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Vocational interests and dark personality: Are there dark career choices?

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DOI: 10.1016/j.paid.2016.07.029

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 Personality and Individual Differences 104 (2017) 43–47

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Personality and Individual Differences

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/paid

Vocational interests and dark personality: Are there dark career choices?
Christopher Marcin Kowalski a, Philip A. Vernon a, Julie Aitken Schermer b,⁎
a
Department of Psychology, The University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada
b
Management and Organizational Studies, Faculty of Social Science, The University of Western Ontario, London, ON N6A 5C2, Canada

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: This study investigated how vocational interests are related to the Dark Triad – a cluster of three socially malev-
Received 11 May 2016 olent personality traits that include Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy. Participants completed self-
Received in revised form 15 July 2016 report measures of vocational interests, Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy. Narcissism correlated
Accepted 22 July 2016
positively with the artistic, social, biology, and business interest factors and with many of their associated scales.
Available online xxxx
Machiavellianism correlated negatively with the social, applied, and work style factors. Psychopathy correlated
Keywords:
positively with the science, biology, and business interest factors, and was negatively correlated with the social
Dark Triad and work style factors. The results expand the understanding of personality and vocational interests and support
Vocational interests the perspective that the Dark Triad consists of three related yet different dimensions.
Career choices © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction vocational interests using different measures of vocational interests

and Dark Triad traits. The present study measures psychopathy, Machi-
Personality has consistently been linked with vocational interests. avellianism, and narcissism using the Self-Report Psychopathy Scale
For example, in a meta-analysis of 12 studies using Holland's (1997) (SRP; Hare, 1985), the MACH-IV (Christie & Geis, 1970), and the Narcis-
six domain model of vocational interests (realistic, investigative, artistic, sistic Personality Inventory (NPI; Raskin & Hall, 1979), while Jonason et
social, enterprising, and conventional, or RIASEC) and the Five Factor al. (2014) employed the use of the Dirty Dozen measure (D12; Jonason
Model of personality, Larson, Rottinghaus, and Borgen (2002) found & Webster, 2010) and the Short Dark Triad measure (SD3; Jones &
that: openness to experience was correlated with investigative and ar- Paulhus, 2014). This distinction is important as previous research has
tistic career interests; extraversion was correlated with social and en- noted that although the Dirty Dozen is a very useful composite measure
terprising career interests; and conscientiousness was correlated with of the Dark Triad, it is not the recommended choice of measure when
enterprising and conventional interests. A similar pattern was found measuring each Dark Triad factor individually (Lee et al., 2013). The
in a separate meta-analysis of 18 studies by Barrick, Mount, and Gupta SD3, on the other hand, has been found to be the more valid measure
(2003). What is less understood is how vocational interests are correlat- relative to the D12, however because of its brevity, the scale may not
ed with negative, or “dark”, personality traits. Jonason, Wee, Li, and capture the measured constructs as well as longer measures of the
Jackson (2014) examined how the Dark Triad (subclinical psychopathy, Dark Triad.
Machiavellianism, and narcissism) correlated with vocational interests Furthermore, unlike the study of Jonason et al. (2014), the present
in two samples. Across the two samples, subclinical psychopathy (a study used the Jackson Career Explorer (JCE; Schermer, 2012). The JCE
lack of empathy, thrill-seeking behaviour, and high impulsivity, see is a modified version of the Jackson Vocational Interest Survey (JVIS;
Hare, 1985) correlated positively with realistic, enterprising, and practi- Jackson, 1977). Relative to the original measure, the JCE is composed of
cal interests. Machiavellianism (interpersonal coldness and manipula- less items (170 compared to the original 289 pairs) and employs a Likert
tiveness that arises from a lack of conventional morality, see Christie & scale rating for items, rather than ipsative choices. These changes were
Geis, 1970) correlated positively with cultured interests and negatively made in order to avoid fatigue and boredom effects and to make the
with artistic, social, and enterprising interests. Narcissism (sense of en- scale better suited for multivariate analysis, respectively (Schermer &
titlement and superiority, see Raskin & Hall, 1979) was found to corre- Vernon, 2008). The JCE consists of 34 scales which have been consistent-
late positively with artistic, social, enterprising, and cultured interests ly found to generate seven factors: business (dominant leadership,
and negatively with conventional interests. finance, business, sales, supervision, human resources management,
The purpose of this study is to expand on the findings reported by law, and professional advising), work style (job security, stamina, ac-
Jonason et al. (2014) by examining how the Dark Triad correlates with countability, academic achievement, independence, planfulness, and in-
terpersonal confidence), science (mathematics, physical science,
⁎ Corresponding author. engineering, and life science), social (social science, personal services,
E-mail address: [email protected] (J.A. Schermer). teaching, social service, and elementary education), artistic (creative

