Dark side of impulsivity — Associations between the Dark Triad, self-report and behavioral measures of impulsivity

a r t i c l e i n f o Associations between the Dark Triad (psychopathy, narcissism, and Machiavellianism) with two self-report personality measures (i.e., BIS-11 and I 7) and two behavioral tasks (i.e., Stop-Signal task and Delay-Discounting task) of impulsivity in 298 healthy adult volunteers were examined. The strong correlations between psychopathy, narcissism, and self-report measures of impulsivity were reported. Moreover, the variables of the Dark Triad mentioned above have shown weak correlations with behavioral tasks of impulsivity. Contrary, Machiavellianism was unrelated to either type of impulsivity assessment. When testing the association between the self-report and behavioral measures of impulsivity, analysis revealed only two significant correlations. There was a positive correlation between Motor Impulsivity of the BIS-11 and stop-reaction time on the Stop-Signal task, and the Impulsivity scale from I 7 was negatively related to the AUC value from Delay-Discounting task. Reliably, these results support other recent findings suggesting that self-report and behavioral tasks probably measure different constructs, perhaps unrelated components of impulsive behavior. Considering the possibility that individuals might have a dispositional tendency to show impulsive behavior bears considering the traits of the Dark Triad (Paulhus & Williams, 2002). The Dark Triad, comprising of psychopathy, narcissism, and Machiavellianism, represents a set of three distinct, but related subclinical maladaptive and socially aversive personality characteristics. Psychopathy is defined by high callousness, thrill-seeking, interpersonal antagonism and manipulation, and by low empathy, remorse, and anxiety (Hare & Neumann, 2008). Individuals with a high degree of Narcissism focus largely on themselves and are characterized by self-absorption, dominance, and feelings of entitlement (Emmons, 1987). Machiavellianism is characterized by self-interest and the tendency toward deception, manipulation and the exploitation of others (Christie & Geis, 1970). The construct of " impulsivity " has been defined as an inability to inhibit inappropriate behaviors, to wait and to act with forethought Impulsivity encompasses a range of maladaptive characteristics that are often linked to constructs studied in the field of psychopathology, such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD; e.g., Barkley, 1997) and substance abuse (e.g., deWit, 2008). In order to assess behaviors that are considered impulsive, a variety of measurement methods have been developed. These methods can be categorized as (1) self-report questionnaires, that assess an individual's self-perception of their own behaviors across a variety of contexts, and (2) laboratory behavioral tasks, which assess specific behavioral processes Moreover, previous research tried to identify different dimensions of impulsive behavior …