The relationship between character strengths and the Dark Triad

This study aimed to verify the mean difference of the 24 character strengths considering the level of each character strength in relation to the Dark Triad of personality. A total of 284 people participated in the study, responding to the Character Strength Scale and to the Short Dark Triad. Among them, 71.5% were female, with a mean age of 29.06 years (SD = 9.73). For Machiavellianism and psychopathy, specific strengths are characterized by their underuse, while for narcissism, apart from modesty, character strengths are overused. Accordingly, we conclude that the underuse and overuse of character strengths can result in negative outcomes in addition to the socially valued positive aspects.

Keywords:
Personality traits; Positive psychology; Psychopathology

Authorship

Leonardo de Oliveira BARROS

Universidade Federal da Bahia, Instituto de Psicologia, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Psicologia. Estrada de São Lázaro, 196, Instituto de Psicologia, Federação, 40210-730, Salvador, BA, Brasil.Universidade Federal da BahiaBrasilSalvador, BA, Brasil Universidade Federal da Bahia, Instituto de Psicologia, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Psicologia. Estrada de São Lázaro, 196, Instituto de Psicologia, Federação, 40210-730, Salvador, BA, Brasil.

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8406-0515

Bruno BONFÁ-ARAUJO

Universidade São Francisco, Departamento de Psicologia, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Psicologia. Campinas, SP, Brasil.Universidade São FranciscoBrasilCampinas, SP, Brasil Universidade São Francisco, Departamento de Psicologia, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Psicologia. Campinas, SP, Brasil.

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0702-9992

Ana Paula Porto NORONHA

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6821-0299

Correspondence to: L.O. BARROS. E-mail: <leonardobarros_lob@hotmail.com>.

Contributors

L. O. BARROS was responsible for the conception of the idea, data collection, data analysis and writing the manuscript. B. BONFÁ-ARAUJO was responsible for the conception of the idea, data collection, writing and revision of the manuscript. A. P. P. NORONHA was responsible for the conception of the idea, writing and revision of the manuscript.

SCIMAGO INSTITUTIONS RANKINGS

Tables

Tables (4)

Thumbnail

Table 1.
Descriptive statistics

Thumbnail

Table 2.
Analysis of variance with Tukey post hoc test of Character Strengths levels and Narcissism

Thumbnail

Table 3.
Analysis of variance with Tukey or Games-Howell post hoc test of Character Strength levels and Psychopathy

Thumbnail

Table 4.
Analysis of variance with Tukey or Games-Howell post hoc test of Character Strengths and Machiavellianism

Table 1. Descriptive statistics

Character Strengths	Mean	Standard Deviation	Kolmogorov-Smirnov	Shapiro-Wilk
Creativity	7.87	2.32	0.09^**	0.97^**
Curiosity	9.79	2.06	0.16^**	0.89^**
Critical thinking	9.78	1.91	0.18^**	0.90^**
Love of learning	9.74	2.28	0.12^**	0.86^**
Perspective	8.66	2.30	0.13^**	0.95^**
Authenticity	9.23	1.92	0.10^**	0.94^**
Bravery	7.65	2.52	0.15^**	0.96^**
Persistence	9.35	2.36	0.16^**	0.89^**
Vitality	8.29	2.87	0.16^**	0.92^**
Intimacy	8.61	2.53	0.11^**	0.90^**
Kindness	9.78	1.96	0.13^**	0.94^**
Social intelligence	8.80	2.38	0.16^**	0.93^**
Fairness	10.13	1.71	0.11^**	0.89^**
Leadership	7.98	2.51	0.12^**	0.96^**
Citizenship	9.19	1.99	0.09^**	0.93^**
Forgiveness	7.27	3.02	0.09^**	0.96^**
Modesty	9.57	1.93	0.14^**	0.92^**
Prudence	9.41	2.03	0.12^**	0.92^**
Self-regulation	7.63	2.59	0.09^**	0.97^**
Appreciation of beauty	6.71	1.37	0.20^**	0.83^**
Gratitude	9.91	2.45	0.20^**	0.81^**
Hope	9.64	2.58	0.18^**	0.84^**
Humor	8.62	2.53	0.13^**	0.93^**
Spirituality	8.78	3.36	0.16^**	0.85^**
Machiavellianism	23.23	6.25	0.06^*	0.98^**
Narcissism	21.71	4.56	0.06^**	0.99^*
Psychopathy	14.98	4.97	0.14^**	0.90^**
Dark Triad	59.91	12.84	0.05^*	0.97^**

Note: *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01.