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2016.07.029
0191-8869/© 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
44 C.M. Kowalski et al. / Personality and Individual Differences 104 (2017) 43–47

arts, performing arts, author-journalism, and technical writing), applied high scores on the Dark Triad measures tend to prefer social systems
(skilled trades, family activity, and office work), and biology (adventure, that emphasize social stratification and inequity and prefer to be at
nature-agriculture, and medical service; Schermer & Vernon, 2008). Both the top of the social hierarchy (Lee et al., 2013). This is consistent with
the JCE scales and factors have been found to correlate meaningfully with the definition of narcissism which is characterized by a sense of superi-
other vocational interest and personality measures (Schermer, 2012; ority. Moreover, it has been found that people that score high on mea-
Schermer & MacDougall, 2011; Schermer, Petrides, & Vernon, 2015). sures of Machiavellianism are concerned with gaining social influence
(Jonason & Webster, 2012) and that business students tend to score
1.1. Hypotheses higher on measures of Machiavellianism relative to their non-business
student counterparts (Skinner, 1981). These results suggest high Machi-
Based on the findings reported by Jonason et al. (2014) and on past avellians are interested in careers that are likely to lead to positions of
reported correlations between the Dark Triad and the JCE scales and fac- influence. Furthermore, all three of the dark traits have been associated
tors with personality dimensions, seven general hypotheses (grouped with an interest in dominant leadership – one of underlying interests of
by JCE interest factors) were tested. First, it was predicted that the artis- the JCE business factor (Semenya & Honey, 2015), suggesting that pos-
tic interest factor and the corresponding interest scales would correlate itive correlations should be found.
negatively with psychopathy and Machiavellianism, and positively with Last, it was predicted that the JCE work style factor, and associated
narcissism (H1). Art is often described as an expression of emotion and scales, would be negatively correlated with psychopathy and Machia-
because psychopaths and high Machiavellians are posited to be defi- vellianism, and not significantly associated with narcissism (H7). Prior
cient in these abilities (Petrides, Vernon, Schermer, & Veselka, 2011; research using Holland's vocational interest model has suggested that
Veselka, Schermer, & Vernon, 2012), it is unlikely that they would pur- conscientiousness is unrelated to vocational interests (Barrick et al.,
sue artistic careers. In contrast, narcissists may pursue artistic careers in 2003) but all of the scales that comprise the JCE work style have been
order to be admired by others (Jonason et al., 2014). Also based on the found to be correlated with conscientiousness (Schermer, 2012). Extant
findings of Jonason et al. (2014) regarding the relationship between in- research has also found that individuals who are higher in psychopathy
vestigative interests, we expected that the science factor would not be and Machiavellianism tend be less conscientious (Vernon et al., 2008).
related to any of the Dark Triad personality dimensions (H2).
With respect to the JCE social factor, it was predicted that these in- 2. Method
terest scales would be negatively correlated with psychopathy and Ma-
chiavellianism, and positively correlated with narcissism (H3). Previous 2.1. Participants
research has suggested that psychopaths and Machiavellians tend to
lack the ability to express or understand emotional information The sample was comprised of 858 volunteer participants (709 fe-
(Petrides et al., 2011; Veselka et al., 2012); hence psychopaths and Ma- males and 149 males) from North America. The age of participants
chiavellians may stray away from careers that require social interac- ranged from 15 to 92 years (M = 40.11, SD = 17.01). Participants
tions. Narcissism, in contrast, is more social in nature as it correlates were recruited to be part of an ongoing participant pool through maga-
