Exploring a vulnerable side to dark personality: People with some dark triad features are gullible and show dysfunctional trusting

Although people higher in “Dark Triad” (DT) constructs are known for manipulating and distrusting others, a few studies suggest these people might also be easy targets for manipulation and differentiate less between trustworthy and untrustworthy sources. Here, we explored whether DT constructs might each contain facets that relate positively to gullibility and tendencies toward “dysfunctional trusting;” dysfunctional trusting was defined as lesser trust in benign authorities or greater trust in strangers. Participants completed multi-faceted measures of DT constructs, an index of gullibility, self-reported their trust in benign authorities and strangers, and self-reported their social intelligence. At least one facet of each DT construct related positively to gullibility and at least one facet of Machiavellianism or psychopathy related positively to trust in strangers. These effects were mediated by lower social intelligence. Excluding narcissism, each DT construct contained at least one facet that related negatively to trust in benign authorities. These effects were not mediated by social intelligence. The findings contribute to understanding how people higher in DT constructs are at risk for poor decisions and being manipulated.