Inside the Manipulator’s Mind: The Dark Triad of Personality
Hello guys,
I haven’t been active lately mainly because of the enormous amount of work we have at the office recently and partly because of a current empirical study I am doing at the university, exploring the concept of narcissism. When the paper is done I will post some of the interesting findings, but until then I would like to share something else in the field of psychology, which you might find interesting.
Introduction
The Dark Triad is relatively new concept in personality psychology but it has already been an object to various studies. In 2002 Paulhus and Williams identified a ‘‘Dark Triad’’ comprising the following related personality styles: narcissism, Machiavellianism and sub-clinical psychopathy (Paulhus & Williams, 2002).
Although ‘‘unificationist theories’’ propagatethat the three traits are essentially identical or only slight variants of an underlying general dark personality factor, findings generally support the perspective of three distinct trait domains (Jones & Paulhus, 2010). So let’s break these components down and dive into what they actually mean.
Narcissism
The concept of narcissism as personality trait is probably the oldest and one of the most studied in the field of psychology. According to the empirical data from scientific studies, narcissism has controversial nature and there are a lot of misconceptions about the factors behind it. While the actual structural organization of narcissism is still debated by scientists, there is an agreement that there are in fact two types of narcissism – grandiose and vulnerable. The term narcissism could relate to personal trait as well as to psychopathological condition.
While there are various definitions about narcissism, it is generally accepted that narcissists are people who feel entitled to a better treatment than others due to their unrealistic feeling of superiority and aim at gaining others’ attention and admiration (Raskin & Terry, 1988).
Thе construct of subclinical or “normal” narcissism еmеrgеd from Raskin and Halls (1979) attеmpt to dеlinеatе a subclinical vеrsion of thе DSM-dеfinеd pеrsonality disordеr. Facеts rеtainеd from thе clinical syndromе includеd grandiosity, еntitlеmеnt, dominancе, and supеriority. Itеms wеrе rеfinеd on largе samplеs of studеnts and assеmblеd in thе Narcissistic Pеrsonality Invеntory (NPI). Thе succеssful migration from clinical to subclinical construct is wеll supportеd by a strong rеsеarch litеraturе (Morf & Rhodеwalt, 2001).
Machiavellianism
The construct of Machiavellianism was first introduced by Richard Christie, who withdraw a selection of statements from Niccolo Machiavelli’s original books (Christie & Geis, 1970) which he then incorporated into a measure of normal personality by demonstrating reliable differences in respondents’ agreement with the items. The results showed that people who agreed with these statements were more likely to behave in a cold and manipulative fashion in laboratory and real world studies (Christie & Geis, 1970). Individuals who score high in Machiavellianism are characterized by cynical, pragmatic, misanthropic, and immoral beliefs, emotional detachedness, agentic and self-beneficial motives, strategic long-term planning, manipulation and exploitation and deception and duplicity (Christie & Geis, 1970; Rauthmann & Will, 2011).
Psychopathy
Likе narcissism, thе construct of psychopathy is concеptualizеd as both a pathological and sub-clinical trait domain (е.g., Harе, 1991; Lеvеnson, 1992). It is gеnеrally accеptеd that psychopathy has a primary (е.g., sеlfishnеss, callousnеss, lack of intеrpеrsonal affеct, supеrficial charm, rеmorsеlеssnеss, еxploitation of othеrs) and sеcondary form (anti-social lifеstylе).
It could also bе arguеd that psychopathy gеnеrally falls into four componеnts
(Williams, Nathanson, & Paulhus, 2003):
• impulsivity, thrillsееking, and irrеsponsiblе bеhaviors;
• dеcеitful bеhavior and intеrpеrsonal manipulation;
• callousnеss and lack of affеct;
• anti-social bеhaviors.
