The aim of this study was to reexamine relationships between the Dark Triad traits and aspects of emotional functioning, such as emotional intelligence and empathy, as traits and abilities, by using a network analysis approach. The sample consisted of 359 Hungarians from Serbia. The results indicated that the optimal description of the network structure involved four communities: the Dark Triad traits, emotion recognition abilities as aspects of cognitive empathy, emotional intelligence traits and empathy and appraisal and expression of emotion in others as mainly traits of empathy focusing on others. Psychopathy and narcissism are central components connecting their Dark Triad community with emotional functioning communities. Psychopathy's main role stemmed from its negative relationship with emotional reactivity and recognising positive states, indicating emotional deficits in both trait and ability domains. On the other hand, narcissism had a positive relationship with the use of emotion to facilitate performance, but showed a negative relationship with recognising negative states, indicating a discrepancy between self-image and objective abilities. Machiavellianism showed weak relationships with emotional intelligence and empathy traits, but a non-significant one with the ability to recognise emotional states. Its strongest positive relationships were observed with cognitive empathy and the use of emotions to facilitate performance.

Collisson et al. (2020) found Dark Triad traits and gender role beliefs predicted "foodie calls," a phenomenon where people go on a date with others, to whom they are not attracted, for a free meal. Because gender roles and dating norms differ across cultures, we conducted a registered replication across different cultures by surveying 1838 heterosexual women from Poland, the United Kingdom (UK), and the United States (US). Relying on the structural equation modeling, as conducted in the original study, our findings revealed gender role beliefs best predicted foodie calls and their perceived acceptability, whereas the Dark Triad's general factor was nonsignificant. Analyses at the country level yielded mixed results. The original findings were replicated in the UK and Poland, but not in the US, where only narcissism predicted foodie calls. In the US, gender role beliefs predicted foodie call acceptability, but the Dark Triad general factor did not. Potential reasons for why traditional gender roles, but not the Dark Triad, predicted foodie calls in the US are discussed.

The escalating prevalence of risky behaviors during adolescence has emerged as a grave threat to public health, posing one of the most significant psychological, social, and health-related challenges globally. These behaviors impact the individual and have negative consequences on families and society. As a pressing concern for communities, healthcare organizations, and social policymakers, identifying factors leading adolescents toward risky behaviors is paramount and urgent.

This descriptive correlational study was conducted in Ardabil, Iran, in 2024. Using convenience sampling, 200 s-year high school girls with an average age of 17 were selected. Participants were asked to complete three questionnaires: the Dark Triad Personality Test, the Revised Family Communication Patterns Scale (RFCP), and the Questionnaire of Risky Behaviors (QRB). The data were analyzed using Pearson correlation and multiple regression analysis, utilizing SPSS version 20.

The findings revealed a significant positive correlation (p < 0.01) between machiavellianism, narcissism, psychopathy, and the conformity interaction pattern with a tendency toward risky behaviors in adolescents. Additionally, there was a significant negative correlation (p < 0.01) between the conversation interaction pattern and risky behaviors. The results further indicated that 30.4% (p < 0.01) of the variance in risky behavior tendencies in adolescent girls could be explained by the Dark Triad personality traits. In comparison, the interaction patterns of conversation and parental conformity could account for 37% (p < 0.01).

This study suggests that the Dark Triad personality traits and parental interaction patterns can effectively predict adolescent girls' tendencies toward risky behaviors. These results underscore the need for effective management strategies addressing these variables in school programs to provide early interventions that may prevent the escalation of risky behaviors among adolescents.

This scoping review investigates the existing literature regarding personality traits, ideology, gender roles, and attitudes toward LGBT people. The review was conducted through PubMed and Web of Science databases. After establishing inclusion- and exclusion criteria, 12 studies published between 2013 and 2023 were reviewed, three themes (personality traits, gender roles and differences, and political ideology) were identified through thematic analysis. Several of the studies reported a relation between the personality traits Openness to Experience, Agreeableness and Conscientiousness, and homo- and transnegative attitudes. In particular, lower levels of Agreeableness, high levels of Conscientiousness, and lower levels of Extraversion were related to prejudice. The Dark Triad, especially the antagonistic traits Psychopathy and Machiavellianism, had a strong association with homo- and transnegativity. Multiple studies showed a connection between negative attitudes and ideological views. Especially right-wing authoritarianism (RWA) and social dominance orientation (SDO) were strong predictors of negative attitudes toward LGBT people. The majority of the studies also reported a significant gender difference in attitudes, with men being more prone to exhibit prejudice toward LGBT people than women. There are practical implications of this review relating to interventions which may target the prevention of homo and trans-negative attitudes, promoting inclusion and integration.

Image-based sexual abuse (IBSA) is a form of sexual violence and abuse that is facilitated by the use of technology. The array of different technologies, ever-changing behaviors, and varied terminology have created challenges in terms of appropriate response, legislation, and the protection of victims as well as difficulties in establishing the extent and harms of this behavior on a wider scale and context. This scoping review examines and synthesizes the current literature which focuses on predictors, the motivation of perpetrators, and the characteristics of both victims and perpetrators in relation to IBSA. The databases Web of Science, ASSIA, ProQuest, and StarPlus were searched in December 2023. A supplementary search was conducted in Google Scholar and hand-searching of two key journals within the topic area. The search focused on five geographical locations that share some cultural background (United Kingdom/Ireland, United States, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia). A total of 60 studies and reviews were included which meet the inclusion criteria. The main findings were: (a) diverse populations and marginalized groups are not represented in the current literature; (b) there is a vast number of interchangeable terminologies used; (c) there are limited studies that examine the predictors of victimization of IBSA; (d) the United States and Australia are the dominant countries of study of IBSA.

Can narcissism help foster resiliency against adversity? In this study, we used Turkish panel data, to examine whether narcissism can buffer the negative impact of personal loss on change in subjective well-being in the wake of the Türkiye-Syria earthquakes of 2023. Results show that the adaptation to personal loss was stronger for individuals high on narcissism. At the same time, we found no evidence that individuals high on Machiavellianism or psychopathy - other Dark Triad traits - were better able to adapt to personal loss.

Paraphilia is defined as a condition in which sexual excitement relies on fantasizing about and/or participating in unusual sexual behavior. Although recent studies have assessed the concordance between paraphilic interests and paraphilic behaviors, few studies have studied which individual traits and demographics predict engaging in paraphilic behaviors, or the level of concordance between arousal and behavior. The current study replicated and expanded Joyal and Carpentier's 2022 study. We assessed concordance between paraphilic arousal and behavior. Further, we assessed the impact of Dark Tetrad traits, impulsivity, social desirability and demographic variables on engaging in paraphilic behaviors using self-report questionnaires in a sample from the general population and FetLife. Finally, we were interested in whether these individual differences moderated the concordance between arousal and behavior. Results indicated high concordance between paraphilic arousal and behavior for all paraphilias except pedophilia and hebephilia. Younger, male participants were more likely to engage in various paraphilias than women and older participants. Machiavellianism was linked with lower paraphilic behavior, particularly impulsive or risky ones. Psychopathy predicted engaging in more deviant or illegal paraphilias, whereas sadism only showed an association for engaging in frotteurism and narcissism was not a predictor for engaging in any paraphilia. For several paraphilias, individual traits moderated the effect of arousal on behavior. Implications of these findings and future directions are discussed.

