Why the Dark Triad Has Little to Do With Being Successful

Dark personalities who impress with intelligence and success appear frequently in our lives, at least if you consider characters from movies and television. Many remember Hannibal Lecter, the brilliant psychopath from "The Silence of the Lambs," or the narcissistic and powerful House Lannister from "Game of Thrones," or the Machiavellian mastermind President Frank Underwood from "House of Cards." The personality traits psychopathy, Machiavellianism, and narcissism have been present in popular culture for quite some time, but they are also a topic of psychological research where they are known as the infamous “Dark Triad” (Paulhus & Williams, 2002).

The Dark Triad Is “In Fashion”

Many researchers have examined the Dark Triad by constructing new tests to measure each trait. They have studied behavioral patterns of psychopaths, Machiavellians, and narcissists and have explored the Triad´s relations to other traits. The Triad`s morbid appeal to psychologists appears to be quite significant, since virtually every known psychological variable has been correlated with at least one of the three traits in psychological science. It is safe to say that studying the Dark Triad is “in fashion.”

Interestingly, the aforementioned impression that individuals high on the Dark Triad are successful in various domains of life is not limited to popular culture but is common among prominent scholars as well. Robert D. Hare describes psychopaths as effective social predators (1993); Christie and Geis (1970) state that Machiavellians might be powerful executives in the private sector; and narcissists are thought to be charming and attractive (Morf & Rhodewalt, 2001). This notion persists in more recent research, and it is particularly present in literature that primarily targets an audience without formal education in psychology. Wherever you look, most depictions of Dark Triad individuals describe them as effective and successful manipulators who achieve their malicious goals.

What the Data Actually Tell Us

However, this does not seem to be the case. If one looks at the empirical evidence, it does not look promising for the Triad. Psychopathy is weakly related to intelligence, but the relation is actually negative. Psychopaths are less intelligent than nonpsychopathic individuals, and Machiavellianism and narcissism are unrelated to cognitive ability (Michels, 2022). So, dark individuals might not be particularly smart, but they must be clever in regards to interpersonal relations and manipulation, right? Well, the data suggest otherwise. There is a solid negative relationship between each trait of the Dark Triad and emotional intelligence (Michels & Schulze, 2021). Psychopaths, Machiavellians, and narcissists might need high cognitive and emotional abilities to facilitate their aversive schemes, but that does not imply that they actually have these abilities.

That is not an advantageous foundation for dark individuals to start with, and it does not look better if you consider domains of actual success. Dark personalities are not capable leaders (Landay et al., 2019), their work performance is not better (O´Boyle et al., 2012), they have fewer close friends, and they are less satisfied with life overall (Michels & Roth, 2021). Nevertheless, there is some evidence that they earn more money (Spurk et al., 2016) and are successful in mating (Carter et al., 2014), though this tends to be limited to hook-ups rather than actual relationships. People high on the Dark Triad do not show better performance in game theory scenarios. Even in the domain of manipulation, dark personalities show no relation to the ability to lie successfully (Michels et al., 2020; Wright et al., 2015). This is just a small selection of studies; however, most results on the Dark Triad and its relation to successes are as sobering as mentioned above.

Note that there is no “pattern” where psychopathy is related to a category of success and Machiavellianism is related to another one and so forth. They are all almost unrelated to most domains of success. That means that dark individuals are neither effective social predators nor complete failures. While research suggests that there might be some “niches” where people high on the Dark Triad thrive, most dark individuals are simply mediocre.

The absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. Does the lack of evidence in regard to the Dark Triad and success mean that there are no evil geniuses? Naturally, there are dark personalities that are highly capable and very successful. They do exist; however, they appear to be very rare. One might be inclined to suspect that the real brilliant dark individuals cannot be found and examined due to their superior ability to camouflage in society. Note that this argument can be found in many conspiracy theories as well and is hardly valid in regards to the examination of personality traits and their relations to external behavioral criteria.

Do We Want "Dark" Individuals to Be Successful?

The notion of Dark Triad individuals that are successful in various domains of life still persists despite the fact that most studies suggest no meaningful relations. Why is that the case? The fascination for dark characters in fiction certainly plays a role. A sinister genius is like a plot device. It is more fun and entertaining when the obstacle (for the hero) is difficult to overcome. Furthermore, the “relatable” antihero has some flaws and behaves in a disagreeable manner (research indicates that low agreeableness might be the core of the Dark Triad), but often has some very particular set of skills or abilities and ultimately fights for the right cause. This pseudo-complexity makes the character interesting for the audience and, thus, widely known to the public.

On a different note, the assumption that dark personalities are successful might serve another purpose. If one does not succeed in life, it is quite easy to attribute these failures to an ostensible relation between having dark traits and being successful: “Of course I did not get promoted; you have to be a real jerk to get ahead in this company" or “Women only date the bad boys; I´m just too nice and that´s why I haven’t gotten a girlfriend.” The notion that (only) dark individuals tend to get ahead might be a useful way to reattribute individual failures.

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Ultimately, and despite the aforementioned morbid attraction, it can certainly be uncomfortable to imagine that powerful evil geniuses have influence in many domains of life and are responsible for much harm. However, it takes a lot of time and effort to accomplish something positive and lasting, and to be “a good person,” while it is not particularly complicated to hurt others and destroy what good people built. Being evil is easy. It might be even more disturbing to accept that heinous behavior and cruel acts are primarily committed by pretty mediocre people.