The concept of the Dark Triad of Personality was created in psychology. This theory comprises the narcissism, Machiavellianism and the psychopathy. This triad of socially undesirable traits is apparently present in all of us, but to different degrees. Not easy to identify, but perfectly possible.
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With that in mind, psychologists made a connection between the sense of humor of people who have this most evident triad. See what were the conclusions of the professionals about the relationship between the triad and the sense of humor.
Narcissism, Machiavellianism, Psychopathy, and a Sense of Humor
Study carried out with 715 Italian adults aged between 19 and 83 years and conducted by three psychologists – Alberto Dionigi, Mirko Duradoni and Laura Vagnoli – correlated the dark triad of personality with the sense of humor. Check out how the study was conducted and what were the results extracted from it.
How was the study conducted?
To take part in the survey, adults completed the Short Dark Triad. This is a questionnaire that seeks to measure dark personality traits. After filling it out, they completed the Comic Style Markers, which is an assessment made up of eight different types of comics. Each magazine contained a style of humor: lighter or darker, nonsense, ironic, satirical, sarcastic and cynical.
What types of humor are addressed in the study?
There is the light style of humor, such as fun, humor, wit and the absurd. They are known as positive styles since they are related to benign behaviors and cognitions. Therefore, grace does not come from prejudiced thoughts or hatred that lead the joke to a level of humiliation or suffering.
Then there is the dark style of humor that includes irony, cynicism, sarcasm and even satire. Usually they are associated with mockery, humiliation and ridicule. In addition, they are usually related to psychological discomfort.
What type of humor did people like the most?
The research was divided according to the age and sex of the patients, however what was perceived that all groups had in common was the fact that dark humor styles were closely related to patients with strong traits of narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy.
Some differences were notable among the trio themselves, thus being people with more accentuated traits of narcissism liked one type of humor more, unlike others with a greater psychopathy trait, for example.
And what were the differences between the three dark traits?
According to the research results, Machiavellianism is more associated with ironic and cynical humor. One of the possible interpretations is due to the fact that Machiavellians are intimidating and unscrupulous, as well as manipulative. Narcissists tend to like positive humor the most, as it seems to be a way to improve their reputations. People with psychopathic traits preferred styles of satire, sarcasm and cynicism.