Thе Dark Triad traits arе tiеd togеthеr by thе phеnotypical bеhavior of еxploitativе manipulation at thе еxpеnsе of communal wеlfarе (Jonеs & Paulhus, 2010) although undеrlying procеssеs and dynamics may diffеr. This makеs dark traits socially rеlеvant and intеrеsting for psychological rеsеarch. Indееd, dark pеrsonalitiеs arе oftеn sееn as sly, cunning, and rеcklеss ‘‘social chamеlеons’’ using diffеrеnt tactics to gеt what thеy want (narcissism: attеntion and admiration; Machiavеllianism: status and powеr; psychopathy:
thrill and fun). This social manеuvеring, howеvеr, would rеquirе skills in two domains (Thorndikе, 1920): pеrcеptional sеnsitivity and bеhavioral abilitiеs. Onе has to bе sеnsitivе to
еxprеssivе cuеs of othеrs to undеrstand how onе’s own bеhavior affеcts thеm (е.g., in a manipulation tactic), but also adjust onе’s dеmеanor accordingly.
How to Identify Dark Triad Traits
So, if you read carefully everything in this article so far, you probably already know that it is a good idea to avoid people who score high on these traits. How to do that?
In ideal conditions you can have them feel a standardized psychological questionnaire. In 2010 the psychology professors Dr. Peter Jonason and Gregory Webster created such scale called The Dirty Dozen Scale which indicates if a person has the Dark Triad. Another good instrument is The Short Dark Triad, which was developed in 2011 by D. Paulhus and D. Jones. You can find it here online and check your score.
Of course, in real life we can’t just walk around and give all sorts of questionnaires to the ones we interact with. So how to spot if the person in front of us is really the one who claims he is? Well, to be honest there is no easy way, as people who are really good in manipulations are often experts at hiding their behavior and true intentions.
On the long term there are behavioural cues which you could observe and look for. People who tend to be manipulative usually know what’s valuable to others and try to exploit it. In order to do so they tend to represent themselves to different people in different light. You can use that in your advantage if you see that the person behaves paradoxically. This perhaps one of the first signs to give you a ‘heads up’ that something else is going on.
If you challenge a manipulative person, who scores high on the scale of the “Dark Triad”, you could bring out their true self by provoking them. Keep in mind though that these people are unpredictable and if you go too far you might end up as their victim.
Due to their high psychopathy these people can easily lose their temper and that’s where you should be most careful about what really triggered their behavior. Is it coherent with what they previously said or did? This actually sounds easier than done and to be honest, the most skilled manipulative psychopaths would not express their emotions openly.
Rather they would prefer to act in a passive-aggressive manner which makes them even nastier and dangerous. If you are not sure whether you can cope with such person, you can always choose not to communicate with them at all. Just be careful not to make it obvious that you don’t like them, as their narcissistic ego is really sensitive towards such attitude and they could easily react back.
What does it all mean?
Scoring high on this scale doesn’t mean that you are evil or bad person. But you probably fit into the term “asshole”.
In reality such people usually have a lot of positive qualities and if you know how to communicate properly with them, you might end up on the brighter side of things.
How to successfully avoid such people?
Keep in mind that these people’s greatest fear is to be exposed for who they are. They would do anything to protect their façade self, even if that means hurting others. If you can’t handle such people it’s probably a good idea to stay out of their reach. Now if you are a straightforward person you can always say whatever you think about them in their face, not caring about any consequences. Or you can choose to communicate with them in a neutral manner, not revealing anything special about yourself or your goals etc. If these people do not see you as a threat or as a subject of interest, you can freely observe them and see if your suspicions towards them are confirmed.
How to successfully communicate with such people?
Psychopathy correlates with success in many fields. Once you understand the components of the “Dark triad”, you will be able to see through these people and their true intentions.. You would easily understand that to them people in general are nothing but obstacles and opportunities. If avoiding such people is not an option to you and you must maintain good relationship with people who score high on this scale, you must in a manner act like them or at least imitate their attitude and behavior. At first they might appear to you as really nice and close people, but as you get tangled in their net, you will slowly but surely understand that you have been deceived for all this time.
Maintain shallow relationships based on common interest
Let’s face it. With such people it’s either use them or end up being used by them. Since they cannot establish a healthy relationship with others, it would be a mistake to think that you could correct them and act like everything is okay. It’s not.
Do not expose personal information and details about yourself.
