People With Dark Personalities Tend to Create a Physically Attractive Veneer
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-1-2013
Publication Title
Social Psychological and Personality Science
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550612461284
ISSN
1948-5514
Abstract
Which personality traits are associated with physical attractiveness? Recent findings suggest that people high in some dark personality traits, such as narcissism and psychopathy, can be physically attractive. But what makes them attractive? Studies have confounded the more enduring qualities that impact attractiveness (i.e., unadorned attractiveness) and the effects of easily manipulated qualities such as clothing (i.e., effective adornment). In this multimethod study, we disentangle these components of attractiveness, collect self-reports and peer reports of eight major personality traits, and reveal the personality profile of people who adorn themselves effectively. Consistent with findings that dark personalities actively create positive first impressions, we found that the composite of the Dark Triad—Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy—correlates with effective adornment. This effect was also evident for psychopathy measured alone. This study provides the first experimental evidence that dark personalities construct appearances that act as social lures—possibly facilitating their cunning social strategies.
Recommended Citation
Holtzman, Nicholas S., Michael J. Strube.
2013.
"People With Dark Personalities Tend to Create a Physically Attractive Veneer."
Social Psychological and Personality Science, 4: 461-467: Sage Publications.
doi: https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550612461284 source: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1948550612461284
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/psych-facpubs/126
Copyright
Copyright belongs to Springer. Information regarding the dissemination and usage of journal articles can be accessed through the following link.
Copyright belongs to Springer. Information regarding the dissemination and usage of journal articles can be accessed through the following link.
Copyright belongs to Springer. Information regarding the dissemination and usage of journal articles can be accessed through the following link.
Copyright belongs to Springer. Information regarding the dissemination and usage of journal articles can be accessed through the following link.
