What lies beneath the Dark Triad Dirty Dozen: Varied relations with the Big Five

The Dirty Dozen is a recently developed, concise measure of the Dark Triad (i.e., narcissism, psychopathy, & Machiavellianism). However, recent evidence has questioned the validity of this scale. In two studies we provide details about this measure in as much as it relates to the Big Five (i.e., Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Emotional Stability, and Openness) whilst controlling for the shared variance amongst the three (Study 1: N = 123) and examining meta-traits and aspects of the Big Five (Study 2; N = 290). The Dirty Dozen subscales share an unstable core, which was localized to limited emotional stability, conscientiousness, and agreeableness. Each of the Dark Triad traits, however, was associated with unique aspects of the Big Five providing evidence that each trait measures something slightly different. For instance, psychopathy was linked to agreeableness through limited compassion but Machiavellianism was linked through limited politeness. In a series of factor analyses the scale is best explained by a bifactor model. Results provide multifaceted definitions of each of the aspects of the Dirty Dozen and evidence of its structural properties. © 2013 Individual Differences Association, Inc.