Dealing with the Dark Side of Personality
A special issue of Behavioral Sciences (ISSN 2076-328X).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 16 September 2026 | Viewed by 22
Special Issue Editor
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Many people would say that they prefer to avoid those who are callous, manipulative, and engage in antisocial behavior. However, we have to navigate social situations with these types of individuals constantly, whether those people are family members, coworkers, relationship partners, or strangers online. Descriptions of dark personalities generally include traits that are relatively antagonistic or frequently associated with maladaptive and problematic outcomes, including the Dark Tetrad of personality (psychopathy, Machiavellianism, narcissism, and sadism).
This Special Issue invites contributions focusing on cognitive perceptions and behavioral reactions to people exhibiting dark personality traits in social situations and interpersonal relationships: the strategies and effects of interacting with dark personalities. We welcome theoretical and/or empirical contributions on this topic, but are especially interested in empirical research using dyadic or small-group designs in which perceptual and behavioral reactions to individuals with dark personalities are assessed after social interactions. Importantly, we will focus on various interpersonal relationships, ranging from one-time interactions to life-long relationships and from professional to personal relationships, to build a foundation of research that can be used moving forward to develop strategies to protect against the problematic outcomes often experienced by those close to people with dark personalities.
Submission Deadline: September 16, 2026
Abstract Deadline: April 2026
Notification of Abstract Acceptance: May 2026
Dr. Shelby Curtis
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- dark triad
- psychopathy
- narcissism
- Machiavellianism
- psychopathy
- sadism
- interpersonal relationships
- dyadic interactions
- personality perceptions
- interpersonal behavior
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