Measurement of antagonistic personality traits and their applications

Abstract

In the field of personality research, the study of antagonistic traits – now often referred to as "dark" traits – has consistently been a focal point. Concurrently, the field has encountered persistent methodological challenges in researching these traits. These challenges include construct validity issues, overlapping definitions, and a reliance on predominantly self-report data to capture behaviours deviating from social norms. This thesis aims to evaluate the reliability and validity of existing Dark Triad measurements, to investigate overlapping concerns between Machiavellianism and psychopathy, and to develop a new measurement. Items for the new scale were selected based on definitions from subject matter experts, with an emphasis on ensuring that laypeople could clearly understand what each item assesses. The development process prioritizes retest reliability, self-other agreement, and factor specificity. Subsequently, the scale was utilized to predict benign and malicious envy and income, and explored its variations with demographic variables such as age, sex, and education. This body of work offers a comprehensive investigation into antagonistic traits, underscored by the highlighted necessity for multi-rater data in their measurement.