Manipulators have a natural talent for exposing and exploiting other people’s values and desires. If you get too close, you will get burned. Keeping a low profile is always a good idea. Small talks, meaningless conversations, while at the same time trying to achieve your final goal with them. Once you are done – run.
Final thoughts
So if you you meet a person who shows these traits and you can’t cope with them, probably the best idea is to avoid them. However if you have to communicate with them, keep in mind that they are not actually evil people and they have their bright sides. Seek them and use them. If that fails, do not get discouraged as most of the times their behavior is just a façade, meant to protect their fragile egos, or hide their insecurities. You can always seek their weak spot and expose it, but be prepared for a severe counter-attack.
Sources:
Paulhus, D. L., & Williams, K. M. (2002). The dark triad of personality: Narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy. Journal of research in Personality, 36, 556–563.
Raskin, R., & Terry, H. (1988). A principal-components analysis of the narcissistic personality-inventory and further evidence of its construct-validity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54, 890–902.
Jones, D. N., & Paulhus, D. L. (2010). Differentiating the Dark Triad within the Interpersonal Circumplex. In L. M. Horowitz & S. N. Strack (Eds.), Handbook of interpersonal theory and research (pp. 249–267). New York: Guilford.
Christie, R., & Geis, F. (1970). Studies in Machiavellianism. New York: Academic Press.
Emmons, R. A. (1984). Factor analysis and construct validity of the Narcissistic Personality Inventory. Journal of Personality Assessment, 48, 291–300.
Rauthmann, J. F., & Will, T. (2011). Proposing a multidimensional Machiavellianism conceptualization. Social Behavior and Personality, 39, 391–404.
Thorndike, R. L. (1920). Intelligence and its use. Harper’sMagazine, 140, 227–235.
Hello dear @dysfunctional :)
It looks like we are all so very busy! It is always great to see a post from you on my feed. I laughed when I saw this particular one because I had been planning to post about the Dark Triad. But, you have done such a great job here! I shall look into the first study you have referenced on your list too.
I see the word narcissist thrown around a lot these days; but when I see your explanation of the terminology I guess there is a reason for that!
I like your insight on how to communicate with people presenting such traits, and I also noticed that you highlighted that in doing so one needs to understand such individuals are just concealing insecurities and fragile egos. But, the following statement sparked my interest:
Do you believe personality is fixed?
It becomes difficult to avoid individuals with these types of personalities when they are a family member, for example. I have come across quite a few people in this sort of situation (with either parents or siblings presenting these traits.)
Thank you so much for this wonderfully written post :)
All the best to you always.
Good to see you back !
...synchronicity at work (or something).
My more personal ( amateur) take on the narcissistic behavior, I posted yesterday..
https://steemit.com/blog/@lucylin/spotting-the-poor-me-narcissist-online-part-2
Emotional manipulation takes many forms, and it's often so covert that clients have difficulty articulating how and when it's happening,
Paulhus's work on the dark side of personality stems from that same scientific module in his mind. In the recent article on the dark side of personality, he notes that he got into this area because of his concern about “construct creep.”
He became worried about how researchers who studied narcissism, for example, without simultaneously thinking about Machiavellianism or psychopathy, would start to expand the term to encompass the other related, but distinct, concepts.
Indeed, you are quite right. Some researchers argue that that what is defined as a triad is actually a part of one trait. There is a lot to research in this field actually, as studies often provide controversial data.
Thanks for reading!
Thanks for your time.
Hello Abby!
Sadly, it is true that recently the amount of work is overwhelming and I cannot find time to even stay active with reading and commenting here.
I am so glad that you have chosen the same topic and I would very much like to read it. However, my friendly advice is to turn your attention to more recent studies as they show really interesting results and are quite up to date. For this article I did a brief overview. It would be much nicer to see your point of view.
I am currently working on narcissism and I am participating into a cross-cultural study in which we aim to validate a new instrument to measure narcissism. There is a lot to write about this topic and I really hope that I would find the time to do that soon enough.
I personally believe that personality is strongly influenced by social and behavioral factors. If they remain the samw then probably we could say that personality could be fixed.. Would you disagree?
