A systematic comparison of three sadism measures and their ability to explain workplace mistreatment over and above the dark triad

Dark Tetrad at Work: Perceived Severity of Bullying, Harassment, and Workplace Deviance

Although the Dark Tetrad has been linked to deviant behaviors, more research is needed about its expression in workplaces and continuity outside of work. The current study investigated the role of the antagonistic traits on perception of workplace harassment and bullying. Men were found to score higher on antagonistic traits and have a more lenient perception of harassment and bullying. Personality traits at work and outside were highly correlated. Regression analyses revealed that sadism predicted a more lenient perception of bullying, while a more lenient perception of harassment was predicted by sadism and industry type, and partially by psychopathy and gender. In summary, personality traits enduring across environments, but sadism was the most important predictor of a more lenient perception of harassment and bullying at work. The current study suggests a disparity between personality traits and expressed behaviors. Findings can be used to prevent workplace deviance and aid recruitment processes.

Uncovering Hidden Framings in Dark Triad Self-Ratings: What Frames-of-Reference Do People Use When Responding to Generic Dark Triad Items?

In typical Dark Triad (DT) questionnaires, generic items oftentimes refer to "others" or "people" in general. Hence, respondents have to mentally aggregate their behavior across several kinds of "others" (e.g., work colleagues, family members, and friends). It remains unknown if individuals consider different kinds of interaction partners equally or if their self-reports contain "hidden" interaction partner-specific tendencies. To shed light on this issue, we assessed generic and contextualized DT items (referring to family, friends, work, and strangers; N = 814 from the general population). The correlated trait-correlated (method - 1) model was used to investigate preregistered research questions. On average, generic DT items showed the strongest association with work-contextualized DT items and the weakest association with family-contextualized DT items. However, the associations varied considerably across DT items and traits. In sum, our results suggest that hidden framings exist in some DT items, which may impact their ability to predict relevant criteria due to contextual (a)symmetries. The generalizability of the findings to other DT instruments, items, and participant groups should be examined in future research.

The Revised Assessment of Sadistic Personality (ASP-8): Evidence for Validity across Four Countries

Subclinical sadism, characterized by infliction of cruelty, aggression, or humiliation on another for subjugation or pleasure, provides important information in the prediction of aversive behaviors that have implications for individuals' and society's well-being worldwide. Given sadism's universal relevance, it is imperative that researchers ensure valid and reliable trait measurement not only among English-speaking individuals, but also cross-nationally among countries in which sadism remains relatively understudied. The objective of the current research was to validate the revised version of the Assessment of Sadistic Personality (ASP-8) (Plouffe et al., 2017) across samples of Russian (n = 1087, M_age = 37.36, SD = 10.36), Greek (n = 1195, M_age = 35.64, SD_age = 13.08), Serbian (n = 443, M_age = 28.10, SD_age = 6.60), and British (n = 511, M_age = 28.50, SD_age = 11.62) adults. Overall, results supported the reliability, dimensionality, and scalar/partial scalar measurement invariance of the ASP-8 across cross-national samples. Convergent and discriminant validity were mostly supported through correlations with general personality traits, the Dark Triad, emotional intelligence, mental toughness, depression, anxiety, stress, satisfaction with life, aggression, and attitudes toward social groups. Based on our findings, we recommend the use of the ASP-8 in future investigations of aversive traits.

The battle between light and dark side of personality: How light and dark personality traits predict mating strategies in the online context