IPIP Dark Triad
Dark Triad uses 30 International Personality Item Pool statements to assess Machiavellianism, Narcissism, and Psychopathy-related traits. Respondents complete 30 items using 1–5 ratings. Keyed responses are summed separately for each reported scale.
At a glance
What it measures
This 30-item battery profiles the three Dark Triad dimensions side by side, using the public-domain IPIP scales that represent the MACH-IV (Christie & Geis, 1970), the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (Raskin & Terry, 1988), and Hare's (1985) psychopathy construct — ten original public-domain items per dimension.
The three dimensions are reported strictly separately: no combined 'Dark Triad total' is computed or normed, because the platform's norm source provides dimension-level reference values only and a summed composite would have no citable basis. Each dimension's standing is compared with the Eugene–Springfield Community Sample values in the norms section.
Subscales
Machiavellianism 10 items
tendency to use deception, flattery, and manipulation to achieve personal goals
Narcissism 10 items
tendency to see oneself as exceptional, deserving of admiration and special treatment
Psychopathy-related traits 10 items
tendency toward callousness, disregard for social norms, and limited remorse
Example item
“Enjoy manipulating other people's feelings.”
Illustrative only. During administration items are presented one screen-set at a time; response-key direction is never shown to respondents.
Scoring & interpretation
Item responses are summed within each scale (reverse-keyed items recoded first) and expressed as a population percentile against the cited reference sample, with a reliability-based confidence range where α is published.
Psychometrics & norms
| Scale | M | SD | N | α | Metric |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Machiavellianism | 18.92 | 4.68 | 485 | 0.66 | summed raw |
| Narcissism | 27.28 | 5.37 | 468 | 0.65 | summed raw |
| Psychopathy-related traits | 16.03 | 4.18 | 568 | 0.70 | summed raw |
Dimension-level norms computed separately from the Eugene-Springfield Community Sample (ESCS), Lewis R. Goldberg’s adult community panel from Eugene and Springfield, Oregon (Harvard Dataverse, doi:10.7910/DVN/UF52WY), using each exact 10-item IPIP scale and its original reverse-keying. This community sample is not nationally representative. No combined Dark Triad total or norm is calculated.
Source & citation
Public-domain items from the International Personality Item Pool (ipip.ori.org), representing the MACH-IV (Christie & Geis, 1970), Narcissistic Personality Inventory (Raskin & Terry, 1988), and Hare (1985) psychopathy construct.
References
- Christie, R., & Geis, F. L. (1970). Studies in Machiavellianism. Academic Press.
- Raskin, R., & Terry, H. (1988). A principal-components analysis of the Narcissistic Personality Inventory and further evidence of its construct validity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54(5), 890–902.
- Hare, R. D. (1985). Comparison of procedures for the assessment of psychopathy. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 53(1), 7–16.
- International Personality Item Pool. A Scientific Collaboratory for the Development of Advanced Measures of Personality Traits and Other Individual Differences. https://ipip.ori.org/