A perfect storm of personality disorders: The dark triad

When three kinds of personality disorder manifest in one individual, it is known as the dark triad. These are psychopathy, narcissism, and Machiavellianism. Although they are different, they have common underlying traits.

It’s challenging to interact with a family member or maintain a relationship with an individual who has the character traits of the dark triad. Although dealing with just one of these types is already hard, when the three are present, you will have to decide between them and your mental well-being.

The markers of the dark triad

They are the following:

  1. Lacks sympathy
  2. Manipulates other people to get their way
  3. Expects others to admire them
  4. The morality of their actions doesn’t concern them
  5. Uses lies to get their way
  6. Cynical
  7. Very insensitive
  8. Want prestige or social status
  9. Use others to enrich themselves
  10. Want special favors from others
  11. Wants to be noticed every time

The three aspects are reflected in the questions as follows:

  • Questions 1,5,7,10 are Machiavellian.
  • Questions 2,4,5,6,9 are psychopathic.
  • Questions 3,8,11 are narcissistic.

You can know if somebody tried to focus more on one or two aspects. A dark triad individual is likely to have difficulty in rating themselves.

The Machiavellian Personality

Machiavellian personality simply means being deceptive, duplicitous, conniving and calculating. It has been named after Niccolo Machiavelli who once proposed that if treachery and deceit got the desired results, then all generally accepted virtuous and actions could be ignored.

The Narcissistic Personality

Narcissists have a specific way of showing their power. They usually rely on other people’s opinions to boost their self-worth. Their traits are the least damaging of the three. Their conscientiousness, attention to appearance and charm are quite desirable on several occasions.

The Psychopathic Personality

It is not easy to spot this. This kind of personality is amazing to moviemakers, psychologists and fiction writers. It has always been linked to sociopathic personality, however, it is thought the psychopath was brought into life with these tendencies and their upbringing frequently pushes them to extremes.

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