What's Your Dark Core Score?

3 - Are you happy now?

2/9yeap

I strongly disagree with all of those except for 1 and 8. Undecided about 2.

3.

1 & 2

zero, though social media makes #8 very tempting.

Most people are pieces of shit so of course I know there’s darkness in me that’s no shock.

There are sociopaths out there but what I think is more common are those who hurt others even when they have good intentions. Having no feeling is bad but projecting one's own emotions onto others can also have negative consequences.

I got a zero. Please don’t treat me like the doormat I must be.

3 of the traits fit me, maybe 4 -- I'm on the fence about #8.

3 but wish it were higher.

I took the detailed test and scored 1.37. I don't know if that makes me a doormat. I prefer to avoid people and not interact, if I can.

In psychology we refer to machianvellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy as the “dark triad,” or if you add in sadism, the “dark tetrad.” Feel free to google this research in google scholar—-interesting research around this and how our brains can at least initially recognize someone with these traits by sight based on activation of a certain part of the brain registering trust/mistrust but it doesn’t make it to our conscious awareness. Another study has people picking faces of people with high scores on these traits and people do manage to do this more often than not, suggesting that there’s some phenotypic component (physical appearance) cues to these dark traits. Yet we are bad at recognizing these folks consciously in person via interactions!

I agree with 1 and maybe with 8,, but not really people in general, just people who might advance my career or whatever based on the successes. The rest of the items—NO. Guess my core is not that dark, even after many years on DL.

So weird R14, I also agree with 1 and maybe 8.

Do you trust the Myers-Briggs? I’m ENTJ, but barely an E... once I took the assessment and was INTJ.

4 almost all the time, 3 others sometimes.

Only with 1, and that only after decades of working in organizations.

I agree with 1 and 8. 2 I agree in theory but I'm not that good at it in real life.

I agree with 1 and maybe 9, depending on the situation.

[quote] interesting research around this and how our brains can at least initially recognize someone with these traits

What do you call someone who uses AROUND when they mean ON?

Oh who am I kidding, I agree with 9, no depending. I'm a spiteful bitch.

[quote] 4. I know that I am special because everyone keeps telling me so.

Confused by this one. Sociopaths don't need validation. They see approval as a means to an end.

I don't understand why people feel the need to "number 8". What's the point?

none

R23. Many reasons. I could consider self promotion an essential skill especially if you are in a competitive field. It also helps create a more lasting impression.

I consider...

Don't forget the read the fine print, gurls. The devil is in the details:

[quote]All data will be collected and saved anonymously. I understand that it is impossible to link my personal identity and the data or responses I provide. The anonymized data will be used exclusively for research and teaching purposes, and saved for a minimum of 10 years. Research purposes may include the usage in academic publications and lectures, and the unrestricted access to the data for other researchers (e.g. in Internet data archives, corresponding to the recommendations of the German Research Foundation [DFG] and the German Psychological Society [DGPs] for quality assurance in research). Every storage and usage of my data is completely anonymous, therefore ensuring the inability to link the data to my person.

R12, you in danger, gurl.

The OP is blocked so I looked it up. It's a similar test but I'm not sure it's the same test. 45 questions, my results were: Overall 11% dark core score.

And: [quote] This makes you 35.89% Lighter than the average person.

I think that seems rather high. It probably has more to do with my disinterest in most people rather than actual niceness.

I got a rock.

R28 Your lack of self-awareness helps no one.

R20 I typed quickly and didn’t edit for grammatically correct writing, but thanks for missing the overall point to focus on one grammar mistake. Your parents must be so proud!

But we all know that we can often recognize these traits. We've all done it, haven't we?

I always ascribe it to that 90% of our brains we're not using. It's telling us things.

I only sort of agree with the first one, so I guess I'm an angel

Sorry, R2, I either ww'd or ff'd you. I wish DL let us fix that.

Concerning the full test, I scored a 1.87. Been having revenge fantasies about people who have hurt me, so my score in sadism is probably higher than it should be.

Isn't 187 the code for...nevermind!

R13 If there is something phenotypic I suspect that it's a certain expression in the eyes, rather than any particular facial structure. Some people have distinctly cruel eyes.

It is, R34, and you should sit six feet from me! I’ve been massacring entire bloodlines/families of people I despise by setting them on fire only with the awesome Castle Gray Skull powers of my mind. This can’t be healthy.

R35 yes, some people have a darkness in their eyes, but some with these traits actually have an “empty” look in their eyes rather than cruel—it’s a look like nothing excites them and they don’t care about anything.

Ah, the emptiness. A reporter interviewed Ted Bundy and also interviewed his mother, Louise Bundy.

Said talking to Louise was a lot like talking to Ted. Chatter's on, nobody's really home.

Speaking of physical tells...

I’ve noticed straight guys have this area directly above each ear that wrinkles up when they look at young women. It’s like working with werewolves

We’d be able to use Michael Keaton or David Letterman’s head for science research. .

