee’s perception of their supervisor’s ethical leadership. Narcissism was significantly positively related to an employee’s perception of their supervisor’s ethical leadership. Finally, ethical leadership did not moderate the relationship between Machiavellianism or psychopathy and CWB. Ethical leadership did not moderate the relationship between Narcissism and CWB, but results were approaching significance in the predicted direction. These results suggest that employees who are manipulative and lack empathy were more likely to engage in harmful behaviors in the workplace such as abuse, production deviance, sabotage, theft, and withdrawal. Further, employees who were more narcissistic and have a grandiose view of themselves were more likely to view their leaders as ethical. Overall, the results of this study indicate that perceived ethical leadership does not affect the frequency in which employees high in narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy reported engaging in counterproductive work behaviors.

Entrepreneurs play a vital role in the modern day economy. Knowing what causes an individual to become an entrepreneur has fostered much attention in academic literature, but not enough of the research has looked into individual level variables that could cause an individual to have an entrepreneurial intention. This study addresses this need in research by utilizing the Theory of Planned Behavior to investigate entrepreneurial intention. Not all entrepreneurs are alike. Some entrepreneurs are motivated by financial gains while others are motivated by social concerns. The individual characteristics of entrepreneurs may not be identical, but it is believed that there are similarities. This current study uses a self-report survey approach to examine the potential impact that barriers to entry into entrepreneurship will have upon an individual’s commercial and social entrepreneurial intention. This study will also examine the moderating effect of gender identity, grit, and the Dark Triad of personality upon the previously established relationship of the three TPB antecedents to intention and commercial and social entrepreneurial intention.

Personality neuroscience offers a new theory of the biological basis of personality traits. It involves the use of neuroscientific methodologies to study individual differences in behavior, motivation, emotion, and cognition. Personality psychology has contributed much in identifying the important dimensions of personality, but relatively little to understanding the biological sources of those dimensions. In recent years, personality psychology has become the foundation for the study of personality disorders, and by extension, neuroscience. First, I provide a theoretical foundation for the neuroscience of normal and abnormal personality traits. Second, I conduct two empirical studies on deviant personality traits captured by the Dark Triad (i.e., Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy) and relate them to universal human values. Study I shows that darker personalities endorse values that are self-enhancing, and that justify self-serving behavior. Study II investigates the relationship between the aforementioned constructs and empathy based on the idea that empathy is an important moderating factor of dark traits. In the discussion, suggestions for future studies in neuroscience are presented, as well as some limitations relating to the constructs.

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Most previous research on workplace mistreatment has proceeded under the assumption that the various forms of mistreatment are uniformly perceived as negative by recipients. Abusive supervision is one form of mistreatment that has rarely ever been examined through a lens of ambiguity. The question many researchers have failed to ask is whether it is reality that every questionable act labeled as abusive is truly abuse, or such perceptions vary across individuals. And for the individuals perceiving the act (the target), what individual differences are influencing their judgement? The purpose of the study was to explore the influence of individual differences on the perception of abusive supervision in the workplace. The study required 134 participants to fill out a series of questionnaires based on their personality traits. They also read a series of 15 vignettes/scenarios based on Tepper’s abusive supervision scale to decide whether they found the behavior highlighted to be abusive or not abusive. The results indicated that although no significant correlations were present for overall abuse, the traits of Machiavellianism and Narcissism did show to be predictors of overt abuse, and conscientiousness was a predictor of covert abuse. Variability in perceptions of the individual vignettes were also found among each trait. In addition, the means of overall, overt, and covert abuse all partially supported the notion that abusive acts can be ambiguous.

