Four shades of sexual fantasies linked to the Dark Triad

The present study explored the links between the Dark Triad traits (i.e., narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy) and sexual fantasies in a sample of Canadian undergraduates (N = 643). Among the Dark Triad traits, psychopathy was the most strongly correlated with overall sex drive as well as fantasies containing exploratory, impersonal, and sadomasochistic themes. Further, individuals who scored high on narcissism reported engaging in intimate sexual fantasies more frequently. The Dark Triad, psychopathy in particular, facilitated overall sexual desire in men. Overall, these findings were consistent with the view that the Dark Triad facilitates an exploitative, short-term mating strategy. Implications are discussed in the context of an evolutionary framework. 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. As evidenced by this special issue and some meta-science fantasies—or shades—relate to individual differences in the Dark (Jonason, Webster, Schmitt, Li, & Crysel, 2012), the Dark Triad traits (i.e., psychopathy, Machiavellianism, and narcissism; Paulhus & Williams, 2002) are becoming an increasingly popular set of subclinical personality traits under investigation by social (Jones, 2013), personality (Lee & Ashton, 2005), and evolutionary psychologists (Jonason, Li, Webster, & Schmitt, 2009). These traits are characterized by entitlement, superiority, dominance (i.e., narcissism); glib social charm, manipulativeness (i.e., Machiavellianism); callous social attitudes, impulsivity, and interpersonal antagonism (i.e., psychopathy). Combined, these traits have been linked to empathy deficits (Jonason & Krause, 2013), short-term mating (Jonason et al., 2009), and a selfish/agentic social style (Jonason & Webster, 2012). In this study, we examine the links between various sexual fantasies and the Dark Triad traits and how these traits might facilitate the engagement in different sexual fantasies in men and/or women. Similar to research on the Dark Triad traits (Kowalski, 2001), studies on sexual fantasies tend to focus on individual differences in sexual pathologies (Williams, Cooper, Howell, Yuille, & Paulhus, 2009) among, for instance, sexual offenders (Baumgartner, Scalora, & Huss, 2002). However, a fundamental premise of modern psychology is that individual differences are best measured on a continuum. That is, it is inappropriate to treat those high or low on the Dark Triad and those who engage in different sexual fantasies as belonging to different categories. Therefore, instead of treating either as pathologies, we examine how a range of sexual Triad traits. We investigate four types of sexual fantasies in relation to the Dark Triad (Wilson, 1978). Intimate fantasies are marked by a sense of attachment and familiarity; exploratory fantasies involve the commission of diverse acts; impersonal fantasies are characterized by emotional detachment and disinterest; and sadomasochistic fantasies involve inflicting or submitting to physical or emotional abuse. We make four predictions about the relationships between the Dark Triad and individual differences in sexual fantasies. First, we predict psychopathy will exhibit the strongest correlation with overall sex drive. Evolutionary psychologists (e.g., Jonason, Koenig, & Tost, 2010; Jonason, Webster, Schmitt, Li, & Crysel, 2012) suggest the Dark Triad traits may be adaptive towards the engagement in a fast life history strategy that focuses on mating (e.g., Rushton, 1995; Wilson, 1975). There is evidence to suggest that those high on the Dark Triad, psychopathy in particular (Jonason et al., 2009), may be predisposed to lower their standards considerably for short-term mating. This being said, a high sex drive may be part of the motivational forces that encourage an individual to lower their standards when deciding with whom to engage in sexual activity. Indeed, psychopathy and unrestricted sociosexuality—the tendency to engage in uncommitted sexual relations—are positively correlated (Jonason et al., 2009; Reise & Wright, 1996). Second, we predict that psychopathy will be correlated with a wider range of sexual fantasies in comparison to the other Dark Triad traits. The Dark Triad might facilitate an exploitive social (Jonason & Schmitt, 2012) and sexual strategy (Jonason & Kavanagh, 2010). In fact, when asked about their preferences for