The convergence of Machiavellianism, narcissism, psychopathy and sadism is known as the "Dark Tetrad." Our understanding of the relationship between the Dark Tetrad, harassment and Rape Myths is limited. While men are more likely to blame victims of sexual violence, it is unclear how gender influences the ability to perceive harassment. The aim of the present study is to look at the relationship between dark traits, gender, Rape Myths and perception of harassment. A sample of N = 210 university students located in England & Wales were recruited on SONA and social media platforms. Student's t-tests, Pearson's correlations, and multiple linear regressions were conducted. Analyses revealed gender differences for both Rape Myths endorsement and perception of harassment. Furthermore, a relationship between the dark traits, Rape Myths and perception of harassment was founded. These results have several implications, including our ability to understand perpetrators' characteristics, the impact of the Dark Tetrad on Rape Myths and perception of harassment, and our ability to develop effective prevention programs.

Subclinical narcissism, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism are a cluster of manipulative, callous, and entitled traits known as the Dark Triad (DT). These traits have been repeatedly linked to short-term mating strategies and a tolerance for uncommitted sexual behavior (i.e., unrestricted sociosexuality) in both men and women, a pattern interpreted as consistent with life history theory. Alongside sociosexuality, individuals vary in their distinct capacities toward sexual excitation and sexual inhibition. Although much research has examined the relationships between DT traits and sociosexuality, and between sociosexuality and sexual excitation/inhibition, none has simultaneously evaluated the links among all three. In a large undergraduate sample, DT traits and sexual excitation/inhibition showed unique multivariate associations with sociosexuality, even when accounting for age, sex, relationship status, and sexual orientation. Results suggest that DT traits, elevated sexual excitation, lower inhibition and bisexuality, facilitate fast life history strategies in both males and females.

Nowadays, with the widespread use of the Internet, cyberbullying has become a pervasive threat to people. This study aimed to create a structural model of cyberbullying based on dark personality traits, with empathy as a mediating factor among students. A total of 360 students of the Mohaghegh Ardabili University were included using the multistage random sampling method. Data were collected using the Cyber-Bullying/Victimization Experiences Questionnaire, Dark Triad Personality Scale, and Questionnaire Measure of Emotional Empathy. Collected data were analyzed using Pearson's correlation test and structural equation modeling in SPSS and AMOS 24. The direct route of Machiavellianism and psychopathy was positively significant for cyberbullying and negatively significant for empathy. Empathy also has a direct negative effect on cyberbullying. Furthermore, there was an indirect effect of Machiavellianism and psychopathy on cyberbullying through empathy. Dark personality traits including Machiavellianism and psychopathy are significant risk factors for cyberbullying, with these traits indirectly contributing to cyberbullying through empathy deficits.

This systematic review and meta-analysis explored cognitive and affective empathy differences across Dark Triad traits-Narcissism, Machiavellianism, and Psychopathy.

Registered on PROSPERO and following PRISMA guidelines, PubMed, Scopus, Science Direct, ProQuest, and Google Scholar were searched for studies published until June 2024. Risk of bias was evaluated using Egger's test and Rank correlation test, along with risk-of-bias plots (Robvis) for quality assessment.

Fourteen studies (N = 5,328) met the inclusion criteria. Meta-analysis showed Narcissism was negatively associated with affective empathy (r= -.134, p<.05) but not significantly linked to cognitive empathy (r= .061, p= .215), while Machiavellianism had a significant negative correlation with both cognitive (r= -.089, p<.05) and affective empathy (r= -.291, p<.0001). Psychopathy demonstrated the strongest negative association with affective empathy (r= -.347, p<.0001). Moderate-to-high heterogeneity was found across all analyses (I2 range: 40.56% - 94.03%).

This review underscores differential empathy profiles across Dark Triad traits, with significant affective empathy deficits in Psychopathy and Machiavellianism and the complex role of cognitive empathy in Narcissism and Machiavellianism. Further research should examine situational and subtype -specific factors influencing empathy in Dark Triad traits to enhance theoretical understanding and inform interventions.

https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?ID=CRD42024559533, identifier CRD42024559533.

Psychological, physical, and sexual intimate partner violence (IPV) is prevalent among college-aged emerging adults (aged 18-29 years). Aggressive and dark triad personality traits have been linked to an increased risk of IPV, yet this approach does not identify modifiable risk factors. This study extends current research on personality traits and IPV by testing modifiable factors, namely, emotion regulation and empathic concern, that may alter the association of dark triad traits with psychological, physical, and sexual IPV. College students (N = 554) in a dating relationship for more than 2 weeks completed an online survey. Participants self-identified as Black (22.9%), Latinx (40.6%), and White (34.8%); a majority identified as women (74.1%). Results showed that low empathic concern intensified the association between dark triad traits and psychological and physical IPV. Individuals relatively high on dark triad traits are thus more likely to engage in monitoring a partner, dictating their activities or appearance, or hitting them when they also exhibit low empathy. Emotion regulation also moderated the relationship between dark triad traits and psychological IPV, but not for physical or sexual IPV. Emotion regulation, however, was a significant correlate of physical IPV, suggesting this type of IPV may be related to both emotion dysregulation and intentional efforts to control a partner. In contrast, emotion regulation and dark triad traits were independently linked to sexual IPV, suggesting sexual IPV may be driven by different mechanisms such as opportunistic or exploitative tendencies, factors that are less influenced by empathy. Results emphasize targeting empathic concern and emotion regulation to reduce IPV risk among those high in dark triad traits.

The social-emotional functions associated with the Dark Triad have been widely examined. However, further research is needed to explore the nuanced relationship between the Dark Triad and interpersonal relationships, particularly in diverse cultural contexts. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between the Dark Triad and interpersonal relationship satisfaction and interpersonal forgiveness by testing 577 students with the Dirty Dozen (DD), Interpersonal Relationship Satisfaction Questionnaire (IRSQ), and the Transgression-Related Interpersonal Motivations Scale-12-Item Form (TRIM-12). Results showed that (a) overall, the Dark Triad correlated negatively with lower interpersonal relationship satisfaction and interpersonal forgiveness. (b) Narcissism differs in the pattern of correlations from Machiavellianism and psychopathy. Machiavellianism and psychopathy were positively correlated with revenge, avoidance, and interpersonal dissatisfaction and negatively correlated with interpersonal satisfaction. In contrast, narcissism was positively correlated with revenge, avoidance, interpersonal dissatisfaction, and interpersonal satisfaction. (c) The mediating models showed that individuals with higher Dark Triad scores exhibited lower interpersonal relationship satisfaction and higher levels of revenge. Individuals with higher Machiavellianism and psychopathy showed greater interpersonal relationship dissatisfaction and more pronounced avoidance. These findings highlight the nuanced role of the Dark Triad in shaping interpersonal outcomes and suggest that targeted interventions focusing on relationship satisfaction and interpersonal forgiveness could mitigate the negative social behaviors associated with these traits.

