Honors Theses
Date of Award
Spring 5-1-2021
Document Type
Undergraduate Thesis
Department
Psychology
First Advisor
Carrie Veronica Smith
Relational Format
Dissertation/Thesis
Abstract
Dark personality traits (i.e., narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy) have predominantly been conceptualized as stable characteristics that describe what people are like in comparison to others. However, people may also experience fluctuations in the degree to which they are narcissistic, Machiavellian, and psychopathic from day to day. The present study sought to investigate the extent to which people report daily variability in dark personality. Undergraduate participants (N = 297) completed a one-time trait measure as well as 21 daily reports of dark personality. Participants reported substantial within-person variability in narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy. Trait measures of dark personality were found to predict daily measures of dark personality aggregated across a number of days. Additionally, daily reports of dark personality were found to covary with one another, such that higher daily levels of one dark personality facet were associated with higher levels of the other two on the same day. Implications for future research on the manifestation of dark personality in daily life are discussed.
Recommended Citation
Hardin, Benjamin, "Darker by the day: Daily variability in the Dark Triad of personality" (2021). Honors Theses. 1861.
https://egrove.olemiss.edu/hon_thesis/1861
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