Cited by 519Personality Traits and PsychologyPsychopathy, Forensic Psychiatry, Sexual OffendingEmotions and Moral Behavior

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The dark core of personality

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Moshagen, Morten, Hilbig, Benjamin E., Zettler, Ingo·2018·Psychological Review

DOI 10.1037/rev0000111

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Abstract

> 2,500), we provide evidence in support of the theoretical conceptualization of D, show that dark traits can be understood as specific manifestations of D, demonstrate that D predicts a multitude of criteria in the realm of ethically, morally, and socially questionable behavior, and illustrate that D does not depend on any particular indicator variable included. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

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“In line with this conceptualization of D vis-à-vis specific dark traits, Moshagen et al. (2018) explicitly conceptualized D as a fluid construct, similar to the g factor of intelligence (e.g., Jensen, 1998).”
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“…between these approaches can be expected once considering the common core of all dark traits—that is, the Dark Factor of Personality, D (Moshagen et al., 2018), which entails clear conceptual links to prominent instances of socially aversive psychopathology: D involves invoking…”
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“Discussion The common core of aversive traits, D, is conceptualized as the (fluid) underlying disposition from which aversive traits arise as specific, flavored manifestations (Moshagen et al., 2018).”
Background
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Background
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“…aggression, insensitivity) and behavioral (e.g., sadistic tendencies, dishonesty) criteria related to aversive behavior, whereas specific aversive traits rarely yielded incremental validity in the prediction of these outcomes beyond D (Moshagen et al., 2018; Moshagen, Zettler, & Hilbig, 2020).”
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Background
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“This scale has been proposed as a concise measure for overcoming the limitations of single long measures regarding time consumption while incorporating flexibility in assessing the dark triad as either a single (Moshagen et al., 2018) or three-dimensional construct (Navas et al., 2020a).”
Background
Screening for dark personalities in Portugal: Intra- and interpersonal correlates, reliability and invariance of the Short Dark Tetrad Portuguese version
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Background
Dark personalities – dark relationships? An investigation of the relation between the Dark Tetrad and attachment styles
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“We concur with prior researchers who similarly express concern that the Dark Triad features are not sufficiently distinct [58,66], even with the more recent Dark Tetrad, which adds a sadism facet [67], and the Dark Core, which expands it even further [68].”
Result
Incorporating prosocial vs. antisocial trait content in Big Five measurement: Lessons from the Big Five Inventory-2 (BFI-2)
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Who is healthier? A meta-analysis of the relations between the HEXACO personality domains and health outcomes
Pletzer, J. L., Thielmann, I., & Zettler, I. (2023) · European Journal of Personality · doi:10.1177/08902070231174574 · Cited by 39
“This might occur because both overlap substantially with aversive (dark) personality traits (Hodson et al., 2018; M. C. Howard & Van Zandt, 2020; Moshagen et al., 2018; Scholz et al., 2022).”
Background
Taking an elemental approach to the conceptualization and measurement of Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy
Kay, C. S., & Arrow, H. (2022) · Social and Personality Psychology Compass · doi:10.1111/spc3.12662 · Cited by 34
Exposing the darkness within: A review of dark personality traits, models, and measures and their relationship to insider threats
Harms, P. D., Marbut, A. R., Johnston, A. C., Lester, P. B., & Fezzey, T. N. A. (2022) · Journal of Information Security and Applications · doi:10.1016/j.jisa.2022.103378 · Cited by 40
Effect of Dark Personalities on Knowledge Hiding Behaviour at Higher Education Institutions
Karim, D. N. (2020) · Journal of Information & Knowledge Management · doi:10.1142/s0219649220500318 · Cited by 30
The HEX-ACO-18: Developing an Age-Invariant HEXACO Short Scale Using Ant Colony Optimization
Olaru, G., & Jankowsky, K. (2021) · Journal of Personality Assessment · doi:10.1080/00223891.2021.1934480 · Cited by 30
Bad Is Stronger Than Good
Harms, P. D. (2022) · Zeitschrift für Psychologie · doi:10.1027/2151-2604/a000496 · Cited by 32
Communal collective narcissism
Żemojtel-Piotrowska, M. A., Piotrowski, J. P., Sedikides, C., Sawicki, A. J., Czarna, A. Z., Fatfouta, R., & Baran, T. (2021) · Journal of Personality · doi:10.1111/jopy.12636 · Cited by 31
“…distinct constructs, such as self-esteem and generalized self-efficacy ( r = .85 in a meta-analysis; Judge et al., 2002), anxiety and depression ( r = .78 and r = .61 after scale reconstruction; Moras et al., 1992), as well as the D-factor and honesty-humility ( r = −.80; Moshagen et al., 2018).”
Background
Small but Nontrivial: A Comparison of Six Strategies to Handle Cross-Loadings in Bifactor Predictive Models
Zhang, B., Luo, J., Sun, T., Cao, M., & Drasgow, F. (2021) · Multivariate Behavioral Research · doi:10.1080/00273171.2021.1957664 · Cited by 29
“Although these broad factors have been shown to be robust predictors of important life outcomes (e.g., Luo et al., 2021; Moshagen et al., 2018; Schmidt & Hunter, 2004), it is also important to examine the incremental validity of narrow facets beyond the general factors (Lang & Kell, 2020).”
