One Personality Trait Tempers the Dark Triad
Research shows how to mitigate Machiavellianism, narcissism and psychopathy.
Is there anything about your personality you’d like to change? Work on the Big Five personality traits of extraversion, conscientiousness, neuroticism (low neuroticism is equivalent to “ emotional stability”), agreeableness, and openness to experience shows that when asked, the majority of people (over 85 percent) would like to change one or more traits for the better, according to Nathan Hudson in the Journal of Personality (2022).
This shows a level of insight and desire to change present in most of us. In fact, research has found that when people pick traits they want to change, and practice behaviors aligned with those traits on a regular basis [1], they show statistically significant progress over the course of a four-month study.
However, the Big Five personality model does not account for the Dark Triad of Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy, although there is a correlation with higher agreeableness and reduced Dark Traits overall.
It is expected that people higher on the Dark Triad will not want to change, in spite of the many negatives associated with these traits, because, by definition, the triad involves reduced empathy plus lack of awareness…