positively with extraversion (Vernon, Villani, Vickers, & Harris, 2008) zine and newspaper ads, as well as social media.
therefore a narcissist may be more likely to pursue careers that allow
them to network with others. Our predictions regarding the relation- 2.2. Materials
ship between the social interest factor and Machiavellianism and narcis-
sism are congruent with the findings of Jonason et al. (2014); however 2.2.1. Jackson Career Explorer (JCE)
they found a non-significant relationship between social interests and The JCE assesses vocational interests (Schermer, 2012). This mea-
psychopathy. sure consists of 170 items (example item, “Working overtime to com-
We also predicted that biological vocational interests would be plete a project”) rated on a Likert scale ranging from 1 (would not
differentially correlated with the Dark Triad. Specifically, given the want to do this activity) to 5 (would very much like to do this activity).
common correlations with the Big Five (i.e. psychopathy and The measure's 34 vocational interests (5 items per interest) have been
Machiavellianism- low conscientiousness; narcissism – high extraver- found to consistently fit a seven-factor solution, including: business,
sion; Vernon et al., 2008), we expected that an interest in adventure work style, science, social, artistic, applied, and biology interests. Previ-
would be positively correlated with all three of the Dark Triad traits. ous research has shown that the JCE has high internal consistency, with
Moreover, we expected that natural-agricultural interests would be un- the average alpha for the scales being 0.76 (Schermer, 2012; Schermer &
related to the Dark Triad, and medical interests to be negatively corre- MacDougall, 2011; Schermer & Vernon, 2008). The JCE was also found
lated with psychopathy and Machiavellianism given the caring and to have convergent validity with other vocational interest scales
social aspects of medical professions (H4). (Schermer, 2012; Schermer & MacDougall, 2011).
No a priori hypotheses were made regarding the applied interest
factor itself as the underlying interests are likely to be differentially cor- 2.2.2. Self-Report Psychopathy Scale (SRP-III-R12)
related with the Dark Triad. More specifically, it was predicted that an The Self-Report Psychopathy Scale is used to measure subclinical
interest in skilled trades would be positively correlated with psychopa- psychopathy (Hare, 1985). The scale is composed of 62 self-reflective
thy, and unrelated to Machiavellianism and narcissism. Previous re- five point Likert scale items (example item, “I'm a rebellious person”)
search has found this pattern of correlations with realistic interests ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). The (SRP-III-
which are similar to skilled trades (Jonason et al., 2014). Furthermore, R12) has demonstrated high internal consistency (α = 0.79) and is
family activity interests were expected to be negatively correlated the most widely validated measure of psychopathy in extant literature
with psychopathy and Machiavellianism as psychopaths and Machia- (Paulhus & Williams, 2002).
vellians likely lack the compassion required in such a vocation. More-
over, an interest in office work is expected to correlate negatively with 2.2.3. MACH-IV
Machiavellianism and narcissism as individuals high on these dimen- The MACH-IV measure is a self-report measure of Machiavellianism
sions are likely to avoid careers where they are relatively unlikely to (Christie & Geis, 1970). This scale is composed of 20 self-reflective items
gain influence and be the centre of attention, respectively (H5). (example item, “The best way to handle people is to tell them what they
It was also predicted that all three of the Dark Triad traits would be want to hear”) and is answered on a five point Likert scale ranging from
positively correlated with the business factor and the related vocational 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). Previous research has shown
interest scales (H6). Past research has found that individuals who have that the MACH-IV has high internal consistency, ranging from 0.70 to
 C.M. Kowalski et al. / Personality and Individual Differences 104 (2017) 43–47 45

