Machiavellianism is a personality trait that denotes cunning, manipulative ability, and a desire to gain power by any possible means. Machiavellianism is a subclinical form of psychopathy that has an impact on individual health, professional settings and social order. Machiavellians are more at risk of developing anxiety and depression; however, the underpinning mechanism has not been studied clearly. To avoid major mental health illnesses, it is critical to understand the psychological reasons, brain areas involved, and biochemical substrates for the development of Machiavellianism. This review will address the psychological, clinical and neural correlations of Machiavellianism, its impact on society, and highlight loopholes in comprehending the development of Machiavellianism.

By investigating the impact of dark personality traits on adolescent health, this study explores the interplay among economic disadvantage, spectator sports involvement, and cyber victimization. We analyzed data from 1844 students aged 13-17 in a school district in the USA, and our findings reveal positive associations between economic disadvantage and both Machiavellianism and psychopathy, influencing negative emotions-driven eating. Spectator sports engagement exhibits links with Machiavellianism and narcissism, suggesting potential drawbacks to competitive behaviors. Cyber victimization shows associations with psychopathy and negative emotions-driven eating. The results illuminate the dynamic associations between emotional eating and health outcomes, including BMI and perceived quality of life. These findings deepen our understanding of how dark personality is shaped and subsequently influences adolescents\' well-being, offering insights for targeted interventions.

With internet gaming disorder (IGD) becoming more common, there are growing worries about the health of those it affects. This study examines how traits like Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and narcissism might connect family functioning to IGD. The research involved 1190 young adults who answered an online survey, sharing their personal experiences. To examine the mediation effects, latent variable structural equation modeling (SEM) was used, revealing complex relationships among the variables under investigation. Although all direct and indirect paths were statistically significant, the mediation effects of narcissism were positive only when Machiavellianism and psychopathy were not included as parallel mediators, but negative otherwise. The findings suggest that individuals with strong family functioning could be less likely to internalize manipulative behaviors and show a lack of empathy, traits that could contribute to their involvement in IGD. The results underscore the importance of recognizing the multifaceted nature of this phenomenon and provide valuable insights for developing comprehensive strategies to prevent and tackle IGD. Therefore, prevention and intervention efforts should consider the combined influences of family functioning, personality traits, and individual and contextual factors in the online environment to effectively address this problem.

BACKGROUND: Recent studies showed an association between personality traits and individual patterns of visual behaviour in laboratory and other settings. The current study extends previous research by measuring multiple personality traits in natural settings; and by comparing accuracy of prediction of multiple machine learning algorithms.
METHODS: Adolescent participants (N = 35) completed personality questionnaires (Big Five Inventory and Short Dark Triad Questionnaire) and visited an interactive museum while their eye movements were recorded with head-mounted eye tracking. To predict personality traits the eye-movement data was analysed using eight machine-learning methods: Random Forest, Adaboost, Naive Bayes, Support Vector Machine, Logistic Regression, k Nearest Neighbours, Decision Tree and a three-layer Perceptron.
CONCLUSIONS: Extracted eye movement features introduced to machine learning algorithms predicted personality traits with above 33% chance accuracy (34%-48%). This result is comparable to previous ecologically valid studies, but lower than in laboratory-based research. Better prediction was achieved for Machiavellianism and Extraversion compared to other traits (10 and 9 predictions above the chance level by different algorithms from different parts of the recording). Conscientiousness, Narcissism and Psychopathy were not reliably predicted from eye movements. These differences in predictability across traits might be explained by differential activation of different traits in different situations, such as new vs. familiar, exciting vs. boring, and complex vs. simple settings. In turn, different machine learning approaches seem to be better at capturing specific gaze patterns (e.g. saccades), associated with specific traits evoked by the situation. Further research is needed to gain better insights into trait-situation-algorithm interactions.

BACKGROUND: Drug addiction is a significant public health concern, and aggression is common among people with drug addiction. Despite mounting evidence showing that the Dark Triad is a risk factor for aggression, the mediating and moderating mechanisms underlying this relationship are less known. This study tested the mediation effect of self-control in the association between the Dark Triad and aggression and whether this mediation was moderated by physical exercise.
METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted in two compulsory drug rehabilitation centers in Nanning, China. A convenience sample of 564 drug abstainers completed a questionnaire to assess their Dark Triad, self-control, aggression, and physical exercise levels. Mediation and moderation analyses were carried out in SPSS macro-PROCESS.
RESULTS: Self-control partially mediated the positive association between the Dark Triad and aggression. Physical exercise moderated the indirect effect of the Dark Triad on aggression via self-control, with the effect decreasing with the increase in physical exercise levels.
CONCLUSIONS: This study offers fresh insights into the underlying mediating and moderating mechanisms between the Dark Triad and aggression. The findings provide important practical implications for future intervention and prevention programs to address aggression among drug abstainers, which may be realized through strengthening self-control and physical exercise.

