Introducing the Short Dark Triad (SD3): A Brief Measure of Dark Personality Traits
Abstract
Three socially aversive traits-Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy-have been studied as an overlapping constellation known as the Dark Triad. Here, we develop and validate the Short Dark Triad (SD3), a brief proxy measure. Four studies (total N = 1,063) examined the structure, reliability, and validity of the subscales in both community and student samples. In Studies 1 and 2, structural analyses yielded three factors with the final 27 items loading appropriately on their respective factors. Study 3 confirmed that the resulting SD3 subscales map well onto the longer standard measures. Study 4 validated the SD3 subscales against informant ratings. Together, these studies indicate that the SD3 provides efficient, reliable, and valid measures of the Dark Triad of personalities.
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Narcissism has been more associated with reactive aggression in response to perceived provocation.
“narcissism has been more associated with reactive aggression in response to perceived provocation [e.g., ego-threat; (17)]”
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 [17]
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Self-citationSparks, B., Stephens, S., & Trendell, S. (2023) · Computers in Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.chb.2023.107879 · Cited by 48 · see citing works
The development of narcissistic admiration and machiavellianism in early adulthood.
Grosz, M. P., Göllner, R., Rose, N., Spengler, M., Trautwein, U., Rauthmann, J. F., Wetzel, E., & Roberts, B. W. (2019) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/pspp0000174 · Cited by 45 · see citing works
Narcissism and stress-reactivity: a biobehavioural health perspective
Coleman, S. R. M., Pincus, A. L., & Smyth, J. M. (2019) · Health Psychology Review · doi:10.1080/17437199.2018.1547118 · Cited by 44 · see citing works
Predicting SNS addiction with the Big Five and the Dark Triad
Lee, S.-L. (2019) · Cyberpsychology: Journal of Psychosocial Research on Cyberspace · doi:10.5817/cp2019-1-3 · Cited by 41 · see citing works
Personality and acceptance as predictors of ChatGPT use
de Winter, J., Dodou, D., & Eisma, Y. B. (2024) · Discover Psychology · doi:10.1007/s44202-024-00161-2 · Cited by 43 · see citing works
The Disinhibiting Effects of Anonymity Increase Online Trolling
Nitschinsk, L., Tobin, S. J., & Vanman, E. J. (2022) · Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking · doi:10.1089/cyber.2022.0005 · Cited by 40 · see citing works
Defending one's worldview under mortality salience: Testing the validity of an established idea
Schindler, S., Reinhardt, N., & Reinhard, M.-A. (2021) · Journal of Experimental Social Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2020.104087 · Cited by 40 · see citing works
HEXACO, the Dark Triad, and Chat GPT: Who is willing to commit academic cheating?
Greitemeyer, T., & Kastenmüller, A. (2023) · Heliyon · doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e19909 · Cited by 39 · see citing works
“Finally, the Short Dark Triad [26] was employed to assess narcissism ( α = 0.74), Machiavellianism ( α = 0.80), and psychopathy ( α = 0.70).”
MethodInfluentialPlohl, N., Mlakar, I., Musil, B., & Smrke, U. (2023) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1297782 · Cited by 39 · see citing works
Leaving without a word: Ghosting and the dark triad traits
Jonason, P. K., Kaźmierczak, I., Campos, A. C., & Davis, M. D. (2021) · Acta Psychologica · doi:10.1016/j.actpsy.2021.103425 · Cited by 35 · see citing works
The Dark Tetrad and online sexual victimization: Enjoying in the distance
Pineda, D., Martínez-Martínez, A., Galán, M., Rico-Bordera, P., & Piqueras, J. A. (2023) · Computers in Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.chb.2023.107659 · Cited by 30 · see citing works
Informant assessment: The Informant Five-Factor Narcissism Inventory.
Oltmanns, J. R., Crego, C., & Widiger, T. A. (2018) · Psychological Assessment · doi:10.1037/pas0000487 · Cited by 29 · see citing works
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Sarcastic and Deviant Trolling in Turkey: Associations With Dark Triad and Aggression
Manuoğlu, E., & Öner-Özkan, B. (2022) · Social Media + Society · doi:10.1177/20563051221126053 · Cited by 13 · see citing works
Psychometric properties of a scale to measure the dark side of personality
SALESSI, S., & OMAR, A. (2018) · Estudos de Psicologia (Campinas) · doi:10.1590/1982-02752018000200005 · Cited by 13 · see citing works
Structure of darkness: the dark triad, the dark” empathy and the dark’ narcissism.
Gojković, V., Dostanić, J. S., & Đurić, V. (2022) · Primenjena psihologija · doi:10.19090/pp.v15i2.2380 · Cited by 13 · see citing works
The thinking person’s music: Heavy metal and the need for cognition
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MedSentry: Understanding and Mitigating Safety Risks in Medical LLM Multi-Agent Systems
Chen, K., Zhen, T., Wang, H., Liu, K., Li, X., Huo, J., Yang, T., Xu, J., Dong, W., & Gao, Y. (2025) · arXiv · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2505.20824 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
“Stage (i) is instantiated with a ten-item scale, distilled from the Dark Triad, PCL-R, and MACH-IV inventories [61, 62, 63, 64].”
- Authors
- Jones, D. N., & Paulhus, D. L.
- Affiliations
- The University of Texas at El Paso (US)
- University of British Columbia (CA)
- Venue
- Assessment
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2013-12-09
- Volume
- 21
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 28-41
- ISSN
- 1073-1911 (ISSN-L)
- 1552-3489
- OpenAlex
- W2129015869
- Cited by
- 2,162
- References
- 88
- Citations by year
- 2026: 186 · 2025: 232 · 2024: 245 · 2023: 248 · 2022: 237 · 2021: 226 · 2020: 218 · 2019: 175 · 2018: 142 · 2017: 106 · 2016: 74 · 2015: 44 · 2014: 23 · 2013: 5
- FWCI
- 54.09
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Assessment (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Personality Traits and Psychology
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Psychological Testing and Assessment
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychopathy, Forensic Psychiatry, Sexual Offending
- Keywords
- Dark Triad, Short Dark Triad, Machiavellianism, narcissism, psychopathy, personality assessment, short-form scale development, scale validation, informant ratings, psychometric properties
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Antisocial Personality Disorder, Character, Factor Analysis, Statistical, Female, Humans, Machiavellianism, Male, Personality Assessment, Personality Disorders, Psychometrics, Reference Values, Reproducibility of Results, Young Adult
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