We assess the abilities of both specialized deep neural networks, such as PersonalityMap, and general LLMs, including GPT-4o and Claude 3 Opus, in understanding human personality by predicting correlations between personality questionnaire items. All AI models outperform the vast majority of laypeople and academic experts. However, we can improve the accuracy of individual correlation predictions by taking the median prediction per group to produce a "wisdom of the crowds" estimate. Thus, we also compare the median predictions from laypeople, academic experts, GPT-4o/Claude 3 Opus, and PersonalityMap. Based on medians, PersonalityMap and academic experts surpass both LLMs and laypeople on most measures. These results suggest that while advanced LLMs make superior predictions compared to most individual humans, specialized models like PersonalityMap can match even expert group-level performance in domain-specific tasks. This underscores the capabilities of large language models while emphasizing the continued relevance of specialized systems as well as human experts for personality research.

The Free Hugs campaign and the phenomenon of people offering "Free Hugs" is becoming increasingly popular today, especially at concerts, festivals, and fandom conventions. However, such offers may cause some people to worry about the huggers' motivations. The study aimed to investigate the level of the Dark and Light Triad and Big Five personality traits in huggers and non-huggers. People (n = 299) engaged in fandom convention culture (132 men, 133 women and 34 non-binary individuals) participated in the study. Engaging in fandom convention culture was defined as attending at least two conventions in the last 12 months. Responses were collected from 62 huggers (21%) and 237 non-huggers (79%). The results show a significantly lower probability (Brunner-Munzel test) for huggers to be more narcissistic than non-huggers. Moreover, there was a significantly higher probability for huggers to be more extroverted, agreeable, humanistic, and have greater faith in humanity than non-huggers. Therefore, the results suggest that the declared intentions of people offering "Free Hugs" are related to prosocial personality traits.

Malevolent creativity refers to the ability to generate ideas that cause harm to oneself or others. While previous research has touched on how personality traits influence malevolent creative behavior, the neural mechanisms involved remain underexplored. This study investigated the brain patterns associated with malevolent creative behavior and how these patterns are mediated by dark personality traits (Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy) and positive traits (internalization, symbolization, and honesty-humility). Our findings revealed that Machiavellianism mediated the relationship between the amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) in the left medial superior frontal gyrus (mSFG), pallidum (PAL), and middle temporal gyrus (MTG) and malevolent creative behavior, particularly in actions like hurting people or playing tricks. Psychopathy similarly mediated the link between the ALFF in the right orbital middle frontal gyrus (oMFG), right mSFG, left PAL, and left MTG and malevolent creative behavior. Additionally, Machiavellianism negatively mediated the relationship between the fractional ALFF (fALFF) of the left parahippocampal gyrus (PHG) and hurting people, as well as between the fALFF of the left inferior occipital gyrus (IOG) and playing tricks. The ALFF in the left mSFG and left MTG predicted playing tricks but also negatively predicted internalization and honesty-humility, which in turn reduced engagement in playing tricks. Finally, the fALFF of the left IOG negatively predicted playing tricks and positively predicted internalization, which again decreased playing tricks. These findings highlight the complex interaction between brain activity, personality traits, and malevolent creative behavior, offering a potential path for targeted interventions and further research into this interesting phenomenon.

Assessing dark personality traits with self-reports may be hampered by biases such as socially desirable responding. To address this, observer reports could be an effective complement or alternative to self-reports. This meta-analysis aimed to investigate the correlations of observer reports of the Dark Triad and Dark Tetrad traits with these traits' self-reports. A comprehensive search in PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus and PsycINFO yielded 24 studies that met the inclusion criteria (with 32 effect sizes) and included the assessment of at least one of the dark traits. Results showed positive self-observer correlations of medium-high magnitude for psychopathy (r = 0.47) and of medium magnitude for narcissism and Machiavellianism (respectively, r = 0.44 and 0.41). In addition, for Machiavellianism and psychopathy, it was shown that the better acquainted the observer and the observed, the higher the self-observer correlations. For sadism, no results could be obtained because only one study included the assessment of this trait. This is the first meta-analysis of inter-rater agreement in assessing the Dark Tetrad. The findings suggest that observer reports could be a supplement or even be alternatives to self-reports when assessing the Dark Tetrad traits.

A growing body of research suggests a link between Dark Triad personality traits and cyber aggression but inconsistencies exist. These inconsistencies may be due to limitations in past studies (e.g., using single measures of cyber aggression, summing up individual Dark Triad measures without assessing their interactions, and/or over-relying on cross-sectional data). To address these gaps, this innovative study followed a large sample of Taiwanese (N = 880) and employed a longitudinal design to examine the main and potentially interactive effects of individual Dark Triad traits (Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy) on three specific forms of indirect cyber aggression (cyberstalking, exclusion, and outing) assessed one year apart. By investigating these relationships over time, this longitudinal study aims to shed light on the nuanced interplay between personality and online misconduct. Findings reveal a significant interaction between Machiavellianism and narcissism, such that individuals high in both traits exhibit a greater propensity for all three forms of indirect cyber aggression. Moreover, individuals high on both psychopathy and narcissism are more likely to engage in outing behaviors, potentially due to the ease of accessing personal information online. These findings contribute to a deeper understanding of the complex interplay between personality and online aggression.

This research examines the factor structure and psychometric properties of two well-known Dark Triad personality trait questionnaires: the Short Dark Triad (SD3) and the Dirty Dozen (DD). By analyzing data from 11 (SD3) and 5 (DD) carefully selected studies in the United States and Canada, this meta-analysis uncovers unexpected correlations among questionnaire items, challenging existing assumptions. The study employs a two-stage structural equation modeling approach to evaluate various measurement models. Conventional models, such as the correlated factor and orthogonal bifactor models, fail to explain the irregular correlations. For Dirty Dozen items, a bifactor-(S·I-1) model is more suitable than the orthogonal bifactor model, significantly affecting interpretation. On the other hand, the complex structure of the SD3 necessitates item revision to enhance reliability, discriminant validity, and predictive validity. These findings emphasize the need for refining and clarifying concepts in item revision. Furthermore, the research highlights the overlap between Machiavellianism and psychopathy, particularly in relation to revenge-related items, suggesting the need for differentiation between these traits or the identification of distinct core characteristics.

Anti-science movements brought more than public distrust in science. Perhaps even more worryingly, these movements are also associated with instances of harassment of-and violence against-scientists. However, virtually nothing is known about individuals likely to harass or harm scientists. Across two pre-registered studies (total N = 749), we investigated the role of worldviews (e.g., political ideology, conspiracy mentality, science cynicism), radicalization risk factors (relative deprivation and threat), and personality traits and how these relate to harassment of scientists (both attitudes and behavior). We found that science cynicism-the perception that scientists are incompetent and corrupt-drives approval of scientists' harassment (attitudes), as well as harmful behavior (e.g., refusing to donate money, not signing a petition). Additionally, perceiving scientists as threatening, as well as dark personality traits (psychopathy and narcissism), contributed to approving scientists' harassment. Overall, the present research takes a first step in identifying predictors of the willingness to harm scientists.

