Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-29-2026
Abstract
The present study examined the relationship between Dark Triad personality traits and moral judgments in a sample of 68 undergraduate students recruited from psychology courses at a southeastern university. All participants volunteered through an online system and received course research credit for participation. Participants completed the Short Dark Triad Measure to assess levels of psychopathy, Machiavellianism, and narcissism, as well as the Revised Morally Debatable Behaviors Scale (MDBS-R), in a controlled laboratory setting. Individuals with strong psychopathic traits were predicted to report greater endorsement of morally debatable behaviors. Pearson correlation analyses were conducted to examine associations between Dark Triad traits and moral judgment outcomes. There were significant positive correlations between psychopathy and MDBS-R overall, MDBS-R honesty-dishonesty, as well as significant positive correlations between Machiavellianism and MDBS-R overall, MDBS-R honesty-dishonesty, and MDBS-R personal-sexual. The current study expanded previous research by examining what impacts the moral dilemma decision-making skills of individuals with psychopathic tendencies.
This article was published Open Access through the CCU Libraries Open Access Publishing Fund. The article was first published in the journal Advances in Social Sciences and Management: https://doi.org/10.63002/assm.401.1298
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Paulson, E.P., & Pettijohn, T.F., II. (2026). Relationships between the Dark Triad and Justification of Morally Debatable Behaviors in College Students. Advances in Social Sciences and Management, 4(01), 163-168. https://doi.org/10.63002/assm.401.1298. Available at https://digitalcommons.coastal.edu/psychology/13/