0.76 (Fehr, Samson, & Paulhus, 1992). Moreover, Rauthmann (2013) the Dark Triad was also partially supported with the exception being
has demonstrated that the MACH-IV has strong criterion validity as it the positive correlations between psychopathy and the science factor
significantly correlated with eight Machiavellian manipulation tactics and two of the corresponding scales (physical and engineering).
with correlations ranging from 0.26 to 0.65. The JCE social factor was predicted to have a positive correlation
with narcissism and negative correlations with Machiavellianism and
2.2.4. Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI) psychopathy (H3). This prediction was generally supported and was
The Narcissistic Personality Inventory is used to assess individual strongest with Machiavellianism in that all of the social interests had
differences in subclinical narcissism (Raskin & Hall, 1979). The NPI con- significant negative correlations.
sists of 40 ipsative self-reflective items where participants are to choose The biology interest factor from the JCE is one of the less tightly de-
between a narcissistic style response and a non-narcissistic style re- fined factors. It was predicted (H4) that the adventure scale would be
sponse (example item, “When people compliment me I sometimes get positively correlated with the Dark Triad traits and positive correlations
embarrassed” versus “I know that I am good because everybody keeps were found which were also significant for narcissism and psychopa-
telling me so”). This scale has shown to be consistent between peer thology. An interest in nature and agriculture was unrelated to the
and self-ratings (Emmons, 1984). Furthermore, the NPI has been Dark Triad and although negative correlations were predicted for med-
shown to have high internal consistency (α = 0.84; Paulhus & ical service interests, these correlations did not differ significantly from
Williams, 2002). zero. Based on the pattern and magnitude of the correlations, the two
significant correlations between the biology factor and narcissism and
2.3. Procedure psychopathy appear to be driven by the adventure scale.
Although no direct hypotheses were made regarding the applied in-
Questionnaires in paper format were sent to individuals who had terest factor, predictions were made regarding the individual scales
previously agreed to participate in the study, and were to be completed (H5). It was predicted that skilled trade interests would correlate posi-
in their homes. Once completed, individuals were to mail the question- tively with psychopathy and not correlate significantly with Machiavel-
naires in a provided stamped and addressed envelope; participants lianism and narcissism. These predictions were supported. Negative
were informed that this would imply consent. Participants were sent correlations were expected between interests in family activity and
$20.00 and were entered into a draw to win one of ten $100 prizes psychoticism and Machiavellianism. These predictions were also sup-
upon return of the completed questionnaire. Participants also received ported. In addition, negative correlations were found between an inter-
a debriefing form explaining the study and thanking them for est in office work and the Dark Triad which may be due to a perception
participation. of the lack of prestige in the position.
The prediction that the three Dark Triad traits would correlate with
3. Results the business factor and associated scales (H6) was only partially sup-
ported. Narcissism and psychoticism were found to correlate positively
3.1. Sex differences and correlations with age with most of the business scales but Machiavellianism had non-signifi-
cant correlations. It was further predicted that the work style factor
T-tests were used to examine sex differences in Dark Triad and voca- would be unrelated to narcissism and correlate negatively with both
tional interest variables. In an effort to help control Type I Error, only Machiavellianism and psychoticism based on reported associations be-
those results with p b 0.001 (two-tailed) are reported for all statistics. tween these measures and conscientiousness (H7). These predictions
Levene's F-test for Equality of Variance was nonsignificant for all vari- were supported in general with the exception of non-significant corre-
ables except for the Science factor and interests in mathematics, physi- lations between Machiavellianism and psychoticism and the interest
cal science, engineering, life science, office work, and finance and thus scales of job security and independence.
equal variances were assumed for all remaining variables. As shown in
Table 1, men scored significantly higher in Machiavellianism, psychop- 4. Discussion
athy, the science interest factor, mathematics, physical science, engi-
neering, adventure, dominant leadership, and finance. Women scored 4.1. Dark Triad and vocational interests
significantly higher in creative arts, the social interest factor, personal
service, social service, elementary education, the applied interest factor, The main objective of the present study was to address the underde-
family activity, office work, and, accountability. These sex differences for veloped area of vocational interests in relation to the Dark Triad. Most of
the Dark Triad scales replicate the pattern found by Jonason et al. (2014) our hypotheses were supported. Of particular interest, the present study
and the differences for the interests are similar to those reported in demonstrated that narcissism was positively related to artistic interests
other samples (Schermer, 2012). but neither Machiavellianism nor psychoticism was significantly related
Correlations with age are also shown in Table 1. A significant positive to artistic interests. Narcissism also had positive correlations with inter-
correlation was found with planfulness. Age was found to correlate neg- ests in social careers, positions with adventure, and business. Machia-
atively with Narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy, the artistic in- vellianism was negatively related to social careers, applied jobs, and
terest factor, creative arts, the science factor, physical science, life work styles including stamina, accountability, academic achievement,
science, the biology factor, and adventure and correlated positively and interpersonal confidence. Psychoticism was positively correlated
with planfulness. with an interest in physical science, engineering, adventurous jobs,
and some aspects of business including dominant leadership, finance,
3.2. Correlations between Dark Triad and vocational interests sales, and law. Negative correlations were found between psychoticism
and social interests, specifically teaching, social services, and elementa-
Table 2 reports the bivariate correlations between the Dark Triad ry education, family, office work, and work styles including stamina, ac-
and vocational interests. The prediction (H1) that the artistic interest countability, academic achievement, planfulness, and interpersonal
factor and associated scales would be positively correlated with narcis- confidence. These results add to our understanding of how personality
sism and negatively with psychopathy and Machiavellianism was only and vocational interests are linked and further support the argument
partially supported in that narcissism correlated positively with all (ex- that the Dark Triad represents three related yet distinct characteristics.
cept technical writing). Psychopathy and Machiavellianism did not cor- For example, as stated above, narcissists were more interested in social
relate significantly with the artistic dimensions. The prediction (H2) vocations but, in contrast, negative correlations were found with Machi-
that the science factor would have non-significant correlations with avellianism and psychoticism. Egan, Chan, and Shorter (2014) proposed
46 C.M. Kowalski et al. / Personality and Individual Differences 104 (2017) 43–47

