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Original Article

The Dark Triad and Trait Versus Ability Emotional Intelligence

Emotional Darkness Differs Between Women and Men

Published Online:June 10, 2016https://doi.org/10.1027/1614-0001/a000195

Abstract

Abstract. A growing body of studies investigates emotional intelligence (EI) in relation to the Dark Triad (DT) personality traits. DT traits seem to be generally associated with lower EI, but findings are still inconsistent, especially with respect to narcissism. The vast majority of studies investigating EI correlates of DT traits relied on self-report measures in terms of trait EI. Currently, there are only sparse reports of relationships between DT traits, trait EI, and performance measures of ability EI. Thus, we investigated the relationships between these constructs in a sample of N = 540 individuals. We performed analyses separately for both sexes as recent research indicates that correlations might differ between women and men. Results showed that in women, reduced trait and ability EI are linked to psychopathy, but not the other DT traits. In men, the pattern of results was more complex: Narcissism was primarily related to lower ability EI, whereas psychopathy was primarily associated with lower trait EI. Machiavellianism was related to higher levels of trait EI in men. These findings suggest that among the DT traits, psychopathy goes along with reduced EI in women, whereas in men narcissism is associated with lower ability EI.

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