Expectancy biases and the Dark Triad traits: Longitudinal associations with subjective well-being and social and moral values

Williams, Christopher (2023) Expectancy biases and the Dark Triad traits: Longitudinal associations with subjective well-being and social and moral values. Doctoral thesis (PhD), Manchester Metropolitan University.

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Abstract

This doctoral study investigated the influence that expectancy biases have upon characteristic qualities of the Dark Triad. Inspired by a study which exposed narcissism as the sole facet of the Dark Triad to express a positive pattern of expectancy biases (Jonason et al., 2018), reflected within a positive association to optimism and a negative association to hopelessness, the current thesis explored the possibility that this division plays an influential role in other scenarios where narcissism displays a more positive inclination. First, the investigation examined how expectancy biases operated through narcissism’s facets, revealing that the positive affiliation to optimism activates through the grandiose sub-factor. Subsequent investigations considered the potential for expectancy biases to influence two other areas wherein narcissism diverts from the Dark Triad – subjective well-being (Egan et al., 2014) and social and moral value systems (Jonason et al., 2015; Kajonius et al., 2015). Key findings revealed that hope, rather than optimism, had a more stable mediating effect upon narcissism’s subjective well-being. Additionally, expectancy biases had no effect upon social values. Regarding the Dark Triad’s moral foundations, hopelessness revealed itself as having the most stable mediating effect, though the impression was minor. However, whilst narcissism has previously demonstrated positive moral behaviour (Jonason et al., 2015), this project found no direct association, suggesting that these behaviours represent a superficial, self-serving morality. The key implication of this suggests that oscillations in optimism may be an ancillary effect of variations in self-esteem, where moral choices are preferred when the narcissist experiences damage to self-esteem.