The correlation of handgrip strength (HGS) and morphological characteristics with Big Five personality traits is well documented. However, it is unclear whether these relationships also exist in highly trained and specialized populations, such as tactical athletes, and whether there are specific differences compared to the general population. This study aimed to explore the interplay of handgrip neuromuscular, morphological, and psychological characteristics in tactical athletes and the general population of both genders.

The research was conducted on a sample of 205 participants. A standardized method, procedure, and equipment (Sports Medical solutions) were used to measure the isometric neuromuscular characteristics of the handgrip. Basic morphological characteristics of body height, body mass, and body mass index were measured with a portable stadiometer and the InBody 720 device. Psychological characteristics were assessed with the Mental Toughness Index and Dark Triad Dirty Dozen questionnaires.

Numerous significant correlations were obtained, as well as differences between tactical athletes and the general population of both genders. The most prominent correlations were between the excitation index with Psychopathy and the Dark Triad (ρ = -0.41, -0.39) in female tactical athletes, as well as Neuroticism with body height, maximal force, and the maximum rate of force development in the male general population (ρ = 0.49, 0.43, 0.41). The obtained results also revealed gender and occupational specific patterns of researched relationships.

Although the results of this study indicated the possibility of the existence of correlations between handgrip neuromuscular, morphological, and psychological characteristics in tactical athletes of both genders, nevertheless, at the moment, there is not enough solid evidence for that. That is why new research is needed. An analysis of muscle contractile and time parameters as neuromuscular indicators in the HGS task proved to be a possible promising method, which brought numerous new insights about the researched relationships. For practical application in the field, we propose including Mental Toughness and the Dark Triad traits in the selection process for future police officers and national security personnel based on the obtained results.

Appearance modification practices are ubiquitous, serving to enhance physical attractiveness and accrue social advantages, including increased desirability as a potential mate. Facial cosmetics are frequently used for appearance modification, yet individual differences in makeup usage remain understudied. While makeup usage in women has been linked to traits like narcissism and extraversion, the broader association with Dark Triad traits and how personality influences makeup application across diverse social contexts were less explored. Here we examined these relationships in 1,410 Brazilian women (Mage = 29.9, SD = 10.35), who completed online Big Five and Dark Triad personality measures, reported their usual makeup usage habits, and detailed their makeup usage across different social scenarios. Results revealed makeup usage was positively associated with narcissism and extraversion, and negatively with psychopathy. Additionally, women used less makeup when alone (at home, exercises) and more in social settings, particularly for the first date. However, women with higher narcissism and neuroticism showed larger differences among low and high makeup usage situations, while individuals with higher psychopathy used makeup in similar frequencies among different situations. Further, (1) overall greater users of makeup scored higher on narcissism, conscientiousness, and agreeableness; (2) average users displayed lower psychopathy; and (3) lesser users reported lower narcissism and higher psychopathy. These findings underscore the nuanced relationship between makeup usage and personality, particularly highlighting the influence of narcissism. These findings contribute to the interplay between personality traits and makeup usage, considering interindividual differences and intraindividual variation in understanding cosmetic behaviors among women.

The dark triad encompasses socially aversive personality traits-narcissism, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism-and has been shown to be associated with expression recognition difficulties. Alexithymia has been shown to be associated with the dark triad, and recent evidence has suggested that co-occurring alexithymia may explain facial expression recognition difficulties found in the autism spectrum. Here, I tested this alexithymia hypothesis for individuals on the dark triad spectrum. Using an individual difference approach, I assessed whether trait alexithymia was able to predict unique variance in facial expression discrimination ability and facial expression labelling ability above and beyond an individual's level of dark triad traits. Results showed that autistic traits, alexithymic traits, and dark triad traits all correlated with expression recognition ability. However, linear regression models showed that an individual's level of dark triad traits, their level of autistic traits, and a brief measure of general cognitive ability each predicted unique variance in facial expression discrimination and facial expression labelling ability, but an individual's level of alexithymic traits predicted no additional unique variance. Results suggest that dark triad and autistic traits each contribute to expression recognition ability in unique ways alongside general cognitive ability.

Eating disorders comprise an array of mental disturbance with profound implications for individuals' psychophysical and societal well-being. Extensive research has elucidated the role of the Big Five personality traits in explaining individual differences in the risk of eating disorders, overshadowing alternative personality taxonomies, such as the Dark Triad - DT (i.e., Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and narcissism). Accordingly, the current study aimed to address the association between DT and the risk of eating disorders, also exploring the potential involvement of body uneasiness as captured in terms of weight phobia (fear of being or becoming fat), body image concerns (worries related to physical appearance), avoidance (body image related avoidance behaviors), compulsive self-monitoring (compulsive checking of physical appearance), and depersonalization (detachment and estrangement feelings towards one's own body). By using an online cross-sectional design, data were gathered from 419 participants. Results indicated that among the three dimensions of DT, only narcissism exhibited a positive correlation with the risk of eating disorders, while only weight phobia mediated this association. These findings yield theoretical implications extending the knowledge about the role of DT and body uneasiness in the risk of eating disorders. These results also have implications for tailoring prevention or treatment strategies to reduce the risk of eating disorders. Limitations and avenues for future research directions are discussed.

The environmental crisis has begun as a daily challenge for present and forthcoming generations. This scenario highlights the need to adopt many pro-environmental strategies to avoid its adverse consequences. Consequently, it is of paramount importance to comprehend the fundamental psychological and cognitive characteristics that may encourage young children to participate in Pro-Environmental Behaviours (PEBs). Previous research has explored key psychological factors like values, norms, and beliefs influencing children's pro-environmental behaviours (PEBs), but the impact of cognitive processes is still debated. This research explored the association between divergent thinking (DT) and PEBs, also addressing the potential involvement of gender.

The study involved 348 children (Mage = 8.78 years; SDage = 1.79; range age 6-13; 174 girls) who completed a socio-demographic questionnaire, the Pro-Environmental Behaviour Questionnaire, and the Alternative Uses Task (AUT).

The statistical analysis indicated that gender moderates the relationship between children's DT-creativity and PEBs (B = 0.08, SE = 0.04, t = 2.05; 95% CIs [0.0033, 0.1659]), strengthening this association.

These findings yielded further evidence on the impact of cognitive processes, such as DT on PEBs, extending the knowledge regarding the critical role of gender in this intricate relationship.

Managers sometimes have a bad reputation as they are often perceived as more manipulative than other employees. This study focuses on the Dark Triad (DT)-comprising psychopathy, Machiavellianism, and narcissism-and its connection with managers' "Ability" Emotional Intelligence (AEI). The link between DT (measured through the Dirty Dozen) and managers' AEI (measured through QEPro, an AEI performance test) was examined through a Latent Profile Analysis (LPA). We identified two AEI latent profiles within a heterogeneous population of 231 French managers. Our results show that managers with the FEP (Full Emotional Processing) profile are less Machiavellian (relative to the MEP -Minimal Emotion Processing- profile). Our results show that identifying AEI profiles may be a practical way to prevent toxic Management.

