The Light vs. Dark Triad of Personality
Contrasting Two Very Different Profiles of Human Nature
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 23317849 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Scott Barry Kaufman (0000-0002-1648-8034, University of Pennsylvania, corresponding author), David B Yaden (0000-0002-9604-6227, University of Pennsylvania), Elizabeth Hyde (0000-0001-5959-1077, University of Pennsylvania), Eli Tsukayama (0000-0002-0468-971X, University of Hawaii–West Oahu) |
| Year | 2019 |
| Volume | 10 |
| Pages | 467-467 |
| Publication date | 2019-03-12 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Frontiers in Psychology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1664-1078 • E-ISSN: 1664-1078 |
| Publisher | Frontiers Media SA (PUBLISHER • CH) |
| DOI | 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00467 |
| PMID | 30914993 |
| OpenAlex | W2922051068 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 85 |
| References cited | 134 |
While there is a growing literature on “dark traits” (i.e., socially aversive traits), there has been a lack of integration with the burgeoning research literature on positive traits and fulfilling and growth-oriented outcomes in life. To help move the field toward greater integration, we contrasted the nomological network of the Dark Triad (a well-studied cluster of socially aversive traits) with the nomological network of the Light Triad, measured by the 12-item Light Triad Scale (LTS). The LTS is a first draft measure of a loving and beneficent orientation toward others (“everyday saints”) that consists of three facets: Kantianism (treating people as ends unto themselves), Humanism (valuing the dignity and worth of each individual), and Faith in Humanity (believing in the fundamental goodness of humans). Across four demographically diverse samples (N=1,518), the LTS demonstrated excellent reliability and validity, predicting life satisfaction and a wide range of growth-oriented and self-transcendent outcomes above and beyond existing measures of personality. In contrast, the Dark Triad was negatively associated with life satisfaction and growth-oriented outcomes, and showed stronger linkages to selfish, exploitative, aggressive, and socially aversive outcomes. This exploratory study of the contrasting nomological networks of the Light vs. Dark Triad provides several ways forward for more principled and data driven approaches to explore both the malevolent and beneficent sides of human nature.
Big Five personality traits · Cognitive psychology · Dark triad · Life satisfaction · Machiavellianism · Mentalization · Nomological network · Personality · Psychopathy · Scale (ratio) · Set (abstract data type) · Mental Health Research Topics · Personality Traits and Psychology · Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction · Psychology · Social Psychology
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Dark personality traits are associated with academic misconduct, frustration, negative thinking, and generative AI use habits
Who hates magic? Exploring the loathing of legerdemain
A Comprehensive and Person-Centered View of the Association Between the Dark Triad and Youth Mental Health
Co-Occurrence of Gaming Disorder and Other Potentially Addictive Behaviours between Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom
Personality traits and participation in holiday trips for people without and with moderate and severe disabilities
Good and evil in Chinese culture
On the importance of the assessment and conceptualization of Agreeableness
The High Five Model as a Predictor of the Optimal Occupational and Personal Functioning of Workers Through Machine Learning Algorithms
Attitudes towards AI
Dispositional employability and self-regulation in antisocial and prosocial personalities
The effect of light triad on online prosocial behavior in college students
Hugging for the Good of Humanity. People Joining the Free Hugs Campaign at Fandom Conventions Have Lighter, less Dark, and More Prosocial Personalities
Shining the “Light” on Moral Foundations
Good Personality and Subjective Well-Being
Political Polarization, Ingroup Bias, and Helping Behavior
Comparing undergraduates’ stigma toward peers with criminal records and mental health disorders
Dark and Light Triad personality profiles and differential projected effects of simulated node manipulations in depression–anxiety symptom networks
The relationship between personality traits of education students and the degree of their Internet addiction
Personality traits and digital challenges in Honduran adults
The Light Triad and Utilitarian Moral Judgment
The interaction between individual traits and societal factors in predicting abortion stigma
The Bright Side of the Human Personality
Awe Influences Prosocial Behavior and Subjective Well-Being Through the Quiet Ego
Affirming the Less Defended Self
Good Personality and Subjective Well-Being During the Covid-19 Pandemic
Guests' Value Co‐Creation Behavior in Airbnb
The good, the bad, and the ugly
Serial mediation of adult attachment and loneliness in family invalidation-social anxiety among Chinese undergraduates
Development of the hungarian version of the short dark triad questionnaire (SD3-HU)
Why Should I Help You? A Study of Betrayal and Helping
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How the Dark Triad associated with internet gaming disorder? The serial mediation of basic psychological needs satisfaction and negative coping styles
Dark Triad, Dyad, or Core? A Psychometric Evaluation of the Short Dark Triad (SD3) Across Three Countries
The structure of deception
Differences in dark triad personality
Measuring light personality traits
Dark triad, light triad, and achievement motivation as correlates of job performance among managers
Antisocial and Prosocial online behaviour
Seeking important people and taking revenge
Very small effects of an imagery-based randomised trial to promote adherence to wearing face coverings during the Covid-19 pandemic and identification of future intervention targets
The Antisocial Core
How do we make the virtual world a better place? Social discrimination in online gaming, sense of community, and well-being
Screening for Light Personalities in Portugal
The Portuguese Version of the Self-Regulation Scale
Values and the Dark Side
Investigating the role of dark personality traits in how people appreciate, share, and censor black humour in online settings