With the explosion of social media, consumers are gaining control in social reach and can utilize online platforms to create and share misleading information when doing so helps to meet an end. This dissertation, consisting of three separate essays, represents an attempt to address how misleading information is created, how it is disseminated, and how it can be eliminated. Essay One (Chapter 2) uses a mixed-method approach to explore the Dark Triad, proactivity, and vigilantism in driving self-created misleading information sharing. Additionally, this essay introduces a dual-process model of inoculation theory to the marketing and consumer literature that shows how consumers autoinoculate when building justification to engage in malicious behavior. This process includes both automatic and analytical components that initiate a Negative Cascade. Without a larger number of posts, these initial messages may be overlooked. However, herd inoculation can develop when a message begins to sway larger groups. Essay Two (Chapter 3) determines that authentic messages from the original poster are most believable and most likely to initiate a Negative Cascade. This confirmation through mere exposure can then initiate herd inoculation as it flows to other consumers and develops further credibility. The implicit bystander effect is active when in the presence of larger groups. Findings suggest herd inoculation may go unbroken since posters exposed to a positive counter-cascade are less likely to both participate in a forum and post positive messages. Essay Three (Chapter 4) shows that when a consumer shares a message that develops into a Negative Cascade, additional effort is required to halt the consumer herd inoculation. The studies uncover the need for an overt response from the original poster to stop future sharing of misleading information and the role of brand-enacted quarantines in the prevention of the autoinoculation of consumer vigilantes. This dissertation shows how one message can become a much bigger problem for a brand when misinformation spreads. Insights within the dissertation provide numerous outlets for future research and numerous tools and recommendations for both academics and practitioners that hope to understand how misleading information is created, disseminated, and can be eliminated.

Med hjälp av personlighetstester och genom att känna till individers personlighet har forskning visat att man i viss mån kan förutsäga beteende och upplevd mental hälsa. Föreliggande studie syftade till att undersöka om och hur personlighetsdraget agreeableness (svenskans välvillighet) samverkar med upplevt välmående hos personer med en ledarroll. I en ledarroll förväntas personen kunna hantera beslutsfattande och konfrontationer. Furnham, Richards och Paulhus (2013) menar att Dark Triad, socialt avvikande personlighetsdrag, är en förlängning av agreeableness. Därför användes Dark Triad i studien och även för att eventuellt finna ytterligare samband med välmående i rollen som ledare. Mätinstrument som användes var IPIP-NEO-120 (α=.87) utifrån Big Five teorin vilken är den vanligaste teorin bland forskning om personlighet. För att mäta Dark Triad användes Dirty Dozen (α=.86). För att mäta välmående användes GHQ-12 (General Health Questionnaire) (α=.87). Studien utfördes med en online-enkät som besvarades av respondenter som har eller har haft en ledarposition (N=99). Respondenternas ålder varierade mellan 25-67, könsfördelningen var 54% män och 46% kvinnor. Insignifikanta resultat återfanns mellan agreeableness och upplevt välmående. Signifikanta resultat återfanns mellan Dark Triad och upplevt välmående (r=.22*) vilket vidare kan tolkas som att personer tenderar att må bättre om de besitter socialt avvikande personlighetsdrag. En rimlig slutsats av resultatet är därmed att det inte går att predicera hur välmående upplevs hos personer med en ledarroll med hjälp av agreeableness, dock i viss mån med hjälp av Dark Triad. / With the help of personality tests and by knowing the individual's personality, research has shown that it's possible to predict behavior and perceived mental health to some extent. The present study aimed to examine whether and how the personality trait agreeableness relates to perceived well-being among leaders. Furnham, Richards and Paulhus (2013) argue that Dark Triad, socially deviant personality traits, is an extension of agreeableness. Therefore Dark Triad was used in this study and in order to possibly obtain more connections for perceived well-being. Instruments used were IPIP-NEO-120 (α=.87), based on the Big Five theory, the most common theory among personality research. To measure Dark Triad traits Dirty Dozen (α=.86) was used. To measure well-being GHQ-12 (General Health Questionnaire) (α=.87) was used. The study was conducted by an online survey that was answered by respondents who have or have had a leader position (N=99). Respondents age ranged from 25-67, the gender distribution was 54% male and 46% female. Insignificant results were found between agreeableness and perceived well-being. Significant results were found between Dark Triad and perceived well-being (r=.22*), which is further interpreted to mean that people tend to feel better if they possess deviant personality traits, and particularly narcissism. A reasonable conclusion from the study is that it's not possible, based on our sample, to predict how well-being is perceived in the role of leader with agreeableness but to some extent with the help of Dark Triad.