Project working title: The Dark Triad of personality and its positioning in the Big Five model and on the Interpersonal Circumplex Authors: Mitja Back, Marius Leckelt, Denitsa Peneva Affiliation: University of Münster Background, Aims and Hypotheses The concept of the Dark Triad of personality has been consistently in the focus of research for personality psychologist since the fundamental work of Paulhus and Williams (2002). The Dark Triad comprises the features subclinical Narcissism, subclinical Psychopathy and Machiavellianism. The Dark Triad not only fascinates with its high relevance and implications for interpersonal interactions, but also with its ambiguous and complex nature. On the one hand, the dimensions of the Dark Triad share a series of similar behavioural styles such as self-centeredness, self-promotion, emotional coldness, manipulation to allow them to “get ahead” while disregarding “getting along”, duplicity and aggressiveness (Paulhus & Williams, 2002; Rauthmann & Kolar, 2012). Based on the similarities and considering the moderate to high inter-correlations between Narcissism, Machiavellianism, and Psychopathy, some researchers take a “unification perspective” on the Dark Triad. In their view the Dark Triad facets reflect only nuances of one global dark personality trait (see Rauthmann & Kolar, 2012). On the other hand, the “uniqueness perspective” suggests a different approach. According to this view, , Narcissism, Machiavellianism, and Psychopathy on the other hand different dimensions. The three Dark Triad facets show indeed not only similarities, but also trait-specific tendencies. For example, narcissism is associated with an inflated self-view, need for attention and admiration, vanity, strivings towards status, prestige, power, and leadership and displays of entitlement, arrogance and superiority (Rauthmann & Kolar, 2013). Machiavellianism is associated with cynicism and misanthropy, strivings towards agentic goals (money, power), strategic and skilled manipulation tactics and average or above average impulse control (see Rauthmann & Kolar, 2013; Vize, Lynam, Collison & Miller, 2016). Whereas psychopathy is associated with callousness, impulsive thrill-seeking, anti-social behaviors and an erratic lifestyle (see Rauthmann & Kolar, 2013). Despite their moderate to high inter-correlations, Narcissism, Machiavellianism and Psychopathy differ distinctly from each other. They not only show specific behavioral patterns, but take different positions on other personality models such as the Interpersonal Circumlex (IPC) and the Big Five (Jones & Paulhus, 2010; Küfner, Dufner & Back, 2014; Paulhus & Williams, 2002; Rauthmann & Kolar, 2013; Vize, Lynam, Collison & Miller, 2016). The aim of the present study is to further explore the different positioning of the Dark Triad on the Big Five model and the Interpersonal Circumplex in order to allow a better understanding of its facets and of their differences. The relations between each Dark Triad facet and the Big Five Factors will be calculated considering each of the Dark Triad facets for each Big Five factor. This approach will help uncover finer differences between Narcissism, Machiavellianism, and Psychopathy. Also, the Dark Triad facets will be positioned on the Interpersonal Circumplex, thereby exploring its relations to the octants of the IPC. Finally, several (short) measures of the Dark Triad, namely the Naughty nine and the Short Dark Triad (SD3), will be used. Previous research has indicated that such short measures may not accurately represent the traits they try to assess (Miller et al., 2012; Maples et al., 2014). Here, we will compare the utility of both, the Naughty nine and the SD3, by comparing their nomological networks in the context of the Big Five and the IPC. Dark triad and the Interpersonal Circumplex The Interpersonal Circumplex (IPC) is a two-dimension circular model to describe interpersonal styles and was first introduced by Leary (1957). Two orthogonal axes divide interpersonal styles that can be characterized by a certain degree of agency and communion. The vertical axe represents agency and reaches from dominant to submissive. The horizontal axe represents communion and reaches from warm-hearted/aggregable to cold-hearted. The IPC is divided into eight octants. With the octants it is possible to describe different interpersonal styles which vary in their different degree of agency and communion. The eight octants are Assured-Dominant (PA, 90°), Arrogant-Calculating (BC, 135°), Cold-Hearted (DE, 180°), Aloof-Introverted (FG, 225°), Unassured-Submissive (HI, 270°), Unassuming- Ingenuous (JK, 315°), Warm-Agreeable (LM, 0°), and Gregarious-Extraverted (NO,45°) (Southard, Noser, Pollock, Mercer, & Zeigler-Hill, 2015). Rauthmann and