Table 1
Descriptive statistics, sex difference tests, and correlations with age for the Dark Triad and vocational interest factors and scales.

Scale Men mean (SD) Women mean (SD) F t (df) d r with age

Dark Triad
NPI 0.41 (0.18) 0.38 (0.17) 0.10 1.77 (843) 0.16 −22⁎
MACH 2.67 (0.39) 2.49 (0.40) 0.12 5.28 (856)⁎ 0.48 −0.17⁎
SRP 2.37 (0.40) 2.06 (0.37) 0.86 8.93 (835)⁎ 0.80 −0.22⁎

Vocational interest factors and scales

Artistic factor 44.13 (16.78) 48.51 (16.31) 0.15 −2.79 (673) 0.26 −0.15⁎
Creative arts 11.64 (4.88) 14.97 (5.65) 6.49 −6.91 (681)⁎ 0.63 −0.22⁎
Performing arts 10.24 (5.26) 11.23 (5.66) 2.99 −1.87 (681) 0.18 −0.06
Author-journalism 12.46 (6.11) 12.73 (6.10) 0.00 −0.48 (682) 0.04 −0.08
Technical writing 9.96 (4.40) 9.52 (4.29) 0.89 1.07 (681) 0.10 −0.10
Science factor 45.29 (18.96) 33.13 (13.67) 46.44⁎ 7.05 (173.6)⁎ 0.74 −0.16⁎
Mathematics 11.47 (6.19) 8.24 (4.75) 32.68⁎ 5.73 (181.7)⁎ 0.58 −0.11
Physical science 11.88 (5.95) 7.74 (4.13) 55.36⁎ 7.73 (171.9)⁎ 0.81 −0.14⁎
Engineering 11.01 (5.56) 6.83 (3.17) 122.90⁎ 8.53 (161.4)⁎ 0.92 −0.05
Life science 11.03 (5.32) 10.37 (4.34) 14.33⁎ 1.35 (185.6) 0.14 −0.20⁎
Social factor 69.59 (17.96) 82.37 (19.16) 0.99 −7.01 (670)⁎ 0.69 −0.04
Social science 14.86 (5.19) 15.00 (5.20) 0.07 −0.30 (682) 0.02 −0.10
Personal service 11.63 (4.17) 14.97 (4.48) 1.28 −7.90 (681)⁎ 0.77 −0.01
Teaching 16.76 (4.62) 18.07 (5.00) 2.01 −2.78 (683) 0.27 −0.05
Social service 12.04 (4.93) 15.73 (5.52) 3.54 −7.13 (680)⁎ 0.70 −0.08
Elementary education 14.57 (5.31) 18.27 (5.28) 0.17 −7.32 (682)⁎ 0.70 0.03
Biology factor 37.93 (11.39) 34.73 (12.04) 0.40 2.80 (673) 0.27 −0.23⁎
Adventure 16.22 (5.44) 12.97 (5.35) 0.13 6.35 (679)⁎ 0.60 −0.35⁎
Nature-agriculture 11.42 (4.78) 11.06 (4.73) 0.13 0.79 (678) 0.07 −0.09
Medical service 10.31 (5.42) 10.72 (6.40) 10.53 −0.76 (240.4) 0.07 −0.04
Applied factor 32.71 (8.04) 39.33 (8.70) 3.36 −8.02 (673)⁎ 0.79 0.05
Skilled trades 8.82 (3.66) 8.04 (3.06) 8.80 2.29 (186.5) 0.23 −0.02
Family activity 15.51 (3.86) 19.63 (3.64) 1.47 −11.73 (684)⁎ 1.10 0.01
Office work 8.49 (3.85) 11.62 (5.13) 18.20⁎ −7.92 (268.3)⁎ 0.69 0.09
Business factor 95.83 (30.10) 88.03 (28.30) 0.56 2.76 (660) 0.27 −0.04
Dominant leadership 13.90 (4.89) 12.33 (4.63) 0.87 3.50 (683)⁎ 0.32 −0.11
Finance 11.04 (5.63) 8.78 (4.50) 15.37⁎ 4.39 (183.5)⁎ 0.44 −0.10
Business 11.29 (4.30) 10.71 (4.22) 0.00 1.43 (679) 0.13 0.02
Sales 8.06 (3.24) 7.99 (3.43) 0.00 0.20 (679) 0.02 −0.06
Supervision 13.65 (4.59) 13.04 (4.75) 0.40 1.35 (681) 0.13 −0.02
HR management 14.87 (5.05) 13.86 (4.94) 0.00 2.11 (678) 0.20 −0.01
Law 11.32 (4.67) 9.82 (4.53) 0.38 3.42 (681) 0.32 0.04
Professional advising 12.28 (4.69) 11.17 (4.55) 0.00 2.55 (681) 0.24 −0.02
Work style factor 141.44 (15.32) 142.73 (16.44) 0.08 −0.80 (637) 0.08 0.05
Job security 17.82 (3.62) 18.14 (3.84) 0.55 −0.88 (676) 0.08 −0.06
Stamina 21.03 (2.81) 21.19 (3.03) 0.60 −0.57 (676) 0.05 −0.11
Accountability 22.52 (2.48) 23.28 (2.19) 3.44 −3.55 (680)⁎ 0.33 0.12
Academic ach. 18.91 (3.96) 19.18 (3.97) 0.00 −0.72 (677) 0.07 −0.04
Independence 19.38 (3.40) 18.29 (3.94) 2.58 2.99 (677) 0.30 −0.01
Planfulness 20.99 (3.26) 21.59 (3.31) 0.11 −1.91 (682) 0.18 0.15⁎
Interpersonal conf. 20.34 (3.16) 20.91 (3.05) 0.91 −1.90 (668) 0.18 −0.02

