THE INTERPERSONAL NATURE OF DARK PERSONALITY FEATURES

The present study investigated whether a range of dark personality features including the Dark Tetrad, right-wing authoritarianism, spitefulness, and the pathological personality features captured by the PID-5 possessed similar interpersonal content. Participants were 586 undergraduates (456 women) who completed measures of dark personality and interpersonal style. Dark personality features were projected onto a trait measure of the interpersonal circumplex and results revealed that dark personality features had similar interpersonal content and occupied interpersonal space representing arrogant, manipulative, cold, and hostile interpersonal styles. Two exceptions to this pattern were NPI leadership/authority (located in the Assured-Dominant [PA] octant) and PID-5 negative affect (located in the Unassured-Submissive [HI] octant). Findings are discussed in the context of interpersonal similarities and differences of a variety of dark personality features.