Dark Triad Scale

The Dark Triad Personality Scale measures three socially aversive personality traits: narcissism (entitlement and exploitativeness), Machiavellianism (manipulativeness and strategic lying), and psychopathy (callousness and thrill-seeking). Developed by Delroy Paulhus and Kevin Williams in 2002, and later operationalized in brief forms like the Short Dark Triad (SD3) by Jones and Paulhus in 2014, the Dark Triad construct has become standard in personality psychology for assessing antagonistic, self-centered, and deceitful traits. The scale enables research on personality pathology, workplace toxicity, and evolutionary psychology.