Notes: NPI is the Narcissistic Personality Inventory; MACH is the MACH-IV Machiavellian personality scale; SRP is the Self Report Psychopathy scale; HR = Human Relations; Ach. =
Achievement; Conf. = Confidence; F = Levene's F; if Levene's F was significant, the pooled variance estimated t-test was calculated; d = Cohen's d.
⁎ p b 0.001; two-tailed.

a “Dark Dyad” model which consists of Machiavellianism and psychop- Similarly, if the client appears to be narcissistic (possibly taking
athy (the Dark Triad without narcissism). The suggestion is that even “selfies” with their cellular telephone), the counsellor may suggest
though narcissism has some negative connotations, it differs from the considering careers in the arts, social/personal services, or business.
other two dark variables as it has positive and prosocial aspects Although future research is clearly needed to assess if the Dark Triad
(Rauthmann & Kolar, 2012). The present study provides some support personality profile scores do differ for people employed successfully
to the notion of a Dark Dyad as narcissism had different relationships in certain vocations, compared to other career areas, the present re-
with some of the interests but Machiavellianism and psychopathy sults, in combination with the results reported by Jonason et al.
were more similar. (2014), provide more information to counsellors.
A limitation of our study was the overrepresentation of women on
4.2. Implications, limitations, and future directions our sample (83.7%). Previous research has found significant sex differ-
ences in both Dark Triad traits and vocational interests so this may
The present study has both theoretical and practical implications. have affected our results (Kowalski, Vernon, & Schermer, 2016; Su,
Theoretically, the study adds to our knowledge regarding vocational Rounds, & Armstrong, 2009). In fact, the sex differences found in voca-
interests and personality by examining dark personality traits. In tional interests has been described as perhaps the largest sex difference
terms of practical implications, the results of the present study may of all major psychological dimensions (Lubinski, 2000). A second limita-
help career consultants and school guidance counsellors assist cli- tion to the present study is the correlational nature of the data. As found
ents in choosing the right career path based on personality traits. with the business interest factor, although Skinner (1981) reported that
For example, if an individual demonstrates psychotic characteristics, business students scored higher on Machiavellianism than did other
counsellors may dissuade the individual from social careers, such students, the present results did not find significant correlations be-
as teaching, and suggest careers such as engineering or finance. tween Machiavellianism and business interests. These contradictory
 C.M. Kowalski et al. / Personality and Individual Differences 104 (2017) 43–47 47

