Dark Personality Triads and Aggression

Abstract

The present paper describes the association between dark personality triads and direct and indirect aggression among individuals. Machiavellianism (a cunning outlook), Narcissism (extreme self-centredness) and Psychopathy (lack of sympathy) are the three dark personality traits that negatively affect work behaviours of employees. Aggression is described as direct and indirect aggression. Boys express their anger through physically aggressive behaviours whereas girls express their anger non-physically through indirect aggression as physical aggression is not culturally acceptable for girls. The present paper describes logical arguments about association of dark personality triads and aggression based on literature review. Findings showed that Machiavellianism is positively associated with indirect aggression, Narcissism is positively associated with direct and indirect
aggression, whereas psychopathy is positively associated with direct aggression. Future research should focus on empirical relationship of dark personality triads with horizontal hostility, a special type of indirect aggression among females.
Key Words: Dark Personality Triads, Aggression, Counter Productive Work Behaviour,
Organizational Citizenship Behaviour, Bullying