This systematic review and meta-analysis estimated the size of the relationship between Machiavellianism and intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetration. Further, we explored whether the strength of this relationship varied depending on IPV type (i.e., physical, psychological, sexual, and cyber), and perpetrator gender. Systematic searches of Medline Complete, PsycInfo, Scopus, and Web of Science databases were conducted on July 4, 2023. Studies were included if they were a peer-reviewed published paper or unpublished dissertation, in English, included a measure of Machiavellianism and IPV perpetration, and reported the relationship between these variables. Study quality was assessed using the AXIS tool. Nineteen studies (N = 9,464) were included in a random-effects meta-analysis revealing a significant, weak, positive correlation between Machiavellianism and IPV perpetration (r = .16, 95% CI [0.11, 0.21], p < .001). Machiavellianism had a significant, weak, positive relationship with cyber (r = .25, 95% CI [0.17, 0.32], p < .001), psychological (r = .20, 95% CI [0.15, 0.24], p < .001), and sexual IPV (r = .10, 95% CI [0.02, 0.19], p = .020). No significant relationship was found for physical IPV. There was no significant difference in the strength of the relationship between women and men. These findings are limited by the measures being self-report, heterogeneity across studies, and the cross-sectional nature of the included studies which limits the understanding of causal pathways. Nonetheless, this meta-analysis shows a link between Machiavellianism and IPV perpetration, and future research should examine how this knowledge may be used to reduce IPV perpetration.

While numerous explanations for vote-switching have been proposed (e.g. declining rates of partisanship, ideological shifts, partisan ambivalence, change in policy preferences), far less work has examined the personality profile of people more likely to engage in this behaviour. In Study 1, we examined the relationship between both general (i.e. openness, conscientiousness) and antagonistic (i.e. psychopathy, narcissism, Machiavellianism) personality traits and the intent to switch one\'s vote in a large sample of Canadian citizens, while controlling for several established correlates such as age, income and political interest. Of all personality traits, only individuals higher in openness reported a greater intent to engage in vote switching. Despite our expectations, Machiavellianism, a trait characterized by its strategic nature, was unrelated to vote switching intentions. In Study 2, we addressed several methodological reasons for why antagonistic traits may have been unrelated to vote switching intentions in Study 1 by examining the traits at the facet level and utilizing a new measure of Machiavellianism among a separate sample of Canadian citizens. Here again, we found little evidence for a relationship between antagonistic traits, including Machiavellianism, and vote switching intentions.

We investigated the putative redundancy of the Dark Tetrad (specifically, Machiavellianism-psychopathy and sadism-psychopathy) through an examination of the differences between correlations with self-reported narrowband personality traits. In addition to measures of the Dark Tetrad, participants in four studies completed measures of various narrowband traits assessing general personality, aggression, impulsivity, Mimicry Deception Theory, and Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory. Results generally supported empirical distinctions between Machiavellianism and psychopathy, and between sadism and psychopathy. Machiavellianism significantly differed from psychopathy across correlations for nine of 10 traits (Study 1), 8 of 25 facets (Study 2), aggression (Study 3), 12 of 25 facets (Study 3), four of five facets (Study 4), impulsivity (Study 4), and five of six facets (Study 4). Sadism significantly differed from psychopathy across correlations with five of 10 traits (Study 1), eight of 25 facets (Study 2), reactive aggression (Study 3), 10 of 25 facets (Study 3), three of six facets (Study 4), impulsivity (Study 4), and three of six facets (Study 4). Our findings challenge the claims that Machiavellianism and psychopathy, as well as sadism and psychopathy, as currently measured, are redundant.

The present research investigates the role of dark and light personality traits in determining academic discipline preferences among university students. Two studies showed that university students with relatively high scores on dark personality traits (specifically, narcissism and Machiavellianism) and relatively low scores on light personality traits are over-represented in business and law programs, compared to psychology and other academic disciplines. The results further suggest that personality is a distal determinant of academic discipline choice, with human values being the proximal determinant. Specifically, high scores in dark/low light personalities express a desire for power, which explains why they choose economics or law as their academic discipline. Contrary to our expectations, low dark/high light personalities were not over-represented in psychology, compared to other academic disciplines. Overall, our findings highlight the importance of considering personality traits and human values in understanding academic discipline choices among university students. Recognizing these factors can inform educational institutions in developing strategies to better support students in aligning their academic pursuits with their personal characteristics and values.

(1) Background: The dark triad refers to a personality configuration mainly characterized by the presence of Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy. Even though adolescence is a critical stage in the development of dark triad traits, to date, this construct has not been studied among adolescents, mainly due to the lack of a measurement instrument adapted to this population. (2) Methods: Using a sample of 1642 adolescents, an adaptation of the Short Dark Triad (SD3) is proposed for this population. To this end, we performed a confirmatory factor analysis of the scale and examined its reliability and the intensity of the dark triad components by sex and sexual orientation. (3) Results: The adapted version of the scale (The Short Dark Triad-Adolescent Version; SD3-A) yielded good psychometric results. Confirmatory factor analysis corroborated the theoretical model of the three factors of dark personality. The results confirmed the greater presence of dark traits in male adolescents, and differences were observed based on sexual orientation. (4) Conclusions: The Short Dark Triad-Adolescent Version (SD3-A) is an effective and comprehensive instrument for the estimation of dark traits in adolescents and can be used as a screening test for this population.