Considering sadism in the shadow of the Dark Triad traits: A meta-analytic review of the Dark Tetrad

Bonfá-Araujo, Bruno; Costa, Ariela Raissa Lima; Filho, Nelson Hauck; Jonason, Peter K.

doi:10.1016/j.paid.2022.111767

Cited by 32 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 137 publications

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“…Additionally, in the above-mentioned study, socially excluded participants not only wrote more aggressive text messages but also reported worse mood [10], which has predicted writing trolling comments in other research [9]. Importantly, scoring highly on Dark Tetrad traits is associated with difficulties in emotion regulation [32,64,65]; hence, we believe that exclusion experiences may be difficult to process for trolls which then may lead to trolling behavior.…”

Section: Social Exclusion and Online Trollingmentioning

confidence: 76%

“…Other research shows significant positive effects of Dark Tetrad facets except for narcissism [58]. Overall, sadistic tendencies appear to have a greater impact on trolling behavior than the other facets [32]. Hence, while all facets of the Dark Tetrad appear to correlate with trolling behavior, in multiple regression analyses, psychopathic personality traits as well as sadism appear to be more consistent predictors of internet trolling than Machiavellianism and narcissism.…”

Section: Plos Onementioning

confidence: 78%

“…Moreover, the Dark Tetrad facets are associated with self-reported, observer-reported, and behavioral aggression [28]. Indeed, research has confirmed the link between people scoring high on the Dark Tetrad traits and trolling behavior [5-8, 23, 29-31] which may be due to lower affective empathy in these individuals [32][33][34], a tendency for moral disengagement [35], and reduced behavioral inhibition anxiety [36]. Moreover, all four facets are positively associated with dominance [37] and social dominance orientation is also associated with past trolling and acceptance of trolling [38].…”

Section: The Dark Tetrad and Online Trollingmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Previous research has also shown that humor styles are associated with the Dark Tetrad. The four dark personality traits are linked with inadequate humor [32], e.g., schadenfreude in social, academic, and mourning contexts [35,53]. Moreover, humor research indicates that the Dark Tetrad facets are linked to how people utilize and enjoy humor [54], e.g., higher Machiavellianism and subclinical psychopathy scores are associated with aggressive humor [55,56].…”

Section: Humor Styles and Online Trollingmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Troll story: The dark tetrad and online trolling revisited with a glance at humor

et al. 2023

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Internet trolling is considered a negative form of online interaction that can have detrimental effects on people’s well-being. This pre-registered, experimental study had three aims: first, to replicate the association between internet users’ online trolling behavior and the Dark Tetrad of personality (Machiavellianism, narcissism, psychopathy, and sadism) established in prior research; second, to investigate the effect of experiencing social exclusion on people’s motivation to engage in trolling behavior; and third, to explore the link between humor styles and trolling behavior. In this online study, participants were initially assessed on their personality, humor styles, and global trolling behavior. Next, respondents were randomly assigned to a social inclusion or exclusion condition. Thereafter, we measured participants’ immediate trolling motivation. Results drawn from 1,026 German-speaking participants indicate a clear correlation between global trolling and all facets of the Dark Tetrad as well as with aggressive and self-defeating humor styles. However, no significant relationship between experiencing exclusion/inclusion and trolling motivation emerged. Our quantile regression findings suggest that psychopathy and sadism scores have a significant positive effect on immediate trolling motivation after the experimental manipulation, whereas Machiavellianism and narcissism did not explain variation in trolling motivation. Moreover, being socially excluded had generally no effect on immediate trolling motivation, apart from participants with higher immediate trolling motivation, for whom the experience of social exclusion actually reduced trolling motivation. We show that not all facets of the Dark Tetrad are of equal importance for predicting immediate trolling motivation and that research should perhaps focus more on psychopathy and sadism. Moreover, our results emphasize the relevance of quantile regression in personality research and suggest that even psychopathy and sadism may not be suitable predictors for low levels of trolling behavior.

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Section: Social Exclusion and Online Trollingmentioning

confidence: 76%

Section: Plos Onementioning

confidence: 78%

Section: The Dark Tetrad and Online Trollingmentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: Humor Styles and Online Trollingmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Troll story: The dark tetrad and online trolling revisited with a glance at humor

et al. 2023

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“…The role of the Big Five personality in IGD has been initially revealed (Şalvarlı & Griffiths, 2019 ), but the same attention needs to be paid to certain dark traits that describe the malevolent side of human nature. We aim to focus on the role of the Dark Triad as its construct is well supported, even though the composition of dark traits is still up for debate (Bonfá-Araujo et al, 2022 ; Muris et al, 2017 ). Currently, the relationships between the Dark Triad and IGD are not well understood, which has aroused particular attention.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

How the Dark Triad associated with internet gaming disorder? The serial mediation of basic psychological needs satisfaction and negative coping styles

Gao

Lian

et al. 2022

Curr Psychol

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According to the I-PACE model, this study focused on the role of need satisfaction and negative coping styles in the relationship between the Dark Triad (i.e., Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and narcissism) and internet gaming disorder (IGD). In a sample of 749 emerging adult gamers, a multiple mediation model with Dark Triad as the distal variable, psychological need satisfaction and negative coping style as mediating variables, and IGD as the outcome variable was tested. Results indicated that Machiavellianism and psychopathy were found to be significant predictors of IGD when mediated by psychological need satisfaction and negative coping styles. Narcissism predicts IGD only through the indirect effect of negative coping styles. The findings enhanced our understanding that Machiavellianism and psychopathy are characterized by compensatory use of internet games, as well as added new perspectives to the understanding of addiction mechanisms in narcissists.

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Dark Triad and the attitude toward military violence against civilians: The role of moral disengagement

Gulevich,

Osin,

Chernov

2024

Euro J Social Psych

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Scholars pay great attention to sociopsychological factors that predict attitudes toward military action, but they rarely address personality variables. The purpose of this study was to analyse the relationship between the Dark Triad traits, general moral disengagement, and military attitudes. We conducted three surveys between May and November 2022 in three samples of Russian residents (N = 736, 795, and 752). The results showed that the Dark Triad was only marginally related to attitudes toward military action abroad, but emerged as a consistent positive predictor of support for violence against civilians with psychopathy showing the strongest effect. Moreover, this relationship was mediated by moral disengagement. At the same time, Big Five traits and sociopsychological variables predicted the attitudes toward military action, but were generally unrelated to the attitudes toward violence against civilians. The findings suggest the existence of distinct pathways underlying the support of general military action and unethical military action.

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Considering sadism in the shadow of the Dark Triad traits: A meta-analytic review of the Dark Tetrad

Cited by 32 publications

References 137 publications

Troll story: The dark tetrad and online trolling revisited with a glance at humor

Troll story: The dark tetrad and online trolling revisited with a glance at humor

How the Dark Triad associated with internet gaming disorder? The serial mediation of basic psychological needs satisfaction and negative coping styles

Dark Triad and the attitude toward military violence against civilians: The role of moral disengagement

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