The relationship between the Dark Triad and attitudes towards feminism

The Dark Triad traits are considered a male-centric framework of personality with women generally scoring lower on narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy. Research has examined the drivers behind this rela-tionship attributing effects mostly to biological or evolutionary reasons with less work understanding environ-mental factors. To date, no research has examined the relationship between the Dark Triad and attitudes towards feminism. Three hundred and forty-three participants completed self-report measures of the Dark Triad and feminist attitudes. Results reported no differences between men and women on feminist attitudes, but men scored higher on the Dark Triad. Multiple linear regression indicated a negative association between the Dark Triad and feminist attitudes with all three traits significantly negatively contributing to the model. In all cases, this effect was stronger in men. These findings suggest that whilst men and women hold similar feminist atti-tudes, Dark Triad traits may facilitate a disregard for feminism.

Automated summary

The Dark Triad traits, which are considered to be a male-centric framework of personality, are associated with higher scores in men compared to women. However, there are no differences between men and women when it comes to feminist attitudes. The study also found a negative association between the Dark Triad traits and feminist attitudes, which is more pronounced in men.