What a tangled web we weave: The dark triad traits and deception

We investigated ( N= 447) the relationship between the Dark Triad traits (i.e., psychopathy, narcissism, and Machiavellianism) and domain-general and domain-specific measures of deception. Psychopathy and Machiavellianism were linked to telling more lies, psychopathy was linked to telling lies for no reason, and Machiavellianism was linked to telling white lies. Narcissism, in contrast, was linked to lying for self-gain and self-reported skill at lying. The Dark Triad traits were linked to the use of various intersexual and intrasexual deception tactics but these differed as a function of the domain, the category of deception, and the particular tactic used. We found some evidence that sex differences in deception were partially a function of individual differences in the Dark Triad traits. Our results provide new details about the cheater strategies linked to the Dark Triad traits. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd.