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Cited by 133Personality Traits and PsychologyBullying, Victimization, and AggressionEmotions and Moral Behavior

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 48 of the 49 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

Aggression as a trait: the Dark Tetrad alternative

Paulhus, Delroy L, Curtis, Shelby R, Jones, Daniel N·2018·Current Opinion in Psychology
DOI 10.1016/j.copsyc.2017.04.007
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Abstract

Aggression is often construed as a unitary trait fully captured by the Buss-Perry Aggression Questionnaire (BPAQ). Our review of the literature questions that assumption in several respects. Instead of a top-down approach, we argue for a bottom-up conception based on the Dark Tetrad of personality, that is, narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and sadism. We highlight research showing that each member of the tetrad responds to different provocations. We conclude that the unitary trait conception of aggression has yielded more confusion than understanding. The term aggression should be reserved for outcomes, with many possible trait×situation predictors. Future research should continue the investigation of moderators as well as cognitive mediators to clarify the triggering of aggression in the individual tetrad members.

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Metadata

Authors
Paulhus, D. L., Curtis, S. R., & Jones, D. N.
Affiliations
  • University of British Columbia (CA)
  • The University of Texas at El Paso (US)
Corresponding author
Paulhus, Delroy L
ORCID
Venue
Current Opinion in Psychology
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2018-02
Volume
19
Pages
88-92
ISSN
2352-250X (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1016/j.copsyc.2017.04.007
OpenAlex
W2609455767
Cited by
133
References
49
Citations by year
2026: 12 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 18 · 2023: 17 · 2022: 24 · 2021: 22 · 2020: 16 · 2019: 8 · 2018: 10
FWCI
1.51
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
www.elsevier.com/tdm/userlicense/1.0/ (tdm)
Locations
  • Current Opinion in Psychology (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Personality Traits and Psychology
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Bullying, Victimization, and Aggression
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Emotions and Moral Behavior
Keywords
aggression, Dark Tetrad, narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy, sadism, Buss-Perry Aggression Questionnaire, cognitive mediators, provocation
MeSH terms
Aggression, Antisocial Personality Disorder, Humans, Machiavellianism, Narcissism, Personality, Surveys and Questionnaires, Sadism

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