Locating the Dark Triad in a Multidimensional Personality Space

The Dark Triad traits of Psychopathy, Machiavellianism, and Narcissism should be clearly recognizable within a multidimensional personality space. Two such personality spaces were investigated in this study: HEXACO (Honesty-Humility, Emotionality, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and Openness to Experience); and the Zuckerman-Kuhlman-Aluja Personality Questionnaire (ZKA-PQ) space (Extraversion, Neuroticism, Activity, Sensation Seeking, and Aggressiveness). Our sample comprised 289 participants (137 males, 145 females, 7 unspecified) who completed these three questionnaires: HEXACO-60, ZKA-PQ/SF, and the SD3, assessing the Dark Triad. We reduced the dimensionality of each space to that of a 2D representation using Smallest Space Analysis (SSA). Three research questions guided the data analysis: (a) Do the HEXACO and ZKA-PQ SSA spaces conform to the structure of a radex? (b) Will these spaces remain invariant following the entry of the Dark Triad traits into the analyses? (c) Where will the Dark Triad traits be located in each SSA space? For ZKA-PQ space, the structure was clearly indicative of a radex, both prior to entering the Dark Triad traits into the analysis, and subsequent to this. Psychopathy and Machiavellianism were in close proximity in the Aggressiveness region; Narcissism was positioned at the common origin. In contrast, HEXACO space did not conform to a radex; furthermore, the presence of the Dark Triad traits distorts this 2D SSA space.

Normal Personality, the Dark Triad, Proactive Attitude and Perceived Employability: A Cross-Cultural Study in Belgium, Switzerland and Togo

The current research examined the link between both normal and malevolent personality, proactive attitude, and self-perceived employability across some highly investigated (Belgium, Switzerland) and under-investigated populations of sub-Saharan Africa (e.g., Togo), considering proactive attitude as a potential mediator and self-perceived employability as an outcome. Conducting such a study in contexts which present notable differences in political organization and linguistic diversity, might contribute to enriching the literature on the relationships between personality and self-perceived employability. A sample of 968 participants aged 18 to 85 including 335 Belgians (50% women), 279 Swiss (58.1% women) and 354 Togolese (43.5% women) completed a French version of the Zuckerman-Kuhlman-Aluja Personality Questionnaire (ZKA-PQ/SF), Short Dark Triad (SD3), Proactive Attitude Scale (PAS), and Perceived Employability Scale (PES). All four instruments exhibited metric invariance but did not systematically show scalar invariance across the three countries. ZKA-PQ/SF’s activity and neuroticism and SD3’s narcissism dimensions predicted perceived employability, and these relations were fully or partially mediated by proactive attitude in all cultural contexts. Moreover, perceived employability was predicted by aggressiveness and psychopathy in the Swiss sample and by sensation seeking in both the Swiss and the Belgian samples. Finally, proactive attitude fully mediated between sensation seeking and employability in Belgium and partially between psychopathy and employability in Switzerland. This study illustrates that the link between personality and employability may be mediated by proactive attitude and that these links may be quite robust across cultures.

Multicultural Validation of the Zuckerman-Kuhlman-Aluja Personality Questionnaire Shortened Form (ZKA-PQ/SF) Across 18 Countries

The aim of this study was to assess the psychometric properties of the Zuckerman-Kuhlman-Aluja Personality Questionnaire shortened form (ZKA-PQ/SF) in 18 cultures and 13 languages of different African, American, Asian, and European cultures and languages. The results showed that the five-factor structure with 20 facets replicated well across cultures with a total congruence coefficient of .97. A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) resulted in adequate fit indices for the five factors based on the comparative fit index (CFI), Tucker-Lewis index (TLI; >.90), and RMSEA (.031-.081). A series of CFA to assess measurement invariance across cultures resulted in adequate CFIs and TLIs for configural and metric invariance. However, factors did not show scalar invariance. Alpha internal consistencies of five factors ranged between .77 (Sensation Seeking) and .86 (Neuroticism). The average alpha of the 20 facets was .64 with a range from .43 (SS4) to .75 (AG1). Nevertheless, alpha reliabilities were lower in some facets and cultures, especially for Senegal and Togo. The average percentage of the variance explained based on the adjusted R² was 2.9%, 1.7%, and 5.1% for age, sex, and, cultures, respectively. Finally, multidimensional scaling suggested that geographically or culturally close cultures share mean profile similarities.

Modeling General, Specific, and Method Variance in Personality Measures: Results for ZKA-PQ and NEO-PI-R

Contemporary models of personality assume a hierarchical structure in which broader traits contain narrower traits. Individual differences in response styles also constitute a source of score variance. In this study, the bifactor model is applied to separate these sources of variance for personality subscores. The procedure is illustrated using data for two personality inventories-NEO Personality Inventory-Revised and Zuckerman-Kuhlman-Aluja Personality Questionnaire. The inclusion of the acquiescence method factor generally improved the fit to acceptable levels for the Zuckerman-Kuhlman-Aluja Personality Questionnaire, but not for the NEO Personality Inventory-Revised. This effect was higher in subscales where the number of direct and reverse items is not balanced. Loadings on the specific factors were usually smaller than the loadings on the general factor. In some cases, part of the variance was due to domains being different from the main one. This information is of particular interest to researchers as they can identify which subscale scores have more potential to increase predictive validity.

The location of the Trait Emotional Intelligence in the Zuckerman's Personality Model space and the role of General Intelligence and social status

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationships between Emotional Intelligence (EI) measured by the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire (TEIQue) and personality measured by the Zuckerman-Kuhlman-Aluja Personality Questionnaire (ZKA-PQ) with the purpose of analyzing similarities and differences of both psychological constructs. Additionally, we studied the relationship among EI, personality, General Intelligence (GI) and a social position index (SPI). Results showed that the ZKA-PQ predicts the 66% (facets) and the 64% (factors) of the TEIQue. High scores in EI correlated negatively with Neuroticism (r: -0.66) and Aggressiveness (r: -0.27); and positively with Extraversion (r: 0.62). Oblique factorial analyses demonstrated that TEIQue scales were located basically in the Neuroticism and Extraversion factors. The SPI and GI no loaded in any factor. These findings showed that EI is a not a distinct construct of personality and it cannot be isolated in the ZKA-PQ personality space. GI is related with the SPI (r: 0.26), and EI correlated with GI (r: 0.18) and SPI (r: 0.16). Nevertheless, we found differences between GI high groups and the TEIQue and ZKA-PQ factors when controlling age and sex. These findings are discussed in the individual differences context.