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Resumo A tríade sombria da personalidade - narcisismo, maquiavelismo e psicopatía - retrata características antagonistas, insensíveis e socialmente aversivas. É sabido que a personalidade, tanto saudável quanto patológica, afeta diversos fatores na vida dos indivíduos. Este estudo buscou compreender a capacidade explicativa da tríade sombria nos afetos positivos e negativos e no lócus de controle. Para tanto foram realizados dois estudos. Compuseram o primeiro deles 154 participantes, com média de idade de 27.14 anos (DP = 9.28) que responderam ao Dirty Dozen e a Escala de Afetos Positivos e Negativos. O segundo estudo foi composto por 660 participantes, com média de idade de 22.83 anos (DP = 7.21) que foram avaliados pelo Short Dark Triad e a Escala Multidimensional de Lócus de Controle. Os resultados indicaram que a tríade sombria explica positivamente os afetos negativos, enquanto maquiavelismo explica negativamente lócus de controle externo, e, narcisismo e psicopatia explicam o lócus de controle interno -de maneira negativa e positiva, respectivamente-. Tais achados são possíveis explicações para os desfechos aversivos em indivíduos com altos escores na tríade sombria, de modo que estes vivenciam mais desprazer e raiva, como também se eximem de suas responsabilidades emocionais e se satisfazem ao notarem que causam danos em terceiros. Resumen La triada sombría de la personalidad -narcisismo, maquiavelismo y psicopatía- retrata características antagonistas, insensibles y socialmente aversivas. Es sabido que la personalidad, tanto saludable como patológica, afecta diversos factores en la vida de los individuos. Este estudio buscó comprender la capacidad explicativa de la triada sombría en los afectos positivos y negativos y en el locus de control. Por esto fueron realizados dos estudios. Conformaron el primero de ellos 154 participantes, con promedio de edad de 27.14 años (DP = 9.28) que respondieron al Dirty Dozen y la Escala de Afectos Positivos y Negativos. El segundo estudio estuvo compuesto por 660 participantes, con edad promedio de 22.83 años (DP = 7.21) que fueron evaluados por el short Dark Triad y la Escala Multidimensional de Locus de Control. Los resultados indicaron que la triada sombría explica positivamente los afectos negativos, mientras que el maquiavelismo explica negativamente el locus de control externo, y el narcisismo y la psicopatía explican el locus de control interno -de manera negativa y positiva, respectivamente-. Tales resultados son posibles explicaciones para los desenlaces aversivos en individuos con altos puntajes en la triada sombría, de modo que estos viven más disgusto y rabia, como también se eximen de sus responsabilidades emocionales y se satisfacen al notar que causan daños a terceros. Abstract The Dark Triad of personality -narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy- portrays antagonistic, insensitive, and socially aversive characteristics. It is known that personality, both healthy and pathological, affects several factors in the lives of individuals. This study aimed to understand the explanatory capacity of the Dark Triad in positive and negative affects and in the locus of control. For this purpose, two studies were carried out. The first of them comprised 154 participants, with an average age of 27.14 years (SD = 9.28) who answered the Dirty Dozen and the Positive and Negative Affections Scale. The second study consisted of 660 participants, with a mean age of 22.83 years (SD = 7.21) who were evaluated by the Short Dark Triad and the Multidimensional Scale of Locus of Control. The results indicated that the Dark Triad positively explains negative affects, while Machiavellianism negatively explains locus of external control. Narcissism and psychopathy clarify the locus of internal control -negatively and positively, respectively. Such findings are possible explanations for the aversive outcomes in individuals with high scores in the Dark Triad, so that they experience more displeasure and anger, as well as exempt themselves from their emotional responsibilities and are satisfied when they notice that they cause harm to others.

In the current study, we investigated the unique associations between dichotomous thinking, extreme response style (ERS), and the Dark Triad of personality, namely, Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy. We hypothesized that dichotomous thinking would exhibit a positive effect on ERS, and that dichotomous thinking would be positively associated with the Dark Triad even after accounting for ERS. Participants were 488 adults with a mean age of 29.54 years (SD = 10.38). Results confirmed dichotomous thinking positively predicts ERS, that the relationship between dichotomous thinking and the Dark Triad domains remains positive and significant even after accounting for ERS. Moreover, ERS manifested weak negative associations with the Dark Triad, with a significant relationship only with psychopathy. Findings from the current study help expand the understanding of both the substantive nature of response styles and the cognitive processes underlying the Dark Triad of personality.

Although only moderately correlated, Psychopathy, Machiavellianism, and subclinical narcissism can overlap to a higher degree in the case of brief measures. To reconcile shortness and unidimensionality, such inventories might emphasize less specific and more general components in their trait scale compositions. In the current study, we combined confirmatory factor analysis and the unidimensional Rating Scale model to investigate the salience of a general factor in the Short Dark Triad (SD3; Jones & Paulhus, 2014). Participants were 1965 community adults, with ages ranging from 18 to 72 years (M = 25.50, SD = 9.04). The results revealed that the true score variance contained in the SD3 scales is mostly due to a common dark triad component, whereas the coverage of content that is unique to each factor is relatively small. Although a substantive interpretation is presented regarding this single latent continuum underlying the SD3 items, future studies should attempt to test how sound this general factor is once the variation due to social desirability is controlled for. The issues of personality “nuances” and multidimensionality are also discussed.