Last but not least I would like to use this reply to express my gratitude towards your constant support. It means a lot and it's not left unnoticed.
Best regards to you!
I am definitely more comfortable giving my opinion about the traits within the continuum of the big 5, which I believe it changes with age, in spite of minimal social changes. So, I would like to think it is the same with the dark triad too. But, like you said, there is a lot to be discussed about this. Things are not so straight-forward! I am looking forward to your forthcoming posts about narcissism, and will keep your advice in mind.
Thank you for your kind words. You take good care of yourself :)
Personality traits do change with age. But I believe that the overall personality, attitude, views etc. in their core remain the same and there's always a part within us which will forever remain fixed. What other traits would accompany it in the current personality organization is a really interesting question :)
Very interesting. As this also is a kind of guide to deal with a triad personality - it’s almost as if it’s recommending to “become” one or to use the “triad personality tactics” when dealing with them...
Are there any hypotheses provided on how these traits develop?
To imitate and to become are two different things.
Of course, there are plenty theories. I suggest you start with early psychoanalytic authors and fundamental concepts.
Thanks a lot for reading and commenting!
I know that assholes are kind of common, but are people with a dark triad diagnostic quite common?
Hahhaha, I will research this problem!
Your sarcastic comments are always on point and make me laugh. Thanks for reading!
^^
Neat!
I'm pretty sure I married one of those (lacking the Machiavellian aspect; thank GOD, otherwise I might still be married to her)...
Ha!
Looks like I fall somewhere on the narcissism spectrum 😂
No question there was psychopathy involved, and my own co-narcissistic traits either emboldened her or simply permitted her unchecked behavior to heighten over the passage of time...
Fantastic piece @dysfunctional!
Thank you for writing it 😀🤝
Hey, thanks for sharing your experience!
I guess we all have that narcissist lurking inside us.
I'm glad you enjoyed this article :))
Im late to the party but this is very fascinating. I took the test and no I'm not sharing. I can honestly say though that having been raised by a narcissistic mother and abusive father I cannot disagree with the majority of this. Fascinating read. Thank you.
You are never too late ! Thanks for reading and sharing your experience ! Glad to have you here !
Wow I like this. Haha. Somehow when I see/encounter a manipulative person I always find that they are just super insecure or super sensitive people underneath. Most of the time, if I get attacked by them, I have no qualms to challenge or expose them. Especially when I'm not even doing anything but they trigger me. Gotten used to dealing with such people that you might say I kinda hate what they do and pity them hahaha.
Bullies probably have some of these 3 personality traits eh?
They are so tiring to deal with over a long period of time that yes, better avoid them instead. However if we avoid them then it means we have learned our lesson from their behavior and have become stronger people.
Being a user is just a bit under the dark triad imho. But of course I am not a psychologist haha.
I've come to think there's three levels of bad behavior:
I forget if I've read that somewhere or I just thought of it some years ago when I realized manipulators are assholes. 😂 The realization that some of them are sensitive/weak pricks, that's why they do what they do, came afterwards. Otherwise they're just psychopaths who know no better imho.
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Thank you for your time reading this article and for your reply !
I'm glad that you shared your strategies to cope with manipulators and abusers.
I agree with you on this one. The smarter person knows when to cut the conversation or to avoid it on the first place.
A lot of these people actually are psychopaths, so... you never know :)
These kind of people are very difficult to deal with. I consider them toxic people and are not healthy to hang around. If by chance I have to interact with them I really do my best to not spark an argument or get mad first. Great article as always @dsyfunctional ! Good job also on showing engagement towards the community.
![Engagement_Officer.png](https://steemitimages.com/DQmNTU2apY59ctXrn3vbScFEzdFtpPMvH722Co5KZiqeGRB/Engagement_Officer.png)
Excellent post, sir.
My post yesterday is somewhat less clinical than yours( i.e. totally less clinical)...but quite amazing in it's similarities..
Hello and thanks for the comment.
I don't think that my article is clinical at all.. I am referring to the Dark triad as a personality trait, not as a pathology.
well, in comparison...lol
"Keep in mind they are not actually evil peoole"??? Wtf.