A Short Dark Triad Test That Will Reveal How Evil Your Personality Is

We’ve all heard terms such as psychopath and sociopath. In addition, we understand that some people have an evil personality. But what if there was a dark triad test that could tell how evil your personality was?

Before we go any further, let’s clear up the dark triad part. The dark triad test relates to certain dark traits. These are displayed by people that have morally questionable behaviour.

Typically, the dark triad consists of three personality traits. Likewise, they all have malevolent connotations:

1. Machiavellianism (a manipulative attitude)
2. Narcissism (excessive self-love)
3. Psychopathy (lack of empathy)

However, recent studies have come up with additional traits that are also indicative of an evil personality.

Moreover, researchers now believe there are nine dark traits associated with evil people.

The nine dark traits are:

1. Egoism – Being overly concerned with one’s own pleasure at the expense of others. Motivated by self-interest, values only one’s own interests.
2. Machiavellianism – Will use manipulation and deception to exploit others. Are cold and calculating and have a disregard for others.
3. Moral Disengagement – A way of thinking whereby a person has no morals regarding their behaviour. Normal societal rules do not apply to them.
4. Narcissism – An over-inflated sense of worth and a craving for admiration. An egotistic admiration of one’s own talents.
5. Psychological Entitlement – A powerful feeling of entitlement and a grandiose sense that one deserves more. Believes one should have special treatment.
6. Psychopathy – No affect, no conscience, impulsive and callous nature, shows no remorse. Cannot emphasise, is bold and displays egotistical traits.
7. Sadism – Likes to intentionally inflict harm for one’s own gratification. Will humiliate and cause others to suffer.
8. Self-Interest – Is only interested in their own happiness at the expense of all others. Is only concerned for their own advantage.
9. Spitefulness – A tendency to act in a malicious way to cause the most harm possible. Cruel and vengeful.

Many people share a few of these traits. However, new research suggests that there are a number of people amongst the population that share all of them. Psychologists call this a General Dark Factor of Personality or ‘D-factor’.

The D-factor and the Dark Triad Test

It is thought that some of these dark triad traits are closely related to one another. In fact, you can see from the explanations that many of the traits share the same descriptors.

For instance, there is considerable overlap between narcissism, Machiavellianism and psychopathy. One study, in particular, proposed a unifying theme between all the nine dark traits. According to researchers, the D represents:

“The general tendency to maximize one’s individual utility — disregarding, accepting, or malevolently provoking disutility for others —, accompanied by beliefs that serve as justifications..”

Therefore, the D in D-factor is the basic dark tendencies in a person. In other words, D is the common core of all the dark traits.

And if you are wondering about the use of the word utility, it means helping one’s own self to the disadvantage of others. So it doesn’t mean, for example, going to the gym to get fitter, or helping out at a bake sale.

Those with a high D-factor score will not help others in need. That is unless it directly benefits themselves. And they certainly won’t be happy for other’s success. So we know that a person with a high D-factor score will display a number of morally, ethically, socially questionable traits.

But what about the average person? How can they tell if they will have a high D-factor score?

Luckily, we’ve put together a short dark triad test that doesn’t take long to complete. All you have to do is see how strongly you agree or disagree with the following statements below.

If you are in strong agreement with the majority of the statements, the chances are you would score highly on the D-factor. If you only agree with one or two statements, it is not so likely that you would have a high score.

However, be wary. If you are in extremely strong agreement with all of the statements, you will probably rank very highly on the D-factor. And you know what that means!

Dark Triad Test

1. I like to get acquainted with important people.
2. I insist on getting the respect I deserve.
3. Most people can be manipulated.
4. I’ll say anything to get what I want.
5. Make sure your plans benefit you not others.
6. People who mess with me always regret it.
7. Hurting people would be exciting.
8. I try to make sure others know about my successes.
9. It is sometimes worth a little suffering on my part to see others receive the punishment they deserve.
10. Payback needs to be quick and nasty.
11. I’ve been compared to famous people.
12. People see me as a natural leader.
13. I enjoy having sex with people I hardly know.
14. It’s true that I can be mean to others.
15. There are things you should hide from other people because they don’t need to know.

*The above questions come from a range of dark personality tests. This short version is featured here for informational purposes only and can’t be used to diagnose personality disorders like narcissism or psychopathy.

References:

1. https://www.sciencedirect.com
2. researchgate.net/
3. openpsychometrics.org/