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Aggression as a trait: the Dark Tetrad alternative
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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“however, under certain conditions of response provocation, narcissistic and Machiavellian individuals are also likely to act aggressively.”
From Empathy at the heart of darkness: empathy deficits that bind the dark triad and those that mediate indirect relational aggression. (2019) · cites this paper as [26]
In the citing paper
“Psychopathy is the strongest predictor of physical and premeditated aggression (13, 24–26);”
From Empathy at the heart of darkness: empathy deficits that bind the dark triad and those that mediate indirect relational aggression. (2019) · cites this paper as [26]
Citations
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The Light vs. Dark Triad of Personality: Contrasting Two Very Different Profiles of Human Nature
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The Nomological Network of the Short Dark Tetrad Scale (SD4)
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Triberti, S., Durosini, I., & Pravettoni, G. (2020) · Personality and Individual Differences · doi:10.1016/j.paid.2020.110453 · Cited by 69
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
- Venue
- Current Opinion in Psychology
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2018-02
- Volume
- 19
- Pages
- 88-92
- ISSN
- 2352-250X (ISSN-L)
- 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
- 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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