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Abstract

Background. The dark side of human character has been conceptualized in the Dark Triad Model: Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and narcissism. These three dark traits are often measured using single long instruments for each one of the traits. Nevertheless, there is a necessity of short and valid personality measures in psychological research. As an independent research group, we replicated the factor structure, convergent validity and item response for one of the most recent and widely used short measures to operationalize these malevolent traits, namely, Jonason’s Dark Triad Dirty Dozen. We aimed to expand the understanding of what the Dirty Dozen really captures because the mixed results on construct validity in previous research.

Method. We used the largest sample to date to respond to the Dirty Dozen (N = 3,698). We firstly investigated the factor structure using Confirmatory Factor Analysis and an exploratory distribution analysis of the items in the Dirty Dozen. Secondly, using a sub-sample (n = 500) and correlation analyses, we investigated the Dirty Dozen dark traits convergent validity. Finally, we analyzed the responses for each Dirty Dozen item using Item Response Theory (IRT).

Results. The results confirmed previous findings of a bi-factor model fit: one latent core dark trait and three dark traits. All three Dirty Dozen traits had a striking bi-modal distribution. The three Dirty Dozen traits did converge, although not strongly, with the contiguous single Dark Triad scales.

Conclusion. The Dirty Dozen showed a consistent factor structure and relatively convergent validity similar to that found in earlier studies. More importantly, the results imply that the core of the Dirty Dozen scale, a manipulative and anti-social trait, can be measured by a Single Item Dirty Dark Dyad (SIDDD).

Citation

Kajonius, P. J., Persson, B. N., Rosenberg, P., & Garcia, D. (2016). The (mis)measurement of the Dark Triad Dirty Dozen: Exploitation at the core of the scale. PeerJ, 4, e1748. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.1748

@article{KPRG16,
author = {Petri J. Kajonius and Björn N. Persson and Patricia Rosenberg and Danilo Garcia},
year = {2016},
title = {The (Mis)measurement of the Dark Triad Dirty Dozen: Exploitation at the Core of the Scale},
journal = {PeerJ},
volume = {4},
pages = {e1748},
doi = {10.7717/peerj.1748}}