[quote] 2. I like to use clever manipulation to get my way.

This is the only trait that I truly recognize in myself. I learned to manipulate people in my teens when I wanted to make my annoying older brother keep his mouth shut. I deliberately got angry with him and then wouldn't talk to him for weeks. It was blessfully peaceful to not have to interact with him. Obviously this is not the only time I've used it but I'm honest enough with myself to never use it for anything bad, although I guess I sometimes should.

[quote]4. I know that I am special because everyone keeps telling me so.

Well, I was told this time and time again by people in authority or acquaintances when younger because I was artistic and years of bullying coupled with being the youngest in the family made me a sort of an angry goth introvert who wasn't afraid to do things. Girls loved me at some point. I do know I'm special but not in a good way.

8, yes in theory but I never actually bother doing it in practice. So I default to a no mostly out of laziness.

9 yes.

1, maybe possibly in some cases some shortcuts are not unreasonable. Like R17 says deal with bureaucracy a lot, you do 1 all the time to get shit done

But 7 actively repulses me, which would explain why I am so unsuited to BDSM

Took the full test, got 1.51, rank of 6%. There was only one question I had a hard yes to and that not everyone is equal

It's scary that anyone here would agree with any of these.

[quote] 8. I try to make sure others know about my successes.

Bragging is a considered a "dark trait"? That seems so benign compared to the rest of the list.

R42 I would be deeply scared of anyone that agrees with 7, and 3, but 8 is pretty ordinary though, and 9 is part of human nature

R43 dark triad traits include narcissism, so yes.

Doesn’t everyone do #2 to some degree. Being extra friendly to someone who can help you is a form of manipulation. Number 8 is a subtle one too. It’s not bragging if it’s sharing your success with friends and family who are happy for you.

R43, R45 I think it would depend on what someone is bragging about too. Telling someone you succeeded at helping fix someones car when they were stranded on the roadside, or succeeded in helping someone find a home? Thats probably not a problem. Telling someone you succeeded in getting rich off someone elses misfortune, not so much

I usually don't talk about my successes unless I'm asked or am speaking to someone I'm trying to impress. Other times, I'll avoid talking about it because either people would mistake me for an authority or they will become competitive.

I've met a person who I knew really was violent and sick individual, and very probably a psychopath. This dark score seems to be just basically another psychopathy checklist, and like with Hare's list there are shades of gray with all these traits as well. The guy I met was a beautiful man with a wife and kids, and I mean he was truly scrumptious. He lived in the small town I grew up in, and I'd admired his tight butt and lovely bulge for years when seeing him on the street. He didn't know who I was (I was over a decade younger than him) but thought I was someone important and immediately after seeing me with my friend who knew him he approached me and started acting a bit weirdly. He was at the same time sucking up to me and being sort of passive-aggressive by listing supposedly awesome things he'd done. My friend told me he was always like that, trying desperately to be friends with the bosses, but since he wasn't too bright it didn't work out too well for him. The word glib suited him perfectly.

I knew nothing about psychopathy at the time but when I later started reading about it things immediately clicked in my head. At that time the guy was already in the jail after keeping his wife chained to the wall for days while getting drunk with his simpleton buddy. He occasionally visited the wife, hit her in the head with a hammer and smeared feces on the wounds. This went on for days until someone realized things were wrong and cops arrived. The wounds weren't thankfully life-threatening and she survived. It also turned out their kids had been taken away from them already years earlier after his erratic and violent behavior.

He's now out of the jail and I sometimes see him on street. He's a husk of his older self, and not a pretty boy anymore. You can see he's been beaten many times and one eye is permanently damaged. He's still glib but in a darker way. Gone is the sunshine. I do feel sorry for him because it's quite apparent he lacks something crucial to make him truly human. It's like he never really had a chance. Like Hare said most psychopaths are stupid. They are not Hannibal Lecter-like masterminds. They are violent idiots who are unable to control their urges.

3.6. 95%

So, the premise is that everyone has some of these traits? Because I have zero of them.

0.

I strongly agree with... Nothing.

I often have doubts or reservations.

Jesus R50, wouldnt want to meet you in a dark alley

R52 thats pretty much it. I have doubts and reservations for all of these, cant truly say I "strongly agree" with any of them, but I come closest with 9

2.21

3.8

Is that so bad?

r53 - I can be your best friend in the right circumstances. It's decades of C-level jobs in the corporate world that generate this score.

Anyone not inclined to attend Trump rallies: very low-low score

Admit it; they do add interest when they focus and follow through. That’s not manipulative; that’s having a werewolf for a friend.

ALL those, OP!

I’m bipolar so sometimes 5-7, sometimes 1-2. Depends on the ME that day.

I worked for the state twice. What I found is that the Machiavellian thing is omnipresent. The ends definitely justifies the means in state government.