Table 2. Analysis of variance with Tukey post hoc test of Character Strengths levels and Narcissism

Character Strengths	F (df)	Multiple comparisons between groups		Mean Differences	Bootstrapping (95% CI BCa)			η²
Character Strengths	F (df)	Multiple comparisons between groups		Mean Differences	Std. Error	Lower Bound	Upper Bound	η²
Creativity	8.709 (2)^**	Low	Average	-0.90	0.70	-2.21	0.46	0.06
		Low	High	-2.58	0.65	-3.83	-1.35
		Average	High	-1.68	0.62	-2.94	-0.52
Critical thinking	3.126 (2)^*	Low	Average	-1.19	0.59	-2.30	0.07	0.02
		Low	High	-1.57	0.71	-3.07	0.16
		Average	High	-0.37	0.73	-1.85	1.11
Love of learning	3.378 (2)^*	Low	Average	-1.73	0.67	-3.18	0.31	0.02
		Low	High	-1.12	0.72	-2.63	-0.29
		Average	High	0.60	0.60	0.55	1.72
Perspective	10.408 (2)^**	Low	Average	-1.85	0.69	-3.13	-0.47	0.07
		Low	High	-2.90	0.68	-4.30	-1.56
		Average	High	-1.05	0.58	-2.25	0.19
Social Intelligence	9.557 (2)^**	Low	Average	-2.17	0.63	-3.42	-0.85	0.06
		Low	High	-3.02	0.77	-4.51	-1.48
		Average	High	-0.85	0.65	-2.12	0.32
Leadership	11.084 (2)^**	Low	Average	-2.23	0.64	-3.49	-0.96	0.07
		Low	High	-3.16	0.68	-4.53	-1.78
		Average	High	-0.92	0.62	-2.11	0.27
Citizenship	5.375 (2)^**	Low	Average	-1.61	0.66	-2.93	-0.19	0.03
		Low	High	-2.07	0.70	-3.50	-0.69
		Average	High	-0.45	0.64	-1.60	0.68
Modesty	3.590 (2)^*	Low	Average	1.17	0.68	-0.32	2.60	0.07
		Low	High	1.75	0.69	0.32	3.13
		Average	High	0.64	0.63	-0.51	1.87
Humor	5.891 (2)^*	Low	Average	-0.79	0.66	-2.12	0.49	0.04
		Low	High	-2.44	0.76	-3.95	-0.94
		Average	High	-1.65	0.65	-2.98	-0.40

Note: *p < 0.05; **p < 0.001. CI BCa: Confidence Interval Bias Corrected and accelerated; df: degrees of freedom; F:ANOVA test; η2: eta-squared.

Table 3. Analysis of variance with Tukey or Games-Howell post hoc test of Character Strength levels and Psychopathy

Character Strengths	F (df)	Multiple comparisons between groups		Mean Differences	Bootstrapping (95% CI BCa)			η²
Character Strengths	F (df)	Multiple comparisons between groups		Mean Differences	Std. Error	Lower Bound	Upper Bound	η²
Love of learning	3.245 (2)^*	Low	Average	1.53	0.74	0.05	3.16	0.02
		Low	High	1.87	0.86	0.10	3.59
		Average	High	0.34	0.71	-1.16	1.70
Authenticity^a	5.331 (2)^*	Low	Average	2.09	0.61	0.85	3.41	0.03
		Low	High	1.04	0.80	-0.42	2.54
		Average	High	-1.04	0.74	-2.34	0.26
Persistence^a	6.993 (2)^*	Low	Average	1.09	0.75	-0.32	2.37	0.05
		Low	High	2.77	0.77	1.31	4.20
		Average	High	1.74	0.63	0.49	2.97
Vitality	4.044 (2)^*	Low	Average	1.21	0.69	-0.13	2.55	0.02
		Low	High	2.29	0.83	0.64	3.99
		Average	High	1.08	0.70	-0.37	2.53
Kindness	12.067 (2)^**	Low	Average	0.65	0.87	-1.19	2.52	0.08
		Low	High	2.95	0.60	1.62	4.10
		Average	High	2.29	0.85	0.61	4.02
Justice	7.878 (2)^**	Low	Average	1.32	0.65	0.04	2.76	0.05
		Low	High	2.96	0.76	1.32	4.47
		Average	High	1.64	0.74	0.20	3.04
Leadership	3.536 (2)^*	Low	Average	0.91	0.74	-0.44	2.31	0.02
		Low	High	2.03	0.78	0.49	3.44
		Average	High	1.12	0.70	-0.20	2.36
Citizenship^a	9.540 (2)^**	Low	Average	0.58	0.69	-0.86	1.99	0.06
		Low	High	2.90	0.71	1.53	4.26
		Average	High	2.32	0.70	0.94	3.65
Forgiveness^a	13.691 (2)^**	Low	Average	2.01	0.67	0.72	3.31	0.10
		Low	High	3.99	0.72	2.46	5.56
		Average	High	1.97	0.63	0.64	3.31
Modesty^a	17.013 (2)^**	Low	Average	2.53	0.71	1.05	3.96	0.13
		Low	High	4.20	0.71	2.78	5.64
		Average	High	1.66	0.63	0.36	2.92
Prudence	5.369 (2)^*	Low	Average	1.25	0.74	-0.20	2.68	0.03
		Low	High	2.32	0.71	0.94	3.69
		Average	High	1.06	0.63	-0.23	2.36
Self-regulation	14.213 (2)^**	Low	Average	1.56	0.68	0.26	2.76	0.10
		Low	High	3.89	0.74	2.42	5.31
		Average	High	2.32	0.66	0.85	3.81
Gratitude	9.779 (2)^**	Low	Average	1.49	0.74	-0.01	2.89	0.06
		Low	High	3.02	0.64	1.78	4.23
		Average	High	1.52	0.70	0.08	3.03
Hope	4.740 (2)^*	Low	Average	1.09	0.74	-0.35	2.50	0.03
		Low	High	2.32	0.79	0.60	3.89
		Average	High	1.23	0.69	-0.22	2.50
Spirituality	5.301 (2)^*	Low	Average	0.65	0.72	-0.72	2.02	0.03
		Low	High	2.36	0.74	0.79	3.71
		Average	High	1.71	0.68	0.35	2.97

