Externalizing and internalizing, but not rationalizing: Some psychodynamic biases associated with the Dark Triad traits

In American MTurk workers (N = 288), we examined the psychodynamic biases of externalizing (i.e., turning against the object, projection), internalizing (i.e., turning against the self), and rationalizing (i.e., principalization, reversal) in relation to the Dark Triad traits (i.e., narcissism, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism). The traits had an externalizing bias, none were associated with a rationalizing bias, and only psychopathy and Machiavellianism were associated with an internalizing bias. We found that women had a more internalizing bias than did men and psychopathy and Machiavellianism may buffer women from internalizing disorders (i.e., suppression). We contend that psychodynamic biases are outputs of personality traits.