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Key points
- The Dark Triad consists of narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy.
- New research investigated whether people with Dark Triad personality traits are happy.
- The study found that happiness is associated with low psychopathy but high narcissism.
Published in the latest issue of Personality and Individual Differences, a new study, the first of its kind, examined the relationship between happiness and personality traits known as the Dark Triad.
The Dark Triad
The Dark Triad consists of three personality traits:
- Narcissism: associated with a sense of grandiosity, superiority, and entitlement.
- Machiavellianism: linked with a tendency to be calculating, cold, and cynical.
- Psychopathy: related to being charming, fearless, and ruthless.
(Sadism is sometimes also included on the list of Dark traits, forming the Dark Tetrad.)
People who possess high levels of these traits have a number of things in common—for instance, a tendency toward being insensitive, disagreeable, manipulative, and immoral/unethical.
More generally, they overvalue themselves while undervaluing others, an inclination accompanied by beliefs that serve as justifications. For instance, they may feel entitled to of a life of privilege, but justify the feeling by believing themselves to be uniquely talented, intelligent, beautiful, etc.
Despite their many similarities, individuals who possess dark traits also differ in important ways—in terms of how they present themselves online, the kinds of romantic relationships they seek, their breakup strategies, etc.
Do they also differ in terms of how happy they are? That is the question Zheng and MacCann, the authors of the new study, investigated.
Research on the relationship between the Dark Triad and happiness
The authors conducted a meta-analysis and systematic review of the relationship between happiness and the Dark Triad.
Of 804 investigations identified through a search of multiple databases, the review included a final list of 16 cross-sectional studies. The median sample size was 432 (range: 107 to 1487). Three-fourths of the studies had more female than male participants. Seven samples contained college students only. Except for two investigations with older participants, the average age ranged from 12 to 31 years.
To measure happiness and personality, several assessment tools were employed. One tool used to assess happiness was the Subjective Happiness Scale (SHS). A sample item: “Some people are generally very happy. They enjoy life regardless of what is going on….To what extent does this characterization describe you?” A tool used to assess personality was The Dirty Dozen measure of Dark Triad. A sample item: “I tend to manipulate others to get my way.”
The meta-analysis found that “Higher levels of narcissism were significantly associated with higher happiness, whereas higher levels of psychopathy were significantly associated with lower happiness. However, Machiavellianism was not significantly related to happiness.”
Narcissism and happiness
Why is narcissism linked with happiness? To speculate, perhaps narcissists, compared to non-narcissists, desire more attention and admiration, which then motivates more socialization. And greater socialization means increased opportunities for being the center of attention and receiving praise, resulting in more happiness.
In addition, previous research indicates that narcissism correlates with the personality trait of extraversion—a tendency toward being sociable, talkative, and energetic, which has been shown to correlate with certain positive emotions, including happiness.
This may also explain why psychopaths, being less social than narcissists, are more likely to report depressive symptoms, though other mechanisms are possible, too, e.g., psychopaths’ lack of effective emotion regulation skills.
Another potential explanation for the link between narcissism and happiness is that narcissists may only believe that they are happier than most people—just as they assume to be superior in various domains such as attractiveness, intelligence, and success.
It is noteworthy that most narcissism scales used in research reviewed by MacCann and Zheng measured the thick-skinned variety of narcissism known as grandiose narcissism; the same positive relationship with happiness may not be true of the vulnerable, or thin-skinned, variety.
Takeaway
In summary, the new research concluded that narcissistic personality correlates positively with happiness.
As for potential mechanisms, these may include narcissists’ social tendencies because socialization can create opportunities to receive attention and admiration. More research is needed to understand which mechanisms best explain the narcissism-happiness relationship.
