The role of impulsivity in the Dark Triad of personality

0191-8869/$ see front matter 2011 Elsevier Ltd. A doi:10.1016/j.paid.2011.04.011 ⇑ Corresponding author. Address: Department of Psy Columbia, Vancouver, Canada V6T 1Z4. Tel.: +1 604 82 E-mail address: [email protected] (D.L. Paulh Among the Dark Triad of personality, both narcissism and psychopathy have been linked to impulsivity. What remains unclear is the pattern of associations that the Dark Triad have with functional and dysfunctional types of impulsivity. Using both student (N = 142) and adult samples (N = 329), we investigated the association of the Dark Triad variables with Dickman’s measures of functional and dysfunctional impulsivity. Based on regression analyses, psychopathy was most closely associated with dysfunctional impulsivity whereas narcissism was associated with functional impulsivity. It appears that narcissistic impulsivity involves venturesome social engagement whereas psychopathic impulsivity stems from poor self-regulation. As expected, Machiavellianism had no consistent association with either type of impulsivity. In short, the Dark Triad members show a coherent pattern of relations with impulsivity. 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.