Dark Triad predicts self-promoting mate attraction behaviors

Monteiro, Renan P; Lopes, Guilherme S; Nascimento, Bruna S; Gouveia, Valdiney V; Shackelford, Todd K; Zeigler-Hill, Virgil

doi:10.1016/j.paid.2017.07.002

Dark Triad predicts self-promoting mate attraction behaviors

Monteiro, Renan P; Lopes, Guilherme S; Nascimento, Bruna S; Gouveia, Valdiney V; Shackelford, Todd K; Zeigler-Hill, Virgil

Authors

Renan P Monteiro

Guilherme S Lopes

Bruna S Nascimento

Valdiney V Gouveia

Todd K Shackelford

Virgil Zeigler-Hill

Abstract

The Dark Triad is a cluster of aversive traits that includes Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and narcissism. Individuals who score higher on these traits also report more sexual partners, suggesting that the Dark Triad may provide advantages to attracting short-term partners. We investigated the associations between the Dark Triad traits and self-promotion mate attraction tactics in a short-term mating context. We hypothesized that, in this mating context, psychopathy would predict the performance frequency of self-promotion behaviors in men (Hypothesis 1), narcissism would predict these behaviors in both men (Hypothesis 2) and women (Hypothesis 3), and that the relationship between narcissism and the performance frequency of self-promotion behaviors would be stronger in women than in men (Hypothesis 4). Participants were 225 Brazilian undergraduate students, aged between 18 and 45 years (M = 21.8; SD = 4.80; 58.2% women). Supporting Hypothesis 1, psychopathy positively predicted the performance frequency of self-promotion behaviors in men. Narcissism was positively associated with the performance frequency of self-promotion behaviors in both men (supporting Hypothesis 2) and women (supporting Hypothesis 3), but with similar strength (inconsistent with Hypothesis 4). We situate these results concerning mate attraction within an evolutionary framework and discuss their theoretical and applied utility.

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	Oct 1, 2017
Online Publication Date	Jul 5, 2017
Publication Date	Dec 1, 2017
Deposit Date	Aug 9, 2022
Publicly Available Date	Aug 9, 2022
Journal	Personality and Individual Differences
Print ISSN	0191-8869
Publisher	Elsevier
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	119
Pages	83-85
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2017.07.002
Keywords	Dark Triad, mate, attraction behaviors
Public URL	https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/9851535
Publisher URL	https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0191886917304440?via%3Dihub