Management and Organizational Studies Publications
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
9-30-2022
Volume
10
Issue
3
Journal
Current Issues in Personality Psychology
First Page
234
URL with Digital Object Identifier
10.5114/cipp.2022.113436
Last Page
239
Abstract
Background: The Dark Triad literature examining pro-social behaviours is minimal, with mixed results. Participants and procedure: This study investigates the relationships between the Dark Triad and altruistic behaviours based on self-report data from 286 adults. Altruism was assessed using two scales: a general measure as well as a more recent scale measur-ing compassionate altruism towards family, friends, and strangers. Results: Machiavellianism negatively correlated with general altruism; however, when controlling for the other dark variables plus age and gender in a regression, narcissism was the only Dark Triad trait that significantly predicted altruism. None of the Dark Triad traits were significantly related to or predictive of compassionate altruism. Conclusions: This study demonstrates that the Dark Triad and altruism relationships are not straightforward, and that, surprising-ly, strong negative relationships between the traits and altruism are not found. Limitations and future research direc-tions are discussed.
