The Dark Triad of personality in psychology students and eco-friendly behavior

Abstract

Machiavellianism, narcissism, and non-clinical psychopathy are part of the dark triad and have recently been studied by scientists around the world. Psychologists, as representatives of helping professions, must have a pro-social personality orientation. It is known that the manifestation of individual personality traits occurs maximally in adolescence and early adulthood. Therefore, it is important to assess how the formation of not only professional, but also personal qualities of psychology students takes place. An empirical study examined the manifestation of the dark triad personality traits in psychology students enrolled in different courses of study. It was found that first-year students have a lower level of Machiavellianism than third-year students. Also, statistically significant differences were found in the manifestations of Machiavellianism in men and women. In the group of men, Machiavellianism manifested itself at a higher level than among women. The higher level of Machiavellianism among third-year students of psychology in comparison with first-year students probably reflects their mastery in the learning process of both theoretical and practical foundations of interaction, interpersonal communication, as well as the formation of practical communication skills.