A critical appraisal of the Dark Triad 1 Running Head: A critical appraisal of the Dark Triad A critical appraisal of the Dark Triad literature and suggestions for moving forward Joshua D. Miller University of Georgia Colin Vize Purdue University Michael L. Crowe University of Georgia Donald R. Lynam Purdue University In press: Current Directions in Psychological Science Correspondence: Josh Miller, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, 30602.
[email protected] A critical appraisal of the Dark Triad 2 Abstract Since its introduction in 2002, Dark Triad (DT) research– the simultaneous study of psychopathy, narcissism, and Machiavellianism – has exploded, with the publication of hundreds of peer reviewed articles, books and chapters, as well as coverage by the lay media. Unfortunately, there are several limitations to this research that are unrecognized or ignored. These limitations include 1) the treatment of DT constructs as unidimensional contrary to evidence for their multidimensionality, 2) the indistinctness between current measures of Machiavellianism and psychopathy, 3) the use of multivariate statistical approaches that pose statistical and interpretive difficulties, 4) failure to test DT relations directly against one another, and 5) methodological limitations related to convenience sampling and reliance on mono-method approaches. We discuss these problems in detail and describe solutions that can result in a more robust, replicable, and meaningful literature moving forward. Keywords: psychopathy, narcissism, Machiavellianism, partialing, multidimensionality A critical appraisal of the Dark Triad 3 In 2002, Paulhus and Williams published a seminal study on the “Dark Triad” (DT), the simultaneous study of psychopathy, narcissism, and Machiavellianism with the goal of examining the ways in which these personality constructs overlap and diverge.