The Dark Side of Human Values: How Values are Related to Bright and Dark Personality Traits

In the present research, we replicate and extend previous findings on the relations between human values and bright\dark traits of personality, using the functional theory of human values (Gouveia, 2013). Specifically, we assessed which dark traits are associated with human values and whether the dark traits explained variance in values beyond the bright traits (Big Five). While prior research has investigated the relations between the three sets of constructs mainly in Western countries, we tested whether the findings hold in Brazil (N = 819). Although values are defined as positive constructs, several value subfunctions were positively correlated with the dark traits (e.g., excitement values with narcissism), while other relations were negative. Controlling for participants' age and gender, hierarchical regressions further revealed that dark traits explain variance in values beyond bright traits, although overall bright traits were more strongly associated with values than dark traits. Together, our findings replicate previous research. Implications for our understanding of the Dark Triad and cross-cultural research are discussed.