Some personalities are quite dangerous. The most dangerous? The Dark Triad personality. You may not realize it at first, but it’s important to read up on this personality, and the traits that come with it, so you can protect yourself from getting into a toxic relationship.
First, we’ll start with the three main traits that make up The Dark Triad personality and then we’ll dig into more traits that are common with this type of personality.
A Dark Triad personality is defined as someone who displays traits of narcissism, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism—below, we get into what those things mean.
1. They deeply crave attention.
Know someone who seems to have an insatiable hunger for praise and attention? How about a lack of empathy? If your answer is yes, then you’re likely dealing with a narcissist. The other thing with narcissists is that they love to love-bomb, or shower you with extreme displays of affection to win your trust. This love and praise won’t last though—a narcissist will use it as a tool for control, only doling it out when they feel you slipping away or need you to re-inflate their ego when it’s crushed.
2. They don’t know right from wrong.
This is a cornerstone of a psychopathic personality. It’s so scary because people who possess it have no moral conscience. That means there’s no inner voice telling them what’s right and what’s wrong. This often manifests as faking emotions and charming people in order to get what they want. The relationships they build are surface-level because people with psychopathic personalities don’t experience the full range of emotions others do. The good news is that psychopathy is a rare personality type, but if you find yourself with someone who has an extreme lack of empathy, beware.
3. They have no problem manipulating others.
This trait of having the willingness to manipulate others to get what they want is called Machiavellianism. This isn’t the occasional white lie, this is something deeper—people with a trait of Machiavellianism will do anything in order to advance themselves. They prey on people who have a high level of empathy because they see it as a means to get what they want. The bottom line: beware of someone who thinks their goals are more important than other people’s, lies constantly, and calls out others for having “unpure intentions” to distract you.
4. They lose interest in things and people quickly.
If someone seems to never be entertained or satisfied, that could be a red flag. If you feel like you’re never able to excite this person, it’s not your fault. The thing with these types of people is that they’re super sensitive to rewards, meaning they’re always reaching for a dopamine rush. Their main goal is pleasure first and when someone or something isn’t giving them that they move on to the next.
5. They’re very rigid.
These people take stubbornness to the nth degree. They’re not just a little inflexible, they actually refuse to compromise or cooperate when something doesn’t go the way they want. It could be something as small as where you’re going out for dinner, but they won’t budge even if it creates conflict.
6. They don’t take ownership and shift the blame onto others.
If you’ve ever been gaslit, then you know the feeling. You have a solid argument, but when push comes to shove and you approach the other person about it, everything gets flips. They’re great at twisting situations and your words, so you start to doubt yourself. Before you know it, you’re taking the blame for something they did and wondering how the heck you ended up there.
7. They’re parasitic.
They leach onto other people in order to become successful. They’ll exploit other people for their own personal gain, quite literally sucking them dry until they’ve gotten everything they’ve needed out of the one-sided relationship.
8. They build themselves up.
People with a Dark Triad personality’s self-importance is grandiose, often showing up as an overly inflated sense of superiority. They’ll spend their entire lives trying to prove themselves through made-up stories about their own achievements. This helps them to have control and helps them maintain the belief that they’re special and unique.
9. They break others down.
On the flip side of that, you’ll likely catch this type of person devaluing others—whether that’s someone’s achievements, skills, or personality. This is another method of control—it allows them to put themselves on a pedestal by taking others off of it.
10. They have double standards.
They think the rules extend to everyone else but themselves. On one hand, they expect you to be there no matter what, serve their needs, and make concessions to make their lives better. But on the other? They do nothing of the sort—they’re definitely not loyal and would never sacrifice their needs for the benefit of someone else.
11. They don’t show remorse.
Taking no accountability is the name of the game here. Whether they straight up blame you, disregard your feelings entirely, or try to convince you that you deserved it, you will never get an apology. They genuinely believe they didn’t do anything wrong and, even if they did, they don’t care how it affects anyone but themselves.
12. They charm your pants off.
The terrifying thing about these types of people is that they’re often very charming, which makes it harder to detect their manipulation. They’ll shower you with attention and make it seem like they “get” you—don’t be duped, this is an act and once they have their claws in you, the charm will likely begin to fade.
13. They crave constant validation.
These people become big babies when they’re not getting the accolades they think they deserve. They see themselves as the best thing since sliced bread and, when no one is outright telling them that, they act out. This can manifest in two ways: building themselves up and putting other people down (more below).
14. Everything is a competition to them.
Even if it means pushing others down to get where they want to be, these types of people will do anything it takes to win. In their eyes, the world is full of winners and losers and they would rather do just about anything than be considered the latter. Winning boosts their ego and is a way to control their self-esteem, but here’s the thing: this type of person’s “winning” often just looks like “taking,” because they don’t play fair.
15. They often get aggressive.
Once you become hip to their game, you won’t be so easily controlled. This is where the panic sets in—because their demands are no longer being met, they’ll go to extremes to get the control back. This can look like coercion, manipulation, and aggression and it is toxic AF.