Development and validation of the good and evil character traits (Gect) scale
Political Attitudes and Moral Decisions, Not Personality, Predict 2020 US Presidential Choice
Curiosity did not kill the cat
The mediating role of psychological well-being in the relationship between the light triad of personality and sense of concordance with treatment adherence in patients with type 2 diabetes
Light and Dark core of personality and the adherence to Covid-19 containment measures
The downside of managers
Dark and light university
The Dark is Rising
Do employees with dark personality traits review their jobs unfavorably? Textual content analysis of online employee reviews
Dark Entrepreneurship, the ‘Dark Triad’ and Its Potential ‘Light Triad’ Realization in ‘Green Entrepreneurship’
Relations Between Authoritarianism, Just World Beliefs, and the Dark Triad Life Philosophy
The battle between light and dark side of personality
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Unraveling the Intrapersonal Factors Related to Infidelity
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Moral Intelligence
Light Personality Style and Moral Injury Among Chinese Health Professionals
Reconceptualization of Dark Personality
A Reconceptualization and Expansion of Flirting Behavior and Its Impact on Life Satisfaction and Friendship Quality
The relationship between character strengths and the Dark Triad
Personality Perspective on Moral Injury Among Chinese Healthcare Workers
Cognitive Empathy and the Dark Triad
Two Short Forms of the Criminogenic Cognitions Scale Among Community Youth
Malevolent vs. benevolent dispositions and conservative political ideology in the Trump era
Associations of aversive (‘dark’) traits and affiliative (‘light’) traits with moral-dilemma judgments
Inquisitive but not discerning
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The Association Between Racial Privilege and Ethnocultural Empathy
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Propensity to Morally Disengage Scale
Measuring the Dark Core of Personality in Portugal
Light Triad Personality Traits in Emerging Adult Grandchildren
Do dark personalities prefer dark characters? A personality psychological approach to positive engagement with fictional villainy
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The relationship between insecure attachment and Machiavellianism
Moral Character
Toward a psychology of being.
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A Multicomponent Conceptualization of Authenticity
The dark core of personality.
Determining the Number of Components from the Matrix of Partial Correlations
Positive emotion dispositions differentially associated with Big Five personality and attachment style
Target Article
Altruism in Anonymous Dictator Games
The affective and cognitive empathic nature of the dark triad of personality
Gratitude as a Human Strength
The Core of Darkness
Toward a Taxonomy of Dark Personalities
The balanced measure of psychological needs (BMPN) scale
Sex, Power, and Money
The Defense Style Questionnaire
Introducing the Short Dark Triad (SD3)
The Five-Factor Narcissism Inventory
Hope theory, measurements, and applications to school psychology.
The Hexaco-60
The dark triad
The Dark Triad of Personality
A meta-analysis of the Dark Triad and work behavior
The three meanings of meaning in life
The development of the Awe Experience Scale (AWE-S)
Flow
Psychopathy, Machiavellianism, and Narcissism in the Five-Factor Model and the Hexaco model of personality structure
Self-Linking and Self-Competence as Dimensions of Global Self-Esteem
Measuring Epistemic Curiosity and Its Diversive and Specific Components
Unpacking “evil”
The Malevolent Side of Human Nature
The authentic personality
A test of two brief measures of the dark triad
A Rationale and Test for the Number of Factors in Factor Analysis
A new scale of social desirability independent of psychopathology.
Amazon's Mechanical Turk
The Satisfaction With Life Scale
Moral Saints
Do Bad Guys Get Ahead or Fall Behind? Relationships of the Dark Triad of Personality With Objective and Subjective Career Success
The language of ineffability
The Application of Electronic Computers to Factor Analysis
Does Whole Trait Theory Work for the Virtues
The True Self
Moral Identity and Developmental Theory
Self-efficacy
Development and validation of brief measures of positive and negative affect
Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being
The role of positive emotions in positive psychology
Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being
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Examining the reactive proactive questionnaire in adults in forensic and non‐forensic settings
The reactive–proactive aggression questionnaire
An IRT analysis of motive questionnaires
A foundation beam for studying morality from a personological point of view
A network of dark personality traits
The curiosity and exploration inventory-II
The Dark Triad of personality
Is the Dark Triad common factor distinct from low Honesty-Humility
Working models of attachment
Are infant attachment patterns continuously or categorically distributed? A taxometric analysis of strange situation behavior
Beyond the Turk
The Exploitive Mating Strategy of the Dark Triad Traits
The Scree Test For The Number Of Factors
Between facets and domains
Can an unpredictable childhood environment enhance working memory? Testing the sensitized-specialization hypothesis
Happiness is everything, or is it? Explorations on the meaning of psychological well-being
Beyond global sociosexual orientations
Contingencies of Self-Worth in College Students
Grit
Refining the theory of basic individual values
The next Big Five Inventory (BFI-2)
Cognitive adaptations to stressful environments
The independence of positive and negative affect
A theory and method of love
The structure of psychological well-being revisited
The Varieties of Self-Transcendent Experience
Approaching awe, a moral, spiritual, and aesthetic emotion
The Antihero in Popular Culture
Subjective well-being
Subjective well-being
The subclinical psychopath in love
Testing the Death Transcendence Scale
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| Unique citing works | 85 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 12,14 |
| Citation span | 2019 - 2026 (8) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 77 |