Background
Aversive Personality and COVID-19
Ścigała, K. A., Schild, C., Moshagen, M., Lilleholt, L., Zettler, I., Stückler, A., & Pfattheicher, S. (2021) · European Psychologist · doi:10.1027/1016-9040/a000456 · Cited by 29
Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing: How and When Machiavellian Leaders Demonstrate Strategic Abuse
Feng, Z., Keng, F. T., Yam, K. C., Chen, X.-P., & Hu, L. (2022) · Journal of Business Ethics · doi:10.1007/s10551-022-05132-y · Cited by 30
A Short Scale to Measure Self-Reported Aversive Personality in Political Elites
Maier, J., Oschatz, C., Stier, S., & Zettler, I. (2022) · Journal of Personality Assessment · doi:10.1080/00223891.2022.2130341 · Cited by 28
Is it all about the money? A re-analysis of the link between Honesty-Humility and Dictator Game giving
Thielmann, I., & Hilbig, B. E. (2018) · Journal of Research in Personality · doi:10.1016/j.jrp.2018.07.002 · Cited by 28
Personality and behavioral dishonesty
Hilbig, B. E. (2022) · Current Opinion in Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.copsyc.2022.101378 · Cited by 30
Moral disengagement and willingness to behave unethically against ex-partner in a child custody dispute
Clemente, M., Espinosa, P., & Padilla-Racero, D. (2019) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0213662 · Cited by 28
The effect of narcissistic admiration and rivalry on mental toughness
Manley, H., Jarukasemthawee, S., & Pisitsungkagarn, K. (2019) · Personality and Individual Differences · doi:10.1016/j.paid.2019.05.009 · Cited by 30
The impact of team moral disengagement composition on team performance: the roles of team cooperation, team interpersonal deviance, and collective extraversion
Ogunfowora, B., Stackhouse, M. R. D., Maerz, A., Varty, C. T., Hwang, C. C. H., & Choi, J. (2020) · Journal of Business and Psychology · doi:10.1007/s10869-020-09688-2 · Cited by 28
Antiheroes fueled by injustice: dark personality traits and perceived group relative deprivation in the prediction of violent extremism
Pavlović, T., & Franc, R. (2021) · Behavioral Sciences of Terrorism and Political Aggression · doi:10.1080/19434472.2021.1930100 · Cited by 31
“The composite score of dark personality traits is not new in personality studies, and some researchers have provided arguments in favor of its use (Book et al., 2016; Moshagen et al., 2018; Persson et al., 2019).”
Valuing humans over animals – Gender differences in meat-eating behavior and the role of the Dark Triad
Mertens, A., von Krause, M., Meyerhöfer, S., Aziz, C., Baumann, F., Denk, A., Heitz, T., & Maute, J. (2019) · Appetite · doi:10.1016/j.appet.2019.104516 · Cited by 27
Dishonesty as a signal of trustworthiness: Honesty-Humility and trustworthy dishonesty
Ścigała, K. A., Schild, C., & Zettler, I. (2020) · Royal Society Open Science · doi:10.1098/rsos.200685 · Cited by 26
Does Machiavellianism meaningfully differ from psychopathy? It depends
Sharpe, B. M., Collison, K. L., Lynam, D. R., & Miller, J. D. (2021) · Behavioral Sciences & the Law · doi:10.1002/bsl.2538 · Cited by 27
Cheating to benefit others? On the relation between Honesty‐Humility and prosocial lies
Thielmann, I., Hilbig, B. E., Klein, S. A., Seidl, A., & Heck, D. W. (2023) · Journal of Personality · doi:10.1111/jopy.12835 · Cited by 26
Shades of narcissistic dishonesty: Grandiose versus vulnerable narcissism and the role of self-conscious emotions
Schröder–Abé, M., & Fatfouta, R. (2018) · Journal of Economic Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.joep.2018.06.003 · Cited by 26
Factor Mixture Analysis of the Dark Triad and Dark Tetrad
Dinić, B. M., Sadiković, S., & Wertag, A. (2020) · Journal of Individual Differences · doi:10.1027/1614-0001/a000331 · Cited by 25
Network discovery and scanning strategies and the Dark Triad
Jones, D. N., Padilla, E., Curtis, S. R., & Kiekintveld, C. D. (2021) · Computers in Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.chb.2021.106799 · Cited by 25
The dark side of the mood. Candidate evaluation, voter perceptions, and the driving role of (dark) personality traits
Nai, A., Aaldering, L., da Silva, F. F., Garzia, D., & Gattermann, K. (2023) · Electoral Studies · doi:10.1016/j.electstud.2023.102715 · Cited by 24
Light and Dark core of personality and the adherence to COVID-19 containment measures: The roles of motivation and trust in government
Grežo, M., & Adamus, M. (2022) · Acta Psychologica · doi:10.1016/j.actpsy.2021.103483 · Cited by 24
Who Are the “Dark” Politicians? Insights From Self-Reports of German State Parliament Candidates
Maier, J., Dian, M., & Oschatz, C. (2022) · Politics and Governance · doi:10.17645/pag.v10i4.5493 · Cited by 23
“…personality traits, measured via the big five framework or the HEXACO inventory, and aver‐ sive personality traits, both at the citizen level (e.g., Moshagen et al., 2018; Muris et al., 2017; O’Boyle et al., 2015; Schreiber & Marcus, 2020) but also among politi‐ cians (Nai, 2019a, 2019b, 2022;…”
BackgroundMethodInfluential
Beyond (low) Agreeableness: Toward a more comprehensive understanding of antagonistic psychopathology
Scholz, D. D., Hilbig, B. E., Thielmann, I., Moshagen, M., & Zettler, I. (2022) · Journal of Personality · doi:10.1111/jopy.12708 · Cited by 25
Dealing with the devil: Combined effects of destructive leadership and Dark Triad personality on revenge, happiness and psychological detachment
Syed, F., Naseer, S., & Shamim, F. (2022) · Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences / Revue Canadienne des Sciences de l Administration · doi:10.1002/cjas.1660 · Cited by 23
The dark and light of human nature: Spanish adaptation of the light triad scale and its relationship with psychological well-being
Stavraki, M., Artacho-Mata, E., Bajo, M., & Díaz, D. (2022) · Current Psychology · doi:10.1007/s12144-022-03732-5 · Cited by 27

