The Light Triad vs. Dark Triad of Personality

The findings on the feelings of those who score high on the dark triad in relation to religion ("viewing their creative work and religious immortality as routes to death transcendence"). I have seen other people being skeptical that these people actually have the religious beliefs they espouse, but my own experience with them is that they are drawn to religion because it promises life after death, and that there is a God who is personally watching out for them.

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Scientific American
Scott Barry Kaufman

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The dark triad has already been well-studied. First discovered by Delroy Paulhus and Kevin Williams in 2002, the dark triad of personality consists of narcissism (entitled self-importance), Machiavellianism (strategic exploitation and deceit) and psychopathy (callousness and cynicism). While these three traits had traditionally been studied mostly among clinical populations (e.g., criminals), Paulhus and Williams showed that each of these traits are clearly on a continuum—we are all at least a little bit narcissistic, Machiavellian and psychopathic.

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While each of the members of the dark triad has unique features and correlates, there is enough overlap among these "socially aversive" traits that Paulhus has argued that they "should be studied in concert." Indeed, there does appear to be a "dark core" to personality.

While research on dark personalities has certainly contributed to our understanding of the darker side of human nature, and how each of us differs in the extent to which we consistently exhibit dark patterns of thoughts, feelings and behaviors in our daily lives, what about the light side of human nature?

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So this is what we set out to find out. Through many email exchanges and personal meetings, David, Elizabeth and I looked at existing tests of the dark triad and brainstormed a variety of items relating to the conceptual opposite characteristics of each member of the dark triad, but we created items that weren't simply the reverse of the dark triad items. Our initial pool of items related to forgiveness, trust, honesty, caring, acceptance, seeing the best in people and getting intrinsic enjoyment from making connections with others instead of using people as a means to an end.

To our surprise (we hadn't expected there to necessarily be three factors), three distinct factors emerged from our studies, which we labeled: Kantianism (treating people as ends unto themselves, not mere means), Humanism (valuing the dignity and worth of each individual) and Faith in Humanity (believing in the fundamental goodness of humans):

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We have now administered the Light Triad Scale to thousands of people of different ages, genders, races and ethnicities, and the results are far-reaching. First, it is clear that the light triad is not merely the opposite of the dark triad. While the two are negatively related to each other, the relationship is only moderate in size (a correlation of about .50), supporting the idea that there is at least a little bit of light and dark in each of us. In my view, it’s best to view those who score extremely high on the dark triad not as a separate species of human (after all, to have a dark side is to be human) but as magnified and unleashed versions of potentialities that lie within all of us.

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The average balance score of the entire sample was 1.3, suggesting that the average person is tipped more toward the light relative to the dark in their everyday patterns of thoughts, behaviors and emotions.

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We found that the dark triad was positively correlated with being younger, being male, being motivated by power, instrumental sex, achievement and affiliation (but not intimacy), having self-enhancement values, immature defense styles, conspicuous consumption, selfishness and viewing their creative work and religious immortality as routes to death transcendence. The dark triad was negatively correlated with life satisfaction, conscientiousness, agreeableness, self-transcendent values, compassion, empathy, a quiet ego, a belief that humans are good and a belief that one’s own self is good.

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In stark contrast, the overall picture provided by the pattern of correlations with the light triad was quite different than the dark triad. The light triad was associated with being older, being female, less childhood unpredictability, as well as higher levels of religiosity, spirituality, life satisfaction, acceptance of others, belief that others are good, belief that one’s self is good, compassion, empathy, openness to experience, conscientiousness, positive enthusiasm, having a quiet ego and a belief that one can live on through nature and biosociality (having children) after one’s personal death.

Individuals scoring higher on the Light Triad Scale also reported more satisfaction with their relationships, competence and autonomy, and they also reported higher levels of secure attachment style and eros in their relationships. In general, the light triad was related to being primarily motivated by intimacy and self-transcendent values. Many character strengths correlated with the light triad, including curiosity, perspective, zest, love, kindness, teamwork, forgiveness and gratitude.

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