The Dark Side of Personality: Science and Practice in Social, Personality, and Clinical Psychology

This book provides a taxonomy of personality traits that are dark, or have maladaptive characteristics, and are connected to destructive behaviors and interpersonal problems. Adaptive features are also reviewed, as are clinical applications and future directions for research.

Dark personality traits are connected to a host of behavioral and interpersonal problems. To better understand and address these problems, this book unites personality psychology and clinical psychology to provide an interdisciplinary taxonomy of dark personality traits.

The Dark Side of Personality expands upon the "Dark Triad"—narcissism, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism—to encompass traits that have largely been ignored or not characterized as dark (e.g., spite, authoritarianism, and perfectionism). Drawing from recent research on the Big Five personality dimensions, each trait is presented as a complex spectrum of adaptive and maladaptive features with unique clinical implications.

Virgil Zeigler-Hill, PhD, is an associate professor and the director of graduate training for the Department of Psychology at Oakland University, Rochester, Michigan. He has written more than 120 journal articles and book chapters that focus on these topics. Dr. Zeigler-Hill has edited two previous books: Self-Esteem and Evolutionary Perspectives on Social Psychology. He is currently an associate editor for Self and Identity, Journal of Personality Assessment, and Evolutionary Psychology.
 
David K. Marcus, PhD, is a professor and the chair of the Department of Psychology at Washington State University, Pullman. He is the author of more than 75 journal articles. Much of his work focuses on psychopathy and antisocial behavior, but his research interests are diverse and include studies on spitefulness, hypochondriasis, psychotherapy outcomes and processes, and interpersonal perception. He is currently the editor of Group Dynamics and serves on the editorial boards of Psychological Assessment and the Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology.