Invited speaker: Dr Minna Lyons

Title: Can bad be good? Evolutionary perspectives on the Dark Triad of personality

Date: Thursday 10 October 2013

Time: 4pm

Venue: HG09, Middlesex University, London

The Dark Triad of personality (viz., narcissism, Machiavellianism and psychopathy) have been traditionally viewed as maladaptive, receiving much attention in the forensic and clinical contexts. Although the Dark Triad traits are distinct, they share the core features of selfishness, manipulativeness, and agentic personality styles. When investigated from evolutionary perspective, it is clear that individual differences in seemingly aversive personality traits could be adaptive in certain contexts. In this talk, I will present findings of several empirical studies researching the Dark Triad and childhood experiences,  inter-personal perception (e.g., lie detection), mate choice, and other personality variables (e.g., morningness/eveningness). We have found that there are clear sex differences in how the Dark Triad is manifested. Further, some of the sub-facets (especially callous and unemotional features of primary psychopathy) could be especially adaptive for males in increasing status and resources.

Minna Lyons

Liverpool Hope University