The Dark Side of Personality

Dark personality traits, and traits with dark features, are connected to destructive behaviors and interpersonal problems. Even moderate levels of these traits can cause significant issues. Understanding them will play an integral role in treating individuals who exhibit dark, unhealthy characteristics.

Thus, a primary goal of this book is to unite personality psychology and clinical psychology. It synthesizes recent research that connects pathological personality features to the Big Five personality dimensions, creating an interdisciplinary taxonomy of dark personality traits.

This volume brings together a diverse panel of experts who provide complex, nuanced perspectives on a variety of personality traits, including those that

• are readily accepted as dark (e.g., the Dark Triad of narcissism, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism),
• have been largely ignored by the broader psychological literature (e.g., spitefulness),
• have not been included in previous discussions of dark personality traits (e.g., authoritarianism), or
• appear to be at least somewhat positive on a superficial level (e.g., perfectionism and fearless dominance).

Chapters explore both maladaptive and adaptive features of these traits, including how to address them in clinical settings. The final chapter ties the entire volume together with a thorough review of common themes, clinical implications, and research goals across all traits.

Contributors

Introduction: A Bright Future for Dark Personality Features?
Virgil Zeigler-Hill and David K. Marcus

I. Antagonism

1. The Dark Side of Narcissism
   Emily A. Dowgwillo, Sindes Dawood, and Aaron L. Pincus
2. Contemporary Conceptualizations of Callous Personality Features From Childhood to Adulthood
   Dustin A. Pardini and James V. Ray
3. Fearless Dominance and Its Implications for Psychopathy: Are the Right Stuff and the Wrong Stuff Flip Sides of the Same Coin?
   Scott O. Lilienfeld, Sarah Francis Smith, and Ashley L. Watts
4. The Nature of Machiavellianism: Distinct Patterns of Misbehavior
   Daniel N. Jones
5. Everyday Sadism
   Delroy L. Paulhus and Donald G. Dutton
6. Spite
   David K. Marcus and Alyssa L. Norris

II. Disinhibition

7. A Review of Sensation Seeking and Its Empirical Correlates: Dark, Bright, and Neutral Hues
   Jessica L. Maples-Keller, Danielle S. Berke, Lauren R. Few, and Joshua D. Miller
8. Urgency: A Common Transdiagnostic Endophenotype for Maladaptive Risk Taking
   Melissa A. Cyders, Ayca Coskunpinar, and J. Davis VanderVeen
9. Distractibility: Interrupted by an Inability to Ignore
   Tammy D. Barry, Karin Fisher, Kristy M. DiSabatino, and Theodore S. Tomeny

III. Rigidity

10. Deep, Dark, and Dysfunctional: The Destructiveness of Interpersonal Perfectionism
    Gordon L. Flett, Paul L. Hewitt, and Simon S. Sherry
11. Authoritarianism: Positives and Negatives
    Steven Ludeke
12. The Dark (and Light) Sides of Overconfidence
    Joyce Ehrlinger and Alex Eichenbaum

IV. Negative Affectivity

13. Dark Side of the Mood or Sweet Emotion? Toward a More Nuanced Understanding of Emotional Lability
    Kim L. Gratz, Katherine L. Dixon-Gordon, and Diana Whalen
14. Anxiousness and Negative Affectivity in the Personality and Internalizing Disorders
    Anthony J. Rosellini and Timothy A. Brown
15. Depressivity and Anhedonia
    Ellen M. Kessel and Daniel N. Klein
16. The Dark Sides of High and Low Self-Esteem
    Virgil Zeigler-Hill, Christopher J. Holden, Ashton C. Southard, Amy E. Noser, Brian Enjaian, and Noah C. Pollock
17. Interpersonal Dependency
    Robert F. Bornstein

V. Current and Future Issues

18. Understanding the Dark Side of Personality: Reflections and Future Directions
    David K. Marcus and Virgil Zeigler-Hill

Index

About the Editors

Virgil Zeigler-Hill, PhD, is an associate professor and the director of graduate training for the Department of Psychology at Oakland University, Rochester, Michigan.

His primary research interests are in three interrelated areas:

• dark personality features (e.g., narcissism, spitefulness)
• self-esteem
• interpersonal relationships

He has written more than 120 journal articles and book chapters that focus on these topics.

Dr. Zeigler-Hill has edited two previous books: Self-Esteem and Evolutionary Perspectives on Social Psychology. He is currently an associate editor for Self and Identity, Journal of Personality Assessment, and Evolutionary Psychology.

David K. Marcus, PhD, is a professor and the chair of the Department of Psychology at Washington State University, Pullman. He is the author of more than 75 journal articles. Much of his work focuses on psychopathy and antisocial behavior, but his research interests are diverse and include studies on spitefulness, hypochondriasis, psychotherapy outcomes and processes, and interpersonal perception.

He is currently the editor of Group Dynamics and serves on the editorial boards of Psychological Assessment and the Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology.

This is an exceptionally timely work.
—PsycCRITIQUES