ИСТИНА

The studies of the Dark Triad have uncovered certain “bright” aspects of “dark” traits. Our three studies of self- and other-evaluations showed that “dark” traits are commonly perceived as necessary and unavoidable elements of the personality structure of individuals one admires. Participants in Study 1 (aged 16-69) completed questionnaires first for themselves and then for four characters from two films. The film characters were selected based on a moral assessment (“positive” vs. “negative”) and whether they were able to achieve their goals (“successful” vs. “unsuccessful”). In Study 2 participants (students) evaluated in the same manner themselves and imaginary “successful person” who was according to the instruction, ten years older than the respondent. In Study 3 participants (pairs of friends, students) evaluated themselves and each other. In all three studies participants were asked to fill out questionnaires that measured the Dark Triad, the Big Five (in Study 1 and Study 2), HEXACO-100 (in Study 3), tolerance for ambiguity, life satisfaction, sensation seeking, and right-wing authoritarianism. Results. Study participants ascribed higher psychopathy to positive film characters than to themselves; higher Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy to the “successful person” than to themselves; and higher narcissism and psychopathy to the friends than to themselves. Thus it was confirmed that the image of a positive person presumes a relatively high level of the Dark Triad traits.