The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Rethinking the Dark Core

Dinić, BM, Wertag, A., Sokolovska, V., et al. The good, the bad, and the ugly: rethinking the dark core. Curr Psychol (2021) https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-021-01829-x

Commentary

This study aimed to explore some compelling candidates in the dark core for a broad set of dark and light traits, using network analysis and analysis of shared variance on (N = 268).

・Several of the previously proposed cores were tested.

・Primary psychopathology

・Self-absorbed competition

・Integrity - Humility

・Aggression

・Selfishness

・Antagonism and its cold-heartedness aspect

・Emotional competence including the emotional aspect as a negative aspect of callousness

The results from these showed that the central elements of this network are primary psychopathology, callousness, pathological selfishness, Machiavellianism, and narcissistic competition.

Furthermore, among the fundamental traits, antagonism was shown to share the highest percentage with the dark traits, especially the faceted coldness, which is the best candidate for the dark core.