Note: ^a: Welsh test and Games-Howell post hoc test. *p < 0.05; **p < 0.001. CI BCa: Confidence Interval Bias-Corrected and accelerated; df: degrees of freedom; F: ANOVA test; η2: eta-squared.

Table 4. Analysis of variance with Tukey or Games-Howell post hoc test of Character Strengths and Machiavellianism

Character Strengths	F (df)	Multiple comparisons between groups		Mean Differences	Bootstrapping (95% CI BCa)			η²
Character Strengths	F (df)	Multiple comparisons between groups		Mean Differences	Std. Error	Lower Bound	Upper Bound	η²
Authenticity	3.426 (2)^*	Low	Average	1.80	0.83	0.15	3.56	0.02
		Low	High	2.27	1.02	0.35	4.19
		Average	High	0.46	0.93	-1.46	2.28
Persistence	5.453 (2)^*	Low	Average	1.59	0.94	-0.11	3.43	0.03
		Low	High	3.02	0.95	1.14	4.95
		Average	High	1.43	0.85	-0.17	3.06
Vitality	2.877 (2)^*	Low	Average	-0.08	0.82	-1.78	1.53	0.02
		Low	High	1.96	0.99	-0.08	3.83
		Average	High	2.05	0.94	0.10	3.83
Kindness	3.619 (2)^*	Low	Average	0.12	1.17	-2.34	2.34	0.02
		Low	High	2.03	0.81	0.52	3.70
		Average	High	1.90	1.13	-0.24	4.10
Forgiveness^a	9.999 (2)^**	Low	Average	2.82	0.88	1.19	4.56	0.07
		Low	High	4.40	0.95	2.50	6.28
		Average	High	1.57	0.81	-0.11	3.26
Modesty	6.495 (2)^*	Low	Average	2.21	0.97	0.31	4.09	0.04
		Low	High	3.17	0.92	1.26	5.16
		Average	High	0.96	0.84	-0.78	2.75

Note: ^aWelsh test and Games-Howell post hoc test. *p < 0.05; **p < 0.001. CI BCa: Confidence Interval Bias-Corrected and accelerated; df: degrees of freedom; F: ANOVA test; η² = eta-squared.

How to cite

copy

Programa de Pós-Graduação em Psicologia, Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Campinas Núcleo de Editoração SBI - Campus II, Av. John Boyd Dunlop, s/n. Prédio de Odontologia, 13060-900 Campinas - São Paulo Brasil, Tel./Fax: +55 19 3343-7223 - Campinas - SP - Brazil
E-mail: psychologicalstudies@puc-campinas.edu.br

Acompanhe os números deste periódico no seu leitor de RSS

Versão para download de PDF

PDF

Inglês

Versões e tradução automática

Versão original do texto

English

Tradução automática

Google Translator
Microsoft Translator

Como citar

RIS

BIBTEX

Outros formatos de citação e exportação:

SciELO - Scientific Electronic Library Online
Rua Dr. Diogo de Faria, 1087 – 9º andar – Vila Clementino 04037-003 São Paulo/SP - Brasil
E-mail: scielo@scielo.org

Leia a Declaração de Acesso Aberto

Métricas

The relationship between character strengths and the Dark Triad

PlumX

Mensagem

[1] Correspondence to: L.O. BARROS. E-mail: <leonardobarros_lob@hotmail.com>.