Facebook is one the most popular social networking sites in the world. The social aspect and perceiving oneself in the context of relationships seem to be crucial in the analysis of Facebook use. In recent years the number of Facebook users has been increasing, which is related to the problem of Facebook intrusion. Machiavellianism and selected interdependence agency indicators (conformity, relatedness, and autonomy) are associated with social functioning, which is an important aspect of Facebook intrusion. The aim of the study was to check how Machiavelianism and the interdependent agency indicators mentioned above affect Facebook intrusion and whether Facebook intrusion decreases satisfaction with life. The participants in the online study were 715 Polish Facebook users. We administered the Facebook Intrusion Scale, Conformity, Relatedness, and Autonomy Scales, and the Satisfaction With Life Scale. The results show that the selected interdependence agency indicators predict Facebook intrusion. Our results revealed that a high level of Machiavellianism was related to a high level of Facebook intrusion in women. They also show that conformity is positively and autonomy negatively related to Facebook intrusion and that Facebook decreases reduces satisfaction with life. The presented research thus contributes to knowledge about Facebook usage patterns.

Sadistic pleasure - gratuitous enjoyment from inflicting pain on others - has devastating interpersonal and societal consequences. The current knowledge on non-sexual, everyday sadism - a trait that resides within the general population - is scarce. The present study therefore focussed on personality correlates of sadistic pleasure. It investigated the relationship between the Dark Triad traits, and both dispositional and state-level sadistic pleasure.

N = 120 participants filled out questionnaires to assess their level of Dark Triad traits, psychopathy subfactors, and dispositional sadism. Then, participants engaged in an animal-directed task in which they were led to believe that they were killing bugs; and in a human-directed task where they could ostensibly noise blasts another participant. The two behavioral tasks were administered within-subjects, in randomized order. Sadistic pleasure was captured by increases in reported pleasure from pre-to post-task.

All Dark Triad traits related to increased dispositional sadism, with psychopathy showing the strongest link. The coldheartedness psychopathy subscale showed a unique combination with both self-reported sadism and increased pleasure following bug grinding.

Predominantly female and student sample, limiting generalizability of findings.

Out of all Dark Triad components, psychopathy showed the strongest link with gaining pleasure from hurting others. The results underscore the differential predictive value of psychopathy's subcomponents for sadistic pleasure. Coldheartedness can be considered especially disturbing because of its unique relationship to deriving joy from irreversible harm-infliction (i.e. killing bugs). Our findings further establish psychopathy - and especially its coldheartedness component - as the most adverse Dark Triad trait.

Spiteful behaviors are those aimed at inflicting harm on another person while also incurring a cost to the self. Although spite sometimes reflects destructive and socially undesirable behaviors including aggression, the current work sought to examine a potentially socially beneficial aspect of spite: engagement in costly punishment for selfish behavior.

Four studies used a costly third-party punishment task and measured individual differences in spite, narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and motivations for engaging in punishment.

Trait spite was positively associated with costly punishment of selfish behavior. That association was independent of other dark personality traits (narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy) and was statistically mediated by a desire for retribution. One of the studies also provided evidence that trait spite was associated with costly punishment of even generous behavior; however, rather than a desire for retribution, that association was mediated by a desire to threaten the person being punished.

Punishing selfishness and other forms of wrongdoing plays an essential role in cooperative group living. The current work provides new insight into the role spiteful motivations might play in this crucial social behavior.

The vast literature on personality psychology generally focuses on neutral or socially beneficial personality traits such as the Five-Factor model (e.g., agreeableness, conscientiousness) or "dark" traits such as Machiavellianism, narcissism, psychopathy, and everyday sadism. However, the current synthesis of the literature indicates that the distinction between benign, malign, and neutral personality traits and facets is partly misguided. In fact, there are many objective and subjective measures that indicate that high agreeableness is not beneficial, while moderate grandiose narcissism is. Many, if not all of the traits are rather gray and socially and personally desired outcomes indicate that people who aim for a well-rounded personality should typically be clustered in the middle of the various personality spectrums. In addition, many of the personality traits are characterized by parallel patterns of good/bad relations to social and personal outcomes.

Happiness, well-being, human freedom, and life events are interconnected. Nevertheless, the debate about human well-being struggles to find an exact definition. Literature debates on the importance of positive psychology or adverse effects of negative psychology in the well-being context discuss separately. However, both counter each other but have their significance and indisputable fact. Human psychology evolves around determinism and Free Will. One type of determinism is hard, while the other is soft. Individuals who are adamant about and embrace acceptance of chances are driven by their nature and psychology to choose negative behaviors under hard determinism. They give up their free will, whereas soft determinists use it to make choices and behave positively. However, the researchers looked at negative psychology as a useful aspect and positive psychology's dark side. We argued that there are reasons to suppose that chances can develop into options and vice versa. From a well-being perspective, negative and positive psychological strengths and weaknesses can be investigated. From the literature review, useful hypotheses for future research have been derived from our synthesis.

Romantic love plays a central role in the lives of individuals and influences decisions about lasting relationships such as marriage or cohabitation. To understand the dynamics of intimate relationships, both personality traits and attitudes toward love styles need to be explored. This cross-sectional study aimed to examine the possible differences between married/cohabiting and single individuals in terms of Dark Triad personality traits and attitudes towards love styles, and to investigate which of these factors can significantly predict participants' relationship status. As a secondary objective, we analysed the presence of gender differences in the examined constructs. A total of 1101 participants (mean age ± SD: 40.75 ± 16.07; women: 710, 64.5 %) completed the Dark Triad Dirty Dozen and the Love Attitudes Scale - Short Form. Data for this study were collected via a web-based survey. Study's results revealed that married/cohabiting participants scored lower on all Dark Triad Dirty Dozen subscales, and they were characterised by more Eros and Agape and less Ludus, Mania, Pragma, and Storge styles compared to their single counterparts. Age, narcissism, Eros, Agape, Mania, and Storge were significant predictors of marriage/cohabitation. The final model explained 53 % of the variance, with 81 % of participants correctly categorised as married/cohabiting vs. single. Finally, men were more ludic and agapic in their love styles than women. These findings suggest that dark personality traits and attitudes toward love styles characterise married/cohabiting and single individuals differently. Understanding these distinctions sheds light on the complexities of romantic relationships across different relationships.

Relational aggression, as a distinct form of aggressive behavior in social relationships, is associated with various physiological and psychological disorders. Although previous research has provided theoretical support for the connection between the Dark Triad (Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and narcissism) and relational aggression, the mediating factors between the two still require in-depth exploration. This study employed a cross-sectional research method to examine the mediating roles of relative deprivation and hostile attribution bias between the Dark Triad and relational aggression.

This research employed the Dark Triad scale, the relational aggression scale, the relative deprivation scale, and the hostile attribution bias scale to conduct a self-reported questionnaire survey involving 1,968 students from two universities in China.

The Dark Triad traits significantly predicted relational aggression. The mediating role of relative deprivation was significant in the relationship between these traits and relational aggression. Hostile attribution bias mediated the relationship between Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and relational aggression, but not between narcissism and relational aggression. Additionally, the serial mediating role of relative deprivation and hostile attribution bias was significant between the Dark Triad traits and relational aggression.