Kolar (2013) discovered that Narcissism tends to Quadrant I (friendly- dominant), Machiavellianism to Quadrant III (hostile-submissive), and psychopathy to Quadrant II (hostile-dominant) in self-ratings. Psychopathy, however, fell into Quadrant III (hostile-submissive) in the peer-ratings. These findings support the unique positioning of the three Dark Triad traits. Dark Triad and the Big Five The Big Five is a five-factor model to describe personality in five dimensions: Openness to new experiences, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness and Neuroticism. Empirical research on the positioning of the Dark Triad in the Big Five model finds both similarities and differences for the dark dimensions (Küfner, Dufner & Back, 2014; Vize, Lynam, Collison & Miller, 2016; Paulhus und Williams, 2002). All three facets of the Dark Triad are commonly associated with low Agreeableness. Narcissism is associated typically with high Extroversion, whereas Machiavellianism and Psychopathy with low Conscientiousness. In our study we aim to further differentiate the Dark Triad dimensions as we explore their relations to the Big Five dimensions across Dark Triad inventories. Hypotheses ICP: H1: We expect to replicate the Quadrant findings of Rauthmann and Kolar (2013) for both Dark Triad measures. H2a: We expect to find Narcissism between the octants Assured-Dominant and Gregarious- Extraverted. H2b: For Machiavellianism, we predict positioning near cold-hearted and aloof-introverted. H2c: For psychopathy, we expect a positioning between cold-heartedness and arrogant- calculating. This effect should be more pronounced in psychopathy than the other two traits. Big Five: H3a: We postulate a negative correlation between all Dark Triad traits and Agreeableness facets related to compassion, respectfulness, and trust. H3b: We predict a positive correlation between Narcissism and extraversion facets related to sociability, energy level, and assertiveness. While also expecting a negative association with facets pertaining to responsibility. H3c: Machiavellianism is expected to correlate positively with facets relating to assertiveness and negatively with facets related to impulsivity and trust. H3d: Psychopathy is expected to additionally correlate negatively with the dimensions of Conscientiousness and facets relating to anxiety. Structure of Dark Triad measures: H4: A three (correlated) factor structure will fit the data best. Methods Study 1 Data has not yet been assessed Participants Participants must be at least 16 years old. German language skills will be necessary to understand instructions. We will advertise our study online through social media advertising, in the university, and in other public places. We aim to collect data of at least 500 participants. Procedure Data will be collected through an online survey. After completing the online questionnaire participants will be asked to forward a link by e-mail leading to a short online acquaintance-report to a close acquaintance. Hereby we hope to acquaintance-reports for the Big Five and the Interpersonal Circumplex for at least 100 of our participants which we could compare with the self-reports. Participating psychology students of the University of Münster will be able to receive research participation credit. Every participant can also leave an e-mail address to take part in a raffle. Participants for whom we receive at least one acquaintance- report will take part in an extra raffle. Measures Measures The present study aims to investigate the differential relations of the Dark Triad traits narcissism, Machiavellianism and psychopathy to the Big Five and IPC facets. We will use the German versions of all mentioned questionnaires. Dark Triad measures. The facets of the dark triad will be assessed using following two questionnaires. Naughty Nine. The German version of Naughty Nine (Küfner, Dufner & Back, 2014) is a 9-item-questionnaire which measures the dark triad with three items per facet. Questions have to be answered on a 6-point scale reaching from 1 (don’t agree) to 6 (completely agree). Short Dark Triad. Short Dark Triad (Jones & Paulhus, 2014) is a 27-item- quesstionaire assessing the traits of the dark triad with 9 items per facet. We are using a shortened version of the questionnaire comprising of 3 questions pro facet or a total of 9 questions. Participants will give their answers on a 6-point scale reaching from 1 (don’t agree) to 6 (completely agree). Big Five measures. The Big Five are assessed by using the Big Five Inventory-2 (BFI-2; Soto & John, 2016) and the NEO-PI-R (Costa & McCrae, 1992). The BFI-2 is a 60- item questionnaire which measures the Big Five on 15 subscales. Facets for Extraversion are Sociability, Assertiveness and Energy Level. Agreeableness