Arrow, HollyKay, Cameron2024-01-092024-01-092024-01-09https://hdl.handle.net/1794/29164Despite being the focus of extensive research over the past two decades, the structure of the “Dark Triad”—or, as I will refer to it here, the “Aversive Triad”—is still shrouded in confusion. Much of this confusion stems from disagreements over (1) which aspects of personality unite Machiavellianism, grandiose narcissism, and psychopathy and (2) which aspects of personality differentiate Machiavellianism, grandiose narcissism, and psychopathy. The present set of studies attempts to answer these two questions by using the 20-Lexical Factor Model of Personality (Lex-20) to decompose the Aversive Triad into smaller elements of personality. In Study 1, the Aversive Triad is assessed using the three most popular measures of each trait, thus capturing how the traits are most commonly represented in the existing literature. Study 2 builds upon Study 1 by using a wider array of Aversive Triad measures to capture the diversity of ways that these traits have been represented in the existing literature. Study 3 further builds upon Study 1 and Study 2 by using broader samples of participants recruited from the US, India, and Nigeria to examine whether the results found using US undergraduate students in Study 1 and Study 2 generalize to other populations. At least among the US samples, the findings for the three studies were fairly consistent. The Aversive Triad traits were united by a core of egotism, manipulativeness, temperamentality, deceitfulness, cruelty, and prejudice. Machiavellianism was further defined by aspects of cynicism (e.g., negativity) and reservedness (e.g., low directness). It was not, however, defined by greater organization, which is inconsistent with the theoretical notion that Machiavellian individuals engage in long-term machinations. The results for grandiose narcissism were theoretically consistent; it was defined by aspects of extraversion (e.g., talkativeness) and self-promotion (e.g., sophistication). The results for psychopathy were also theoretically consistent, with psychopathy being defined by excessive cruelty and a reckless lifestyle (e.g., disorganization). The findings from the Indian and Nigerian samples departed from those found in the US samples, perhaps because of low internal consistencies among some of the scales for the Lex-20 factors in these two countries.en-USAll Rights Reserved.Aversive TriadElemental ApproachGrandiose NarcissismLex-20MachiavellianismPsychopathyElectronic Thesis or Dissertation