This study not only verified the relationship between the Dark Triad and relational aggression but also identified mediating factors providing new useful information for effectively explaining and intervening in malignant interpersonal relationships.

The current study assessed how individuals evaluate potential romantic partners who display either low, medium, or high levels of DT traits for short-term (STR) and long-term (LTR) relationships.

Nine fictitious persons in the form of vignettes (description of behavior and facial image) were presented to every participant. The sex of the fictitious persons was determined by sexual orientation of each participant, while the displayed faces were selected from an existing image bank and matched for physical attractiveness. Study 1 (n = 475) used a fixed composition for face and trait description, while the composition for Study 2 (n = 794) was randomized. Mixed-effects modeling was implemented for both studies.

Study 1 demonstrated people with a male preference (mostly women) perceived medium levels of the three traits as the most attractive STR. For Study 2, both men and women found the low levels the most attractive for both STRs and LTRs.

Findings from Study 1 were mostly consistent across previous DT attractiveness literature, while findings from Study 2 contradicted them. This could suggest that the concept of DT is not as attractive even for STRs unless it is accompanied by physical attractiveness.

Background: Adolescence is a period of significant psychological, physical, and social changes. During this time, adolescents face increasing responsibilities, such as making educational and career decisions, managing peer relationships, and becoming more independent from their families. These changes are often accompanied by mood fluctuations and altered sleep patterns. This study aimed to explore the relationships between bright- and dark-side hypomania, insomnia, and various dimensions of health-related quality of life (HRQOL), such as self-esteem, family and peer relationships, social acceptance, and autonomy. Methods: A total of 1475 participants in mid-adolescence (mean age: 13.4 years; range: 11-16 years; 48.8% males) completed a series of self-reported questionnaires covering sociodemographic information, hypomania, including dark and bright-side hypomania, insomnia, and HRQOL. Results: Compared to participants with no or dark-side hypomania, participants with bright-side hypomania reported better HRQOL. Bright-side hypomania was significantly associated with favorable relationships with parents and home, peer relationships, and the school environment and with less insomnia. In contrast, dark-side hypomania showed significant associations with lower scores for self-esteem, moods and emotional states, peer relationships, social acceptance, the school environment, and more insomnia. Conclusions: Among a larger sample of adolescents, bright- and dark-side hypomania were associated with a broad, though specific variety of aspects of HRQOL and insomnia. Given that standardized programs are available to improve insomnia and resilience as a proxy of psychological well-being, such interventions may have the potential to improve adolescents' psychological well-being and sleep quality concomitantly.

Increasing honesty is critical in modern society. Moral Disengagement Tactics (MDTs) enable individuals to engage in unethical behavior while avoiding self-criticism, making MDTs a form of self-persuasion. One way to prevent persuasion is inoculation. Across three experiments (N = 972), two preregistered, we randomly assigned individuals to a code of ethics versus inoculation to MDTs condition. Study 1 (n = 443) found that those high in narcissism reported increased ethical intentions in the inoculation condition. Study 2 (n = 224) replicated and extended this effect, finding that individuals high in narcissism were more likely to behave honestly in the inoculation condition. Study 3 (n = 305) was a longitudinal study finding that inoculating those high in narcissism led to fewer lies over the past week's inoculation. None of these interaction patterns emerged for Machiavellianism or psychopathy. Thus, inoculation to MDTs appears effective in reducing dishonesty among those high in narcissism.

Self-report assessments are the standard for personality measurement, but motivated respondents are able to manipulate or fake their responses to typical Likert scale self-report. Although progress has been made in research seeking to reduce faking, most of it has focused on normative personality traits such as those measured by the five factor model. The measurement of socially aversive personality (e.g., the Dark Triad) is less well-researched. The negative aspects of socially aversive traits increase the opportunity and motivation of respondents to fake typical single-stimulus self-report assessments underscoring the need for faking resistant response formats. A possible way to reduce faking that has been explored in basic personality research is the use of the forced-choice response format. This study applied this method to socially aversive traits and illustrated best practices to create new multidimensional forced-choice and single-stimulus measures of socially aversive personality traits. Results indicated that participants were able to artificially alter their scores when asked to respond like an ideal job applicant, and counter to expectations, the forced-choice format did not decrease faking. Our results indicate that even when best practices are followed, forced-choice format is not a panacea for respondent faking.

Spitefulness has been defined as the willingness to cause some kind of harm to other people, even if this action does not bring any benefit and causes harm to herself. Given its relationship with a multitude of antisocial behaviors, interest in studying this trait has been growing and it was in 2014 when the first scale to measure it was validated: the Spitefulness Scale. This study aimed to examine the psychometric properties of its Spanish version. In a sample of 758 participants (M = 31.44; SD = 12.91; 72.80% female), the Spitefulness Scale, the Short Dark Triad, the Assessment of Sadistic Personality, the HEXACO-60, and the Global Assessment of Internet Trolling were administered. Results showed the unidimensionality of the scale, adequate reliability indices, and construct validity, evidenced by positive relationships with the Dark Tetrad traits and trolling behavior. Additionally, the analysis revealed significant gender differences, with males scoring higher on spitefulness. This Spanish validation allows us to establish a solid basis for cross-cultural comparisons. Understanding this trait, considered like the Dark Tetrad traits an antagonistic personality trait, has important implications for understanding the interpersonal and social dynamics. Given that spitefulness is closely related to aggressive behaviors, it is essential to study it to understand the underlying mechanisms of aggression and hostility in social interactions.

The current study aims to examine how toxic management styles can lead to both psychological and physical withdrawal of employees in the healthcare sector. The quantitative approach was used in this research. Preliminary data was collected through online questionnaires from 413 employees working in private and public hospitals and health centers in France. Structural equation modeling was used to test the research hypotheses in the SmartPLS program. The research results indicate a direct positive effect of two styles of toxic leadership (unpredictability and authoritarian leadership) on physical withdrawal behaviors. The results also showed that self-promotion and unpredictability positively affect psychological withdrawal behaviors in hospitals and health centers. The results of the research can be useful for managing health centers to remove the behaviors of toxic leaders from the work environment and protect and support staff so that they can continue carrying out their duties.

This study investigates how nurse supervisors' Dark Triad personality traits (Machiavellianism, narcissism, psychopathy) influence nurses' task performance, mediated by perceptions of enriched work design (autonomy, task variety, social support, safe work conditions, feedback quality) and psychological safety.

A multisource approach was used to collect data from 256 manager-nurse dyads across various healthcare settings. Nurses completed surveys assessing their work design and psychological safety. Managers completed a self-assessment of Dark Triad traits and rated their nurse subordinates' task performance. Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling (SEM) were used for analysis.

Supervisors' Dark Triad traits core component impacted nurses' task performance indirectly, mediated by psychological safety and nurses' perceptions of their enriched work design. Psychopathic traits revealed a significant direct negative effect on nurses' performance, while other Dark Triad traits did not show direct effects.

This study sheds light on key factors influencing nurses' performance, offering insights for healthcare organizations aiming to optimize work environments and improve team effectiveness.