Authors: Moshagen, M., Hilbig, B. E., & Zettler, I.
Affiliations: Universität Ulm (DE)
University of Koblenz and Landau (DE)
University of Copenhagen (DK)
Corresponding author: Moshagen, Morten
ORCID: Moshagen, Morten
Hilbig, Benjamin E.
Zettler, Ingo
Venue: Psychological Review
Publisher: American Psychological Association (APA)
Published: 2018-10
Volume: 125
Issue: 5
Pages: 656-688
ISSN: 0033-295X (ISSN-L)
1939-1471
DOI: 10.1037/rev0000111
OpenAlex: W2854454445
Cited by: 519
References: 138
Citations by year: 2026: 77 · 2025: 83 · 2024: 72 · 2023: 67 · 2022: 67 · 2021: 66 · 2020: 48 · 2019: 32 · 2018: 6
FWCI: 44.72
Type: journal article
Language: en
Open access: green
researchprofiles.ku.dk
Licence: other-oa
Locations: Psychological Review (publishedVersion)
PubMed (publishedVersion)
Research at the University of Copenhagen (University of Copenhagen) (publishedVersion, other-oa)
Funders: German Research Foundation (MO 2830/1-1, HI 1600/1-2; HI 1600/6-1, ZE 948/1-1)
Topics: Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Personality Traits and Psychology
Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychopathy, Forensic Psychiatry, Sexual Offending
Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Emotions and Moral Behavior
Keywords: dark personality traits, dark core, personality structure, unethical behavior
MeSH terms: Adolescent, Adult, Aged, Antisocial Personality Disorder, Female, Humans, Machiavellianism, Male, Middle Aged, Narcissism, Personality, Young Adult

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