Our study investigated the different mate preferences of the Dark Triad in women. In addition to former studies, we also examined the effect of self-evaluated attractiveness on these preferences. Attractiveness is a high-valued partner attribute, especially in short-term relationships. Accordingly, we predicted that women high in Dark Triad traits prefer characteristics related to short-term mating, because they possess traits favored in short-term relationships. Associations between ideal partner standards and Dark Triad traits were investigated with self-reports: 529 female undergraduate students filled out the Short Dark Triad and the Ideal Standards Scale. Results showed that all three Dark Triad traits were related to unique preferences of mate qualities corresponding to their self-rated partner qualities. Furthermore, despite the differences between the three Dark Triad traits, women’s partner preferences were associated with their self-evaluated attractiveness (an indicator of mate value). In summary, according to our findings, qualities advertised by Dark Triad women as potential partner influence their expectation or preferences regarding mates, suggesting homogamous mate choice on the levels of these qualities.
AbellL.BrewerG.QualterP.AustinE. (2016) Machiavellianism, emotional manipulation, and friendship functions in women's friendships. Personality and Individual Differences88: 108–113.
2.
AdamsH. M.LuevanoV. X.JonasonP. K. (2014) Risky business: Willingness to be caught in an extra-pair relationship, relationship experience, and the Dark Triad. Personality and Individual Differences66: 204–207.
3.
AitkenS. J.LyonsM.JonasonP. K. (2013) Dads or cads? Women’s strategic decisions in the mating game. Personality and Individual Differences55(2): 118–122.
4.
AndersonR. C.KlofstadC. A. (2012) For love or money? The influence of personal resources and environmental resource pressures on human mate preferences. Ethology118(9): 841–849.
5.
BaughmanH. M.JonasonP. K.VeselkaL.VernonP. A. (2014) Four shades of sexual fantasies linked to the Dark Triad. Personality and Individual Differences67: 47–51.
6.
BussD. M. (1989) Sex differences in human mate preferences: Evolutionary hypotheses tested in 37 cultures. Behavioral and Brain Sciences12(01): 1–14.
7.
BussD. M. (1994) The evolution of desire: Strategies of human mating, New York, NY: Basic Books.
8.
BussD. M. (2009) The great struggles of life: Darwin and the emergence of evolutionary psychology. American Psychologist64: 140.
9.
BussD. M.SchmittD. P. (1993) Sexual strategies theory: An evolutionary perspective on human mating. Psychological Review100: 204–232.
10.
Carter, G. L., Campbell, A. C., & Muncer, S. (2014). The dark triad personality: Attractiveness to women. Personality and Individual Differences, 56, 57–61.
11.
EdlundJ. E.SagarinB. J. (2010) Mate value and mate preferences: An investigation into decisions made with and without constraints. Personality and Individual Differences49: 835–839.
12.
EdlundJ. E.SagarinB. J. (2014) The Mate Value Scale. Personality and Individual Differences64(1): 72–77.
13.
FletcherG. J.SimpsonJ. A.ThomasG.GilesL. (1999) Ideals in intimate relationships. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology76(1): 72.
14.
FletcherG. J.TitherJ. M.O’LoughlinC.FriesenM.OverallN. (2004) Warm and homely or cold and beautiful? Sex differences in trading off traits in mate selection. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin30(6): 659–672.
15.
FurnhamA.RichardsS. C.PaulhusD. L. (2013) The Dark Triad of personality: A 10 year review. Social and Personality Psychology Compass7(3): 199–216.
16.
GangestadS.Garver-ApgarC.SimpsonJ.CousinsA. (2007) Changes in women’s mate preferences across the ovulatory cycle. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology92: 151–163.
17.
HayesA. F. (2013) Introduction to mediation, moderation, and conditional process analysis: A regression-based approach, New York, NY: Guilford Press.
18.
InáncsiT.LángA.BereczkeiT. (2015) Machiavellianism and adult attachment in general interpersonal relationships and close relationships. Europe’s Journal of Psychology11: 139–154.
19.
JokelaM. (2009) Physical attractiveness and reproductive success in humans: Evidence from the late 20th century United States. Evolution and Human Behavior30(5): 342–350.
20.
JonasonP. K.KavanaghP. (2010) The dark side of love: Love styles and the Dark Triad. Personality and Individual Differences49(6): 606–610.
21.
JonasonP. K.KoenigB. L.TostJ. (2010) Living a fast life: The Dark Triad and life history theory. Human Nature21: 428–442.
22.
JonasonP. K.LiN. P.BussD. M. (2010) The costs and benefits of the Dark Triad: Implications for mate poaching and mate retention tactics. Personality and Individual Differences48(4): 373–378.
23.
JonasonP. K.LuevanoV. X.AdamsH. M. (2012) How the Dark Triad traits predict relationship choices. Personality and Individual Differences53(3): 180–184.