In recent years, fighting arts (e.g., Karate, Judo, Jujitsu, Boxe) have gained broader attention due to their multiple benefits, involving both physical and psychological enhancements for practitioners. Despite that, studies revolving around specific psychological characteristics such as personality traits are scarce. This study explored potential connections between the personality traits of practitioners and the specific fighting art they engage in, and investigated levels of anxiety and depression in fighting artists.

A web-based cross-sectional survey instrument was developed and disseminated across the entire Italian territory. Participants were eligible if adults (> 18 years old) engaged in any fighting arts for a minimum of one year, with no additional restrictions. The survey employed the Big Five Inventory (BFI) with 44 questions to explore personality traits using the OCEAN model, and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) to explore anxiety and depression levels.

A total of 770 questionnaires were collected from July to September 2023. Participants were mainly men (M = 571, 74.5%; F = 199, 25.8%; mean age 45.2 ± 14.8), and most of the participants practised in the North of Italy (N = 493, 64.0%). The mean age of practice was 28.5 ± 14.9 years and the most practised fighting arts were Judo (N = 349, 45.3%), Karate (N = 272, 35.3%) and Jujitsu (N = 42, 5.5%). Personality traits were identified as openness, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness, neuroticism and the results were as follows: O) 40.1 ± 6.30; C) 37.1 ± 5.78; E) 28.2 ± 5.64; A) 35.1 ± 5.08; N) 19,8 ± 5,51. Anxiety and depression scored respectively 5.93 ± 3.14 and 3.67 ± 2.74.

Fighting artists exhibit elevated levels of positive personality traits, such as openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, and agreeableness. Conversely, neuroticism tends to be lower among them. Moreover, anxiety and depression levels among fighting artists are lower than the Italian normative values. Fighting arts, particularly Karate and Judo, emerge as promising avenues for adults seeking innovative or complementary strategies to foster positive personality traits (e.g., openness, conscientiousness) while mitigating anxiety and depression. Future studies could explore other personality traits, including Machiavellianism, and explore additional psychological characteristics such as aggressiveness to provide a more comprehensive understanding.

Violence against women, particularly sexual violence, poses a significant public health concern. Predispositions toward perpetrating such acts often stem from the acceptance of myths that justify or deny these behaviours. This study aimed to explore how dark personality traits (narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and sadism) and pornography consumption relate to the acceptance of these myths.

Surveying 598 participants, the research employed Latent Profile Analyses (LPA) to identify distinct population profiles, Additionally, regression analyses were employed to further explore the relationships among variables.

Three profiles emerged, showcasing varying degrees of acceptance of sexual aggression myths. The most concerning profile, encompassing 9.2% of participants, displayed the highest alignment with these myths, alongside elevated scores in dark personality traits and pornography consumption. Notwithstanding the three profiles showed significant differences in the acceptance of these myths. Interestingly, the regression analysis highlighted that Machiavellianism stood out as the primary predictor for accepting sexual aggression myths, overshadowing the influence of pornography consumption.

This emphasizes the role of personality traits in influencing attitudes towards sexual aggression myths. Moreover, implications for tailored prevention strategies, focusing on high-risk profiles, are discussed, highlighting the potential for targeted interventions to address harmful beliefs and behaviours.

Although employee selection is typically oriented toward the assessment of knowledge, skills, and abilities to identify employees who will complement such an environment, it is perhaps equally important to distinguish employees with the potential to disrupt it. Workers high in narcissistic grandiosity tend to abuse their power and control for personal gain, engage in abusive behaviors toward others, and disobey organizational policies. Across four studies, we sought to develop the Narcissism Interview Scale for Employment (NISE) to assess narcissistic grandiosity. Study 1 created interview questions that elicited responses with narcissistic grandiosity content, structured as both behavioral/situational and work-specific. Study 2 identified the best performing items and developed rating materials. Study 3 demonstrated the NISE is associated with traditional survey assessments of narcissistic grandiosity and predicted interpersonal aggression. Study 4 demonstrated that applicants are likely to perceive the NISE at least as favorably as other popular interview questions. Overall, the results showed that the NISE may be incorporated into the interview process to assess applicant narcissistic grandiosity tendencies, but additional research is needed to further establish the construct validity of the instrument, clarify applicant reactions to its use, and assess its predictive utility across a variety of work contexts.

Signaling high sensitivity to others may help individuals with heightened sensitivity to stimuli to craft their social relations to a preferred activation level ("assertive signaling of specific needs" hypothesis). Signaling sensitivity could be also a deceptive strategy helping to extract resources or obtain the desired treatment ("deceptive signaling" hypothesis). The study presents the construction of the measure of signaling high sensitivity to influence others and an initial test of both hypotheses. Two hundred and one participants ranging in age from 18 to 67 (M = 25.6; SD = 7.03) reported on their reinforcement sensitivity (behavioral approach and inhibition system), sensory processing sensitivity, and the Dark Triad. Signaling high sensitivity to influence others was weakly, but significantly, associated with behavioral inhibition system sensitivity, which was consistent with the "assertive signaling of specific needs" hypothesis. The behavioral approach system was positively correlated with signaling high sensitivity, which indicated that this influence strategy could be treated as an assertive self-presentational strategy helping in achieving social rewards for individuals with high reward responsiveness. Narcissism and psychopathy accounted for an additional amount of variance in signaling high sensitivity over and beyond reinforcement sensitivity. This was consistent with the "deceptive signaling" hypothesis. Signaling high sensitivity could be regarded as a strategy to achieve social goals using deception rather than as an expression of sensitive personality.

Eye-tracking is emerging as a tool for researchers to better understand cognition and behavior. However, it is possible that experiment participants adjust their behavior when they know their eyes are being tracked. This potential change would be considered a type of Hawthorne effect, in which participants alter their behavior in response to being watched and could potentially compromise the outcomes and conclusions of experimental studies that use eye tracking. We examined whether eye-tracking produced Hawthorne effects in six commonly used psychological scales and five behavioral tasks. The dependent measures were selected because they are widely used and cited and because they involved measures of sensitive topics, including gambling behavior, racial bias, undesirable personality characteristics, or because they require working memory or executive attention resources, which might be affected by Hawthorne effects. The only task where Hawthorne effects manifested was the mixed gambles task, in which participants accepted or rejected gambles involving a 50/50 chance of gaining or losing different monetary amounts. Participants in the eye-tracking condition accepted fewer gambles that were low in expected value, and they also took longer to respond for these low-value gambles. These results suggest that eye-tracking is not likely to produce Hawthorne effects in most common psychology laboratory tasks, except for those involving risky decisions where the probability of the outcomes from each choice are known.

