Theoretical and empirical concerns regarding the dark triad as a construct

Abstract

Psychopathy, Machiavellianism, and narcissism are three constructs that have been collectively referred to as the "Dark Triad." Although researchers were initially interested in comparing similarities and differences between these constructs, in recent years researchers have combined items from the measures to create an overall measure of the Dark Triad as a single construct. The authors raise theoretical concerns regarding this approach, arguing that Machiavellianism and narcissism can be viewed as features or traits of psychopathy. They also provide empirical evidence from a large, correctional sample (N = 972) to demonstrate that a latent Dark Triad could not be estimated using confirmatory factor analysis because more than 100% of the variance was attributed to psychopathy. Moreover, the Dark Triad traits, by and large, did not confer incremental validity above and beyond psychopathy, and none of the interaction models indicated that additional information would be gained from considering the Dark Triad traits in constellation.