Dark malevolent traits and everyday perceived stress

Abstract

Stress is a factor that greatly impacts our lives. Previous research has examined individual differences in relation to stress. However, research regarding malevolent personality traits in relation to how stress is perceived is limited. The purpose of the present study was to investigate relationships between dark malevolent personality traits; psychopathy (EPA), Machiavellianism (MACH-IV), vulnerable narcissism (HSNS), grandiose narcissism (NPI-13), and perceived stress (PSS-10) in a community sample (N = 346). The results showed a strong positive relationship between vulnerable narcissism and perceived stress, while grandiose narcissism and psychopathy showed a small negative relationship with perceived stress. The discussion centers on that narcissism should be treated as two separate traits, and that psychopathy and Machiavellianism overlap in relation to the experience of stress in everyday life.

Beneath the surface: The influence of music and the dark triad traits on stress and performance

“…Regarding psychopathy, specifically, the unanticipated findings may be due to trait scores being asymmetrically distributed and below the population mean (Jones & Paulhus, 2014). Consistent with previous research, no associations were found between Machiavellianism and stress (Kajonius & Björkman, 2018;Noser et al, 2014) nor cognitive performance (McInerney, 2018).…”

“…Psychopathy has been found to predict self-reported stress both favorably (Kajonius & Björkman, 2018;McInerney, 2018) and adversely (Noser et al, 2014;Wendt & Bartoli, 2019), with different psychopathy dimensions being potentially more advantageous than others (Wendt & Bartoli, 2019). Narcissism has been linked to stress-reactivity, though the direction of this link may also depend on the dimension of narcissism explored (Coleman et al, 2019).…”

“…Narcissism has been linked to stress-reactivity, though the direction of this link may also depend on the dimension of narcissism explored (Coleman et al, 2019). Grandiose narcissism, defined by inflated self-assurance, has been evidenced to predict better stress-coping approaches than vulnerable narcissism, characterized by emotional fragility and need for social approval (Coleman et al, 2019;Zeigler-Hill et al, 2008), when stress was measured via self-report (Kajonius & Björkman, 2018). Nonetheless, both dimensions, when alongside certain stressors and stress-reactivity indicators, may elicit maladaptive responses (Coleman et al, 2019).…”

“…Nonetheless, both dimensions, when alongside certain stressors and stress-reactivity indicators, may elicit maladaptive responses (Coleman et al, 2019). Machiavellianism, although predicted to minimize stress-reactivity, has been predominantly found not to be associated with self-reported stress (Kajonius & Björkman, 2018;Noser et al, 2014). Previous literature on the associations between the DT traits and physiological stress (e.g.…”

The Dark Triad and Facebook surveillance: How Machiavellianism, psychopathy, but not narcissism predict using Facebook to spy on others

“…Each of these are quite different and can alter behaviour in different ways (e.g. Kajonius & Björkman, 2018). Psychopathy too can be separated into several sub-scales depending on the measure used.…”