Humor and the dark triad: Relationships among narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy and comic styles

The present study investigated the relationships between the eight comic style markers and the dark triad traits of personality. A sample of 715 adults (188 men and 527 women aged 19 to 83 years; M = 42.40; SD = 12.74) completed two questionnaires: the Comic Style Markers (CSM) and the Short Dark Triad (SD3). All the darker styles were related to the three facets of the dark triad. Narcissism was mainly related to the lighter styles and was the best predictor of wit. Conversely, the darker styles were best predicted by psychopathy and Machiavellianism, especially irony, sarcasm, and cynicism.