As large language models (LLMs) continue to gain popularity due to their human-like traits and the intimacy they offer to users, their societal impact inevitably expands. This leads to the rising necessity for comprehensive studies to fully understand LLMs and reveal their potential opportunities, drawbacks and overall societal impact. With that in mind, this research conducted an extensive investigation into seven LLMs, aiming to assess the temporal stability and inter-rater agreement on their responses on personality instruments in two time points. In addition, LLMs' personality profile was analysed and compared with human normative data. The findings revealed varying levels of inter-rater agreement in the LLMs' responses over a short time, with some LLMs showing higher agreement (e.g. Llama3 and GPT-4o) compared with others (e.g. GPT-4 and Gemini). Furthermore, agreement depended on used instruments as well as on domain or trait. This implies the variable robustness in LLMs' ability to reliably simulate stable personality characteristics. In the case of scales which showed at least fair agreement, LLMs displayed mostly a socially desirable profile in both agentic and communal domains, as well as a prosocial personality profile reflected in higher agreeableness and conscientiousness and lower Machiavellianism. Exhibiting temporal stability and coherent responses on personality traits is crucial for AI systems due to their societal impact and AI safety concerns.

Individuals with dark personality traits are more prone to burnout, but this was not yet investigated in academia. Perfectionistic self-presentation (PSPS), an interpersonal expression of perfectionism, could be an explaining factor. Therefore, we investigated the relationship between the dark triad (Machiavellianism, vulnerable and grandiose narcissism, and psychopathy) and academic burnout, and whether the PSPS total score and its dimensions (perfectionistic self-promotion, nondisplay of imperfection, and nondisclosure of imperfection) mediates this. We expected that higher dark triad traits would be associated with higher academic burnout and that this would be explained by higher PSPS. Hypotheses included expectations for each PSPS dimension as well. Questionnaires were completed by 304 bachelor/master students (Mage = 22.81 years). Mediations were performed for each dark triad trait with total PSPS and each of its dimensions separately as mediator, and academic burnout as dependent variable. Total PSPS and almost all of its dimensions positively and significantly mediated the relation between Machiavellianism as well as psychopathy and academic burnout (small effect sizes). In contrast, only the PSPS dimension nondisplay of imperfection was a significant, positive mediator of the relation between grandiose narcissism and academic burnout (medium effect size). The other mediations with grandiose or vulnerable narcissism were non-significant. Future research should investigate this further, for instance by using the standard dark triad scales. Finally, this study offers insights for interventions and prevention of academic burnout by highlighting the unique impact of each dark triad trait. For example, those high on Machiavellianism may benefit from tools to deal with cynicism and perfectionism, ultimately lowering the risk for academic burnout.

Our current understanding of the relationship between personality traits and subjective well-being, or happiness, is limited to the conceptualization of subjective well-being as being life satisfaction and a positive affective experience (i.e., the presence of positive emotions and the absence of negative ones), thus lacking the sense of acceptance, balance, adaptation, and self-transcendent unity (i.e., harmony in life) that is appreciated as part of the good life in many ancient and modern cultures. Moreover, most studies use the Big Five Model to understand which personality traits predict subjective well-being. Here, I examine the predictive power of personality on harmony in life using the Big Five Model, the Dark Triad, and Cloninger's Biopsychosocial Model. The present study utilized past published data from three cross-sectional studies. In each separate sample, participants self-reported personality by answering the Big Five Inventory (N1 = 297), the Short Dark Triad (N2 = 1876), or the Temperament and Character Inventory (N3 = 436). All participants (NTotal = 3698) answered to the Harmony in Life Scale. The traits in the Biopsychosocial Model explained the highest variance in harmony in life (R2 = 0.435, F(7, 428) = 47.136, p < 0.001), followed by the Big Five (R2 = 0.341, F(5, 291) = 30.110, p < 0.001) and the Dark Triad (R2 = 0.096, F(3, 1872) = 66.055, p < 0.001). The key significant predictors were Self-Directedness, Self-Transcendence, and Harm Avoidance from the Biopsychosocial Model and Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and Neuroticism from the Big Five. Narcissism was the only predictor from the Dark Triad, although this relationship was very small. The findings underscore the importance of a multidimensional approach for understanding subjective well-being and the inclusion of harmony in life as its third component. The Biopsychosocial Model's inclusion of both temperament and character dimensions provided the most comprehensive understanding of harmony in life. While positive traits like Agreeableness, Self-Directedness, and Self-Transcendence enhance harmony, negative traits like Neuroticism and Harm Avoidance diminish it. Moreover, research only including "dark traits" might give the impression that an inflated sense of self-importance, a deep need for admiration, and a lack of empathy for others (i.e., Narcissism) is predictive of balance in life. However, this association was not only extremely low but can be interpreted as misguided since the results using the other models showed that helpful, empathetic, kind, and self-transcendent behavior predicted harmony. These results suggest that interventions aimed at enhancing well-being should consider a broad range of personality traits, especially those that are not present in the Big Five Model, thus advocating for a biopsychosocial approach to well-being interventions.

Emotional intelligence is commonly associated with career success. Employees with higher emotional intelligence tend to reap greater benefits. However, emotional manipulation has been reported as a dark side of emotional intelligence, which refers to the self-perceived ability to control the emotions and actions of others for self-benefit. Healthcare professionals with high emotional intelligence often improve the overall patient experience. However, their ability to manipulate emotions can have a detrimental impact on the quality of treatment. This cross-sectional correlational study assessed cognitive emotion regulation strategies (CER) and emotional manipulation among students of health colleges. Two instruments were used to collect the data: 1) the emotional manipulation scale and 2) the cognitive emotion regulation questionnaire. A total of 362 students from health colleges responded to the questionnaire. The students had a moderate tendency to use emotional manipulation (25.09 ± 6.79 out of 50). The most frequently used CER strategies included adaptive strategies such as positive reappraisal with a mean score of 7.45 ± 2.15 out of 10 and maladaptive strategies such as rumination with a mean score of 7.33 ± 2.23 out of 10. The emotional manipulation score had a small but statistically significant negative correlation with two adaptive CER strategies: positive refocusing (r = -0.146, p = 0.005) and focus on planning (r = -0.144, p = 0.006). This study sheds light on the relationship between CER strategies and emotional manipulation, suggesting that poor use of adaptive strategies is associated with emotional manipulation. This finding highlights the importance of designing interventional programs that improve the ability of health colleges students to regulate their cognitive and emotional responses, thus improving their overall well-being and performance as future healthcare workers.

Perceived ostracism (e.g., feeling ignored and excluded) can lead to psychological distress. There has been little empirical research into the types (profiles) of people more likely to perceive ostracism. The present study (N = 604) used latent class analysis (LCA) to (a) explore classes based on antagonistic traits (narcissism, machiavellianism, psychopathy, and sadism)while controlling for attachment orientation (attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance) and (b) examine whether such classes could reliably differentiate levels of self-reported perceived ostracism. We extracted five classes: (a) Average Low, (b) the Non-Antagonisers, (c) Average High, (d) Spiteful Manipulators, and (e) the High Antagonisers. Those in the High Antagonisers class reported significantly higher levels of perceived ostracism compared to all other classes. No other differences between classes were observed. There were also significant positive relationships for avoidant and anxious attachment on perceived ostracism, respectively. This study provides new insight into the profiles of individuals who may be more likely to perceive ostracism. However, further research is needed to explore the association between personality and perceived ostracism. Researchers may consider measuring the potential outcomes following perceived ostracism for such groups and/or design potential interventions for those at risk of such experiences.