The Exploitive Mating Strategy of the Dark Triad Traits: Tests of Rape-Enabling Attitudes

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Web End = Arch Sex Behav (2017) 46:697706 DOI 10.1007/s10508-017-0937-1

http://crossmark.crossref.org/dialog/?doi=10.1007/s10508-017-0937-1&domain=pdf

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The Exploitive Mating Strategy of the Dark Triad Traits: Tests of Rape-Enabling Attitudes

Peter K. Jonason1 Mary Girgis2 Josephine Milne-Home1

Received: 9 June 2015 / Revised: 3 January 2017 / Accepted: 5 January 2017 / Published online: 24 January 2017 Springer Science+Business Media New York 2017

Abstract The Dark Triad traits have been repeatedly labeled as facilitating an exploitive mating strategy. However, various researchershaverepeatedlyconatedshort-termmatingorcasual sexwithanexploitivematingstrategy.InthisstudyusingMechanicalTurkparticipants(N = 252;142men,110women),weprovided a better test of just how sexually exploitive those high on theDarkTriadtraitsmightbebyexamininghowthetraitsrelated torape-enablingattitudes.Weexaminedhoweachtraitmayfacilitaterape,whethertheseassociationswererobusttopartialingthe varianceassociatedwiththeBigFivetraitsandsimilarinmenand women,andshowedthatonereasonwhymenmaybemorelikely to rape than women is they are characterized by the Dark Triad traits more than women are. In so doing, we test the conuence modelofrapethatassertsthatpersonalitytraitssimilartotheDark Triad traits act as one pathway to rape.

Keywords Narcissism Machiavellianism Psychopathy

Dark Triad Sex differences Rape

Introduction

Foryears,thepersonalitypsychologylandscapehasbeendominated by the Big Five traits (i.e., extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism,conscientiousness,andopennessorintellect;Costa &McCrae,1995).Whilestillimportantinunderstandingsweepingaspectsofpersonality,thetaxonomymayfallshortinitsabil-

ity to tap some of thedarkerand less socially desirable aspects ofinterindividualdifferences.Onestreamofresearchthathasbeen quicklygainingmomentumandaddressingthistheoreticaland empiricalgapistheworkontheDarkTriadtraits(Furnham,Richards,&Paulhus,2013).TheDarkTriadtraitsarecharacterizedby vanity and self-centeredness (i.e., narcissism), manipulation and cynicism(i.e.,Machiavellianism),andcalloussocialattitudesand impulsivity (i.e., psychopathy). The traits haveimplicationsfor organizational psychology, social psychology, and clinical psychology and may have implications for sex research, which we explorehere.Inthisstudy,weareinterestedintherelationships betweentheDarkTriadtraitsandrape-enablingattitudes,whether sexdifferencesinsuchattitudesmightbeaccountedforbytheDark Triad traits, and whether the shared or unique variance in the Dark Triad traits is correlated with latent rape-enabling attitudes. Doing so will advance our understanding of boththe Dark Triad traitsbut alsothedistal(asopposedtoproximaltraitslikesociosexuality)personality predictors of rape.

Onereasonforthemomentumthesetraitshavegarneredstems fromtheirintegrationintoanevolutionaryoradaptationistparadigm(Carter,Campbell,&Muncer,2014;Jonason,Jones,&Lyons, 2013a).Oneimportantclaimtocomeoutofthisparadigmisthat theDarkTriadtraitsfacilitateanexploitivematingstrategy(Jonason,Li,Webster,&Schmitt,2009;Jonason,Valentine,Li,&Harbeson, 2011b). These traits may be partly responsible for the successful sexual exploitation of others through deception in mating contexts (Jonason, Lyons, Baughman, & Vernon, 2014), a manipulative social style (Jonason & Webster, 2012), interpersonal aggression(Jones&Olderbak,2014),deviantsexualfantasies (Baughman,Jonason,Veselka,&Vernon,2014),andlimitedempathy(Jonason,Lyons,Bethell,&Ross,2013c),allofwhichmay facilitate rape. Indeed, narcissism is associated with the acceptanceofrapemyths(Bushman,Bonacci,VanDijk,&Baumeister, 2003; Hepper, Hart, Meek, Cisek, & Sedikides, 2014), psychopathy is associated with sexual coercion (Figueredo, Glad-

& Peter K. [email protected]

1 School of Social Sciences and Psychology, Western SydneyUniversity, Penrith, NSW 2751, Australia

2 School of Psychology, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia

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den, Sisco, Patch, & Jones, 2015; Jonason, 2015) and sexually predatorybehavior (OConnell&Marcus,2016),andthe conuence model of rape (Malamuth, Heavey, & Linz, 1993; Malamuth, Linz, Heavey, Barnes, & Acker, 1995; Malamuth, Sock-loskie,Koss,&Tanaka,1991)suggeststherearetwopathstorape andsexualaggressionhostilemasculinityandimpersonalsex which are commonly linked to the Dark Triad traits...