Table 2 References
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Ackerman, R. A., Witt, E. A., Donnellan, M. B., Trzesniewski, K. H., Robins, R. W., & Kashy, D.
NPI MACH SRP A. (2011). What does the Narcissistic Personality Inventory really measure?
Assessment, 18, 67–87.
Artistic factor 0.26⁎⁎ 0.02 0.06
Andrew, J., Cooke, M., & Muncer, S. J. (2008). The relationship between empathy and Ma-
Creative arts 0.14⁎ 0.02 0.01
chiavellianism: An alternative to empathizing-systemizing theory. Personality and
Performing arts 0.25⁎⁎ 0.02 0.07
Individual Differences, 44, 1203–1211.
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personality scale; SRP is the Self Report Psychopathy scale. NPI correlated 0.13⁎ with gence and the dark triad traits of personality. Twin Research and Human Genetics,
MACH and 0.35⁎ with SRP. MACH correlated 0.51⁎ with SRP. The inter-factor correlations 14(1), 35–41.
for the vocational interest factors averaged 0.28 (SD = 0.11) with a minimum of 0.02 be- Raskin, R. N., & Hall, C. S. (1979). A narcissistic personality inventory. Psychological
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posing the trimmed MACH. Journal of Personality Assessment, 95, 388–397.
⁎ p b 0.01
Rauthmann, J. F., & Kolar, G. P. (2012). How “dark” are the Dark Triad traits? Examining
⁎⁎ p b 0.001; two-tailed.
the perceived darkness of narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy.
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Schermer, J. A., & MacDougall, R. (2011). The Jackson Career Explorer in relation to the Ca-
tional interest testing as well as the Dark Triad personality. reer Directions Inventory. Journal of Career Assessment, 19, 442–451.
One of the advantages of the present study was the use of multiple Schermer, J. A., & Vernon, P. A. (2008). A behavior genetic analysis of vocational interests
vocational interest scales which demonstrated unique patterns of rela- using a modified version of the Jackson Vocational Interest Survey. Personality and
Individual Differences, 45, 103–109.
tionships with the Dark Triad traits. We suggest that future research Schermer, J. A., Petrides, K. V., & Vernon, P. A. (2015). On the genetic and environmental
should further examine vocational interests in terms of the underlying correlations between trait emotional intelligence and vocational interest factors. Twin
dimensions of the Dark Triad traits. In other words, researchers should Research and Human Genetics, 18, 134–137.
Semenya, S. W., & Honey, P. L. (2015). Dominance styles mediate sex differences in Dark
focus on leadership/authority, grandiose exhibitionism, entitlement/ Triad traits. Personality and Individual Differences, 83, 37–43.
exploitativeness (NPI narcissism; Ackerman et al., 2011), negative inter- Skinner, N. F. (1981). Personality correlates of Machiavellianism: II. Machiavellianism and
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nature, positive view of human nature (MACH IV; Andrew, Cooke, &
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Muncer, 2008; Corral & Calvete, 2000), manipulative troublemaking, Vernon, P. A., Villani, V. C., Vickers, L. C., & Harris, J. A. (2008). A behavioral genetic inves-
and emotional stability (SRP psychopathy; Williams & Paulhus, 2004) tigation of the Dark Triad and the Big 5. Personality and Individual Differences, 44,
445–452.
relate to career choices. Although studying narcissism, psychopathy,
Veselka, L., Schermer, J. A., & Vernon, P. A. (2012). The Dark Triad and an expanded frame-
and Machiavellianism in terms of vocational interests is informative work of personality. Personality and Individual Differences, 53, 417–425.
and useful, focusing on the specific facets of the Dark Triad would help Williams, K. M., & Paulhus, D. L. (2004). Factor structure of the Self-Report Psychopathy
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for both scientists and career counsellors.

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