Disturbing the Disturbed: The Dark Triad

Hello! It's still Wednesday!

No “witty” title here – this week we discuss the Dark Triad. Okay, the next three weeks (including this one) will be done somewhat oddly as I am actually building up to the concept of a psychopath – a definition that gets pretty much butchered... at least as far as I’ve noticed. However, it comes in this nice little package with two other personality traits that I am fond of so I wanted to discuss them first as one of them is also very relevant to a future post.
But I’m getting ahead of myself...

The Dark Triad is a group that consists of three personality traits: Narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy. Now, the reason these guys are part of this dark little club is that while each is distinct in theory, they often overlap in life.

An argument to try and separate the three in terms of an example is that while the narcissist will attack when threatened, the psychopath will attack when threatened; also in a academic view, the Machiavellian will plagiarize an essay to cheat, the psychopath will try to copy another’s exam answers without forethought.
However, those examples are rather negative... and kind of sound like a David Attenborough documentary.

So instead I will give each disorder its own post... mainly because my Narcissism section was long enough to warrant a post of its own. I’m sure it’s very happy that it no longer has to share with Machiavellianism as originally intended.

Okay, I will first tackle Machiavellianism.

I assume we’ve all heard the expression “the ends justify the means”? Well, this is a misappropriation to Niccolò Machiavelli, an Italian diplomat and political writer. Much like the “It is better to be feared than loved” quote it’s been taken out of context and shortened. The correct versions are as follows:

"look to the consequences before you act"

And

Whether it be better to be loved than feared or feared than loved? It may be answered that one should wish to be both, but, because it is difficult to unite them in one person, is much safer to be feared than loved, when, of the two, either must be dispensed with...
Nevertheless a prince ought to inspire fear in such a way that, if he does not win love, he avoids hatred; because he can endure very well being feared whilst he is not hated.
— Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince, Chapter 17

However, it is this popular understanding that gives us the general gist of this personality trait.

Commonly, Machiavellians use deception and manipulation to trick others for their personal gain. An entity’s capacity for Machiavellianism is called Machiavellian Intelligence. This behaviour may be demonstrated through:
• Blaming and forgiveness;
• Lying and truth-telling;
• Making and breaking alliances
• Making and breaking promises
• Making and breaking rules;
• Misleading and misdirection.

Yes, I think this list is rather, well, silly. I mean, forgiveness? I presume that it is talking about using the above to manipulate others/events – this fits with the fact that Machiavellians feel little remorse or empathy when their actions harm others.

One method Machiavellians may use is known as "gaming the system - "[using] the rules and procedures meant to protect a system in order, instead, to manipulate the system for [a] desired outcome".
If you’re a gaming fan then “gaming the system” is the same as rules-lawyering (also known as “ignoring rule 0: the Game Master is always right”).

The Machiavellianism trait also strongly correlated with the belief that it is fine to lie for the greater good to be achieved – a sentiment which makes sense to me. NOTE: One of the “defining” traits of Machiavellianism is supposed to be cynicism towards morality, however the acknowledgement of a “greater good” contradicts that idea and yet these people still have enough traits to be classified as Machiavellian. Therefore, just because someone is Machiavellian, it doesn’t make them a “bad” person.
(Actually, most descriptions vary between “cynical towards morality” and “cynical towards people” – you could actually link the latter to basic economic theory in that if everyone acts in their own self-interest then you get a better result overall. Economic interests. -_-)

Ok, in essence Machiavellianism is " the employment of cunning and duplicity in statecraft or in general conduct ” which sounds less judgemental.

A great villainous example of Machiavellianism is Edmund from King Lear – not only does he deceive his father into thinking his half-brother was plotting to kill him, he manages to trick Goneril and Regan into thinking he’s in love with them. Through these deceptions he gets himself an estate, and almost a kingdom – you know, if Edgar hadn’t come and stabbed him.

As you may have noticed by now, this trait is common amongst fictional villains – the ones usually termed “psychopaths”. When we get around to discussing psychopaths you’ll see it to be rather different. However, as I stated earlier, the Dark Triad do occur together fairly often so it may be were the misconception is rooted.

This trait is not a bad one per say – no mental condition or personality trait is inherently bad. It’s all to do with how it’s applied. Machiavellianism has so far stayed through to its roots in politics - politicians with this trait fare much better than those without it. This is partially because Machiavellianism is highly correlated with charisma – whether this is as a result of their manipulation skills or as assistance to it, I’ll leave to you... though I reckon it could go either way since I know many charismatic people who aren’t manipulative but I also know a lot who are (but then out of those few are maliciously manipulative, if you understand what I mean).

Now, the charm is especially prevalent in short-term social interactions – I would consider this the difference between genuine charisma and good acting.

There were some studies that correlated High Mach with Type A personalities, but since the Type A/Type B personality thing has since been discredited I won’t talk of it.

I think I’ll close on this quote, which in my opinion summarizes Machiavellianism... which could be paraphrased from the Evil Overlord list as “I will not be a damned fool".

Any man who tries to be good all the time is bound to come to ruin among the great number who are not good. Hence a prince who wants to keep his authority must learn now not to be good, and use that knowledge, or refrain from using it, as a necessity requires. - Niccolo Machiavelli, 1469-1527