People with dark triad have a high level of egotism, pride, and a lack of empathy, and they can easily manipulate others.
They are deceptive, with a level of morality somewhat below zero. I like to believe that the average person can be smart enough to spot an individual with dark triad traits, but the problem is that we tend to overestimate the average person.
When you hear the term Dark Triad, you may think of serial killers, and you would be correct; most serial killers have this type of personality.
However, there are many people with this type of personality who can be identified by their exaggerated selfishness.They will make you feel good for a little bit of time, but only so they can profit off of you later.
The good thing for dark triad types is that they tend to be quite successful in life, not only financially, but according to several studies, they are able to have more success in relationships than the average person.
But those studies are up for debate, because statistics are quite tricky when it comes to subjects like this. Some people may be so good looking and smart that they can make really good use of the dark triad, and when I say really good use, that applies only to themselves.
Dark Triad looks
People with dark triad have larger skulls than the average, pronounced jawlines, angular noses, and deep set eyes.So they may be quite appealing when it comes to looks. They may look dominant, but also dishonest and sometimes even aggressive, or at least ready for aggression.
Dark Triad acting
The studies that I’ve found are mainly directed at people who were born as males, and they tend to present themselves as intriguing, making the other person want to know more.
Then, there will be quite a lot of lying, during which the other person will develop an emotional connection. Then there's more lying and manipulation until the person becomes addicted to the person with the Dark Triad.
For someone who can see through all of these acts, the dark triad people will appear to be either clowns or people they know they should avoid.But for a person that gets trapped in their act, a dark triad person can become a master, someone they look up to, someone that they want to please.
Dark Triad techniques
A narcissistic, machiavellic, or psychopath will try to make you question yourself and even drive you insane by gaslighting you.
With time passing, the dark triad person will make unreasonable demands and will make you feel that you need to prove yourself, even when you’re doing more than enough.
Again, for an individual that can look rationally at situations like this, it will be clear that it’s something out of the ordinary, something crazy. However, the person who becomes trapped within the act will be deaf and blind.
There is a lot of blaming, which normally comes off as insecurity, but the victim, instead of seeing things as they are, will think that something is wrong with her. And then, she will start to blame herself as well.
The psychopath will basically train his victim by rewarding the behavior that he wants to see and punishing the behavior that he doesn’t want to see.
And what the psychopath is looking for is a victim that doubts herself, thinks she’s the one to blame and also thinks he is the best one that can guide her. By this point, the victim has already become a slave.
In a lot of cases, the victim will also develop the Stockholm syndrome, developing a bond with the one that kept her captive. And the power imbalance is so great that the victim will even go against her family and her friends if she gets confronted.
The psychopath will also try to implant false thoughts in his victim, thoughts that he will want to hear back at some point, just like an echo. And all of the time, these thoughts are pure manipulation.
Dark Triad relationships
This is very clear and it doesn’t need too much explanation, but in a relationship with a Dark Triad, the victim will always be the supportive one, the one that follows, the one that has more respect for the other one, the one that will feel like she is walking on eggshells whenever she has to say or do something.
The psychopath will make his victim feel that he can leave at any second, that he has other people waiting for him or that he misses his freedom, aka his life while being single. If the psychopat initiates or tries to initiate multiple breakups, that can be a pretty clear sign of the dark triad.
But you have to make the difference, which is quite easy to make, because if the person really wants to break up, he will do it out of sheer unhappiness and not for manipulation.
This can go both ways though, so take it with a grain of salt, because there are men who feel trapped in marriage and they will want to leave it, but they can’t afford it, or they won’t do it for the sake of their kids, or in rare cases, they will get manipulated by their partner to keep on going.
So we just have to learn to read every situation, which, let’s be honest, isn’t that hard if we can analyze it from a logical point of view and by letting our emotions aside.
Conclusion
Please pay attention. If you get gaslighted constantly, if your partner tries to plant manipulative thoughts in your head, if your partner makes you feel like he can leave you any minute and you’ll be the one who loses more, then there is a pretty high chance that you are dealing with a psychopath.
Even if it doesn’t tick all the boxes for dark triad, then your partner may be extremely insecure and, in this case, I bet it’s safe to say that you will be better off alone, but think it through, find people that you can really rely on, ask for their opinions, then analyze again and come to your own conclusion.
Cheers!
