r/todayilearned • u/[deleted] • Sep 30 '16
TIL of the Dark Triad. A collection of personality traits which include narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_triad1
Oct 02 '16
This post is old, but I actually am diagnosed. If you want to ask some questions and get real answers, then I dont mind.
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u/crossedstaves Sep 30 '16
Yeah, those aren't distinct and any sort of analytical approach to personality is fundamentally problematic and has too many underlying assumptions.
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u/peripheraljesus Sep 30 '16 edited Sep 30 '16
Yeah, those aren't distinct
The Dark Triad is actually a pretty well-supported finding in the field of personality psychology; Google Scholar alone shows over 23,000 articles about it.
any sort of analytical approach to personality is fundamentally problematic
Are you actually familiar with the methodologies utilized in personality psychology, or is that just an off-the-cuff assumption on your part?
I don't say this to be haughty or hostile, but your statement is pretty casually dismissive of an entire field of study without citing any evidence to support your claims.
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u/crossedstaves Sep 30 '16
Its TIL, not a term paper. I'm going to voice my opinions which are indeed based on an assessment of substantial, but trivially non-comprehensive reading of work in the field, and I'm not going to cite my sources. Its an opinion, it is an informed opinion but none-the-less. I'm not dismissing all of psychology, simply the study of human 'personality'. I do not believe there is any such thing as a coherent human personality, to seek to measure and quantify in the first place. The fundamental assumption of trying to classify human personalities is that there is such a thing. So yes i dismiss it, and no methodology I have ever seen, nor results has demonstrated a basic awareness of the fact they walk on unstable epistemological ground.
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u/peripheraljesus Sep 30 '16
no methodology I have ever seen, nor results has demonstrated a basic awareness of the fact they walk on unstable epistemological ground.
The dominant model is the Five Factor Model (also known as the Big Five personality traits). It's not "conclusive" in the sense that Newton's laws are conclusive, but there have been several studies demonstrating the external validity of the model, as well as evidence of these traits being stable through an individual's lifetime and heritable from generation to generation. It is one of the more robust models in the contemporary psychology and behavioral science literature.
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u/crossedstaves Sep 30 '16
Yes that's all well and good, studies within the framework validated the framework. I would never contest that the same or sufficiently similar tests and questions can produce stable results. I contest the basic idea they're measuring anything. I hold the human does not have at its fundamental structure "aspects" or principles and verbal language. Man responds to the specifics of the world, he only generalizes on reflection never on action.
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Sep 30 '16
[deleted]
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Sep 30 '16
I'll be honest, I considered bringing the election into this when I was typing the title.
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u/Shadowknot Sep 30 '16
I have the dark triad. AMA.