J Psychiatry Psychiatric Disord 2017; 1 (6): 317-326 317 Journal of Psychiatry and Psychiatric Disorders doi: 10.26502/jppd.2572-519X0032 Research Article Volume 1, Issue 6 Exploring the Dark Side: Relationships between the Dark Triad Traits and Cluster B Personality Disorder Features Taylor J. Vossen 1 , Frederick L. Coolidge 1* , Daniel L. Segal 1 and Jennifer J. Muehlenkamp 2 1 Psychology Department, University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, 1420 Austin Bluffs Parkway, Colorado Springs, Colorado, United States 2 University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire, Wisconsin, United States * Corresponding Author: Frederick L. Coolidge, Psychology Department, University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, 1420 Austin Bluffs Parkway, Colorado Springs, Colorado, United States, Tel: 719 255 4146; Fax: 719 255 4166; E-mail: fcoolidg@uccs.edu Received: 29 September 2017; Accepted: 16 October 2017; Published: 23 October 2017 Abstract The present study explored relationships between the Dark Triad (Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy) and cluster B personality disorder (antisocial, borderline, histrionic, and narcissistic) features. A sample of 661 participants were recruited from a Midwestern university and Amazon Mechanical Turk. A series of t-tests were conducted to examine sex differences in the Dark Triad and cluster B personality disorders. Sex differences were found on all traits and disorders, with men significantly higher than women on Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and antisocial personality disorder, and women higher than men on borderline, histrionic, and narcissistic personality disorders. Zero-order correlations and linear regression analyses were conducted to examine the contribution of each Dark Triad trait to each personality disorder. Significant associations were found for all personality disorders, with at least one Dark Triad trait making a significant contribution to each disorder. The relevance of the present study to the workplace and politics was discussed. Keywords: Dark triad; Psychopathy; Narcissism; Machiavellianism; Antisocial; Borderline personality disorder; Cluster B 1. Introduction The past decade has seen a surge of research focusing on the „dark‟ personality traits: Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy. The term „Dark Triad‟ has been attributed to Paulhus and Williams [1], who attempted to explore the nature of this triad in a sample of 245 college students. They concluded that these traits were overlapping, yet