Dark triad test

Your result is four scores, each the average of seven answers on a scale from 1 to 5, and each placed in a fifth of that scale. Under every scale you see one sentence in everyday words, such as "You tended to agree with the statements about standing out and being admired". The sentence tells you what you did, which is agree or disagree with a kind of statement, and leaves out what that says about you as a person.

The four tendencies are not rare traits that some people have and others lack. Everyone sometimes plans how to handle a person, enjoys being admired, acts on impulse or laughs at a cruel joke. What differs is how much, and how often. A high score on a scale means you agreed with many of its statements. It does not mean that you are cruel, dangerous or a bad person, and a low score does not mean that you are a good one.

The statements are short and blunt on purpose, and some of them describe things many people would not say about themselves aloud. People answer them differently when they are tired, angry or trying to look good. If your answers were quick or all the same, the result says so. If you answered for a day you were having, you may answer differently on another.

The paper that introduced these scales could not be read by us, so its figures are not used. A later open study gave the same 28 English statements online to 516 adults in North America, all paid survey takers on one website^[2]. Each of your four scores is placed roughly beside theirs, in one of five levels, and never as a rank. One group of adults is not everyone, and a higher or lower place says how you answered, not what kind of person you are.

The test is the Short Dark Tetrad, or SD4, by Paulhus, Buckels, Trapnell and Jones^[1]. They published it in the European Journal of Psychological Assessment together with a study of how it behaves in several samples. Its 28 statements are in the authors' own English words and in their order, grouped by scale, with their five answers. The authors list the form among the questionnaires available without permission.

• Machiavellianism, narcissism, psychopathy and sadism have seven statements each. A scale is the average of its seven answers.
• You may leave out a statement or two where the scales still stand. A scale left with too few answers is not scored, and the result says so.
• Your answers are saved in this browser after each statement, and kept for a month if you stop. Once your result is saved, the unfinished sheet is deleted.
• If the answers came quicker than the statements can be read, or were all the same, the result is shown, and it says so in plain words.

The article that published the SD4 carries a licence for non-commercial use, and the author's own page does not mention commercial use. The licence panel in the sheet below prints this caveat next to the statement it concerns. Below are the statements, how they are scored, the licence and the paper, exactly as we use them.

• Machiavellianism: handling people strategically, with planning, secrecy and tact, to get your way.
• Narcissism: wanting to stand out, to be admired and to be seen as special.
• Psychopathy: acting on impulse, taking risks and pushing against authority and rules.
• Sadism: enjoying violence in entertainment and enjoying other people's discomfort or pain.

These are the names researchers have given to four tendencies, and the names sound heavier than the statements. Read the statements in the sheet below and you will find ordinary sentences, the kind that you could agree with a little or a lot without being any kind of villain. Each scale is only the sum of what you said about its seven statements.

Researchers noticed that three tendencies, Machiavellianism, narcissism and psychopathy, are linked: people who agree with the statements of one tend to agree a little with the others. They called the group the dark triad because the tendencies concern gaining at the expense of others. Later work added sadism, and the group became the dark tetrad. The word "dark" describes what the statements are about, not the person who answers them.

Seven statements per scale are enough for a quick look, and not enough for fine differences. A score one point either way can come from a single answer, and a moment's mood can move it. If you take the test again in a month, expect most scales to land in the same fifth or the one next to it, and do not read much into small moves.

Treat the result as a conversation starter with yourself. Which statements did you agree with, and in what situations? Where would you answer differently at work, at home or with a friend? Those questions are more informative than any score, and none of them needs anyone else to see your answers.