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.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 428-442 |
Number of pages | 15 |
Journal | Human Nature |
Volume | 21 |
Issue number | 4 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2010 |