24.
JonasonP. K.LyonsM.BlanchardA. (2015) Birds of a “bad” feather flock together: The Dark Triad and mate choice. Personality and Individual Differences78: 34–38.
25.
JonasonP. K.ValentineK. A.LiN. P.HarbesonC. L. (2011) Mate-selection and the Dark Triad: Facilitating a short-term mating strategy and creating a volatile environment. Personality and Individual Differences51(6): 759–763.
26.
JonesD. N.PaulhusD. L. (2011) The role of impulsivity in the Dark Triad of personality. Personality and Individual Differences51(5): 679–682.
27.
JonesD. N.PaulhusD. L. (2014) Introducing the short dark triad (SD3): A brief measure of dark personality traits. Assessment21(1): 28–41.
28.
KirsnerB. R.FigueredoA. J.JacobsW. J. (2003) Self, friends, and lovers: Structural relations among Beck Depression Inventory scores and perceived mate values. Journal of affective disorders75(2): 131–148.
29.
KoladichS. J.AtkinsonB. E. (2016) The dark triad and relationship preferences: A replication and extension. Personality and Individual Differences94: 253–255.
30.
KurzbanR.WeedenJ. (2005) HurryDate: Mate preferences in action. Evolution and Human Behavior26: 227–244.
31.
LiN. P.KenrickD. T. (2006) Sex similarities and differences in preferences for short-term mates: What, whether, and why. Journal of personality and social psychology90(3): 468.
32.
LyonsM. T.MarcinkowskaU. M.HelleS.McGrathL. (2015) Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who is the most masculine of them all? The Dark Triad, masculinity, and women’s mate choice. Personality and Individual Differences74: 153–158.
33.
MarcinkowskaU. M.HelleS.LyonsM. T. (2015) Dark traits: Sometimes hot, and sometimes not? Female preferences for Dark Triad faces depend on sociosexuality and contraceptive use. Personality and Individual Differences86: 369–373.
34.
McHoskeyJ. W. (1999) Machiavellianism, intrinsic versus extrinsic goals, and social interest: A self-determination theory analysis. Motivation and Emotion23: 267–283.
35.
MillarM. (2012) Menstrual cycle changes in mate preferences for cues associated with genetic quality: The moderating role of mate value. Evolutionary Psychology: An International Journal of Evolutionary Approaches to Psychology and Behavior11: 18–35.
36.
MuggletonN. K.FincherC. L. (2017) Unrestricted sexuality promotes distinctive short-and long-term mate preferences in women. Personality and Individual Differences111: 169–173.
37.
NeumannC. S.HareR. D. (2008) Psychopathic traits in a large community sample: Links to violence, alcohol use, and intelligence. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology76: 893–899.
38.
PaulhusD. L.WilliamsK. M. (2002) The Dark Triad of personality: Narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy. Journal of Research in Personality36: 556–563.
39.
PawlowskiB.DunbarR. I. (1999) Withholding age as putative deception in mate search tactics. Evolution and Human Behavior20(1): 53–69.
40.
RauthmannJ. F.KolarG. P. (2012) How “dark” are the Dark Triad traits? Examining the perceived darkness of narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy. Personality and Individual Differences53(7): 884–889.
41.
RauthmannJ. F.KolarG. P. (2013) The perceived attractiveness and traits of the Dark Triad: Narcissists are perceived as hot, Machiavellians and psychopaths not. Personality and Individual Differences54(5): 582–586.
42.
ReganP. C. (1998) What if you can’t get what you want? Willingness to compromise ideal mate selection standards as a function of sex, mate value, and relationship context. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin24: 1294–1303.
43.
Rhodewalt, F., & Peterson, B. (2009). Narcissism. In M. R. Leary & R. H. Hoyle (Eds.), Handbook of individual differences in social behavior (pp. 547–560). New York, NY, USA: Guilford Press.
44.
Sela, Y., Mogilski, J. K., Shackelford, T. K., Zeigler-Hill, V., & Fink, B. (2016). Mate value discrepancy and mate retention behaviors of self and partner. Journal of Personality. doi: 10.1111/jopy.12281.
45.
StewartS.StinnettH.RosenfeldL. B. (2000) Sex differences in desired characteristics of short-term and long-term relationship partners. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships17(6): 843–853.
46.
ValentineK. A.LiN. P. (2012) Mate selection. The Encyclopedia of Human Behavior2: 564–570.
47.
WebsterG. D.GesselmanA. N.CryselL. C.BrunellA. B.JonasonP. K.HaddenB. W.SmithC. V. (2016) An actor–partner interdependence model of the Dark Triad and aggression in couples: Relationship duration moderates the link between psychopathy and argumentativeness. Personality and Individual Differences101: 196–207.
