Dark Triad Test
Measure your levels of the three 'dark' personality tendencies — Machiavellianism, narcissism and psychopathy — as tendencies, not labels.
27 questions · about 5 minutes · Free · No sign-up · Answers never leave your device
27 questions · about 5 minutes
Measure your levels of the three 'dark' personality tendencies — Machiavellianism, narcissism and psychopathy — as tendencies, not labels.
- ✓ Free — no sign-up, no email, no account
- ✓ Scored instantly, in your browser
- ✓ Your answers never leave this device
For entertainment and self-reflection. This is not a diagnosis — see the disclaimer below.
Explore the results
Every result in this test has a full written guide — what it means, its strengths and watch-outs, and how it plays out in relationships and at work.
About this test
The 'dark triad' is a term from personality psychology for three traits that researchers study together because they overlap in one place: a willingness to put your own interests ahead of other people's. Machiavellianism is the strategic one — manipulation, secrecy and long games. Narcissism is the ego one — admiration, status and self-importance. Psychopathy, as a trait, is the impulsive one — thrill-seeking, detachment and low remorse. The framework was named in a 2002 paper by Delroy Paulhus and Kevin Williams, and the constructs were later measured by instruments such as the Dirty Dozen (Jonason & Webster, 2010) and the Short Dark Triad (Jones & Paulhus, 2014).
This test measures the same three constructs with 27 statements written by our own team for this site — we cite the literature because the constructs come from it, and we wrote our own items because the published scales belong to their authors. You rate how much you agree with each statement, and the scoring averages your answers per trait, including reverse-worded statements that keep the result honest.
Two framing rules matter. First: these are tendencies, not types — everyone scores somewhere on all three, and the interesting output is the profile, not a single 'dark' verdict. Second: a high score is not a diagnosis of anything. Clinical conditions with similar names are assessed by professionals with far more than a quiz. This page is a mirror for self-reflection, offered with the framing it deserves: interesting, occasionally uncomfortable, and useful if you let it be.
How scoring works
Each trait is measured by 9 statements on a five-point agreement scale. Your answers are averaged per trait and converted to a 0–100 score: below 40 is described as low, 40–65 as average, and above 65 as high, relative to the middle of the scale. Several statements are reverse-worded — agreeing with them lowers a trait score — so simply agreeing with everything produces a middling profile, not a dramatic one.
Bands are indicative, not clinical. These traits are normally distributed in the general population, most people score in the average band on most traits, and an 'average' result is the most common outcome of this test. Treat your three scores as a starting point for the trait pages, where each band is described in plain language.
Source: Constructs: Paulhus & Williams (2002); reference instruments: Jonason & Webster (2010), Jones & Paulhus (2014) — cited as sources for the constructs. All 27 items on this page are original TestLark items written to measure the same constructs; no published scale items are reproduced. Read the full methodology →
The traits, explained
Machiavellianism
Machiavellianism describes a strategic, guarded approach to other people: keeping your motives private, planning interactions, building alliances and treating information as leverage. Named after Niccolò Machiavelli's political writings, it is the most 'cold-headed' of the three dark traits — less about ego or impulse, more about calculation.
Full Machiavellianism guide →Narcissism
In personality research, narcissism means a strong orientation toward status, admiration and the self: enjoying the spotlight, expecting recognition, and measuring yourself against others. As a trait it exists on a spectrum in everyone — it is not the same thing as narcissistic personality disorder, which is a clinical diagnosis this test cannot make.
Full Narcissism guide →Psychopathy (Trait)
In trait research, 'psychopathy' names a pattern of impulsivity, thrill-seeking, emotional detachment and low remorse in everyday behaviour — measured here as tendencies in the general population. It is not a diagnosis of psychopathy or of any disorder: clinical psychopathy is a forensic assessment involving far more than a self-report quiz, and nothing on this page can speak to it.
Full Psychopathy (Trait) guide →Frequently asked questions
Does a high score mean I am a psychopath or a narcissist?
No. This test measures everyday personality tendencies that share names with clinical constructs — it cannot and does not diagnose psychopathy, narcissistic personality disorder or any other condition. Those diagnoses are made by qualified clinicians using interviews and history, not quizzes. A high score means your self-reported habits lean that way — information, not a label.
Is it bad to score high on a dark triad trait?
Not automatically. Each trait has a functional side: strategic thinking wins negotiations, self-belief fuels leadership, detachment is valuable in emergencies. The research framing is about tendencies and trade-offs, not good and evil. What matters is where a tendency costs you — usually trust, credit or closeness — and the trait pages discuss exactly that.
How is this different from the SD3 or Dirty Dozen?
Those are published academic scales (Jones & Paulhus, 2014; Jonason & Webster, 2010) that measure the same three constructs. Their items belong to their authors, so this site wrote its own 27 statements for the same constructs and cites the literature openly. The constructs are shared; the words are ours.
Why do some statements sound similar, or opposite?
Each trait is measured from several angles, and a few statements are reverse-worded — agreeing with them lowers the score. This is standard questionnaire design: it stops 'just agree with everything' from producing a dramatic-looking result, and it averages out the noise of any single statement.
Are my answers private?
Yes — especially on this test. Scoring happens entirely in your browser; your answers are never transmitted, stored or connected to any account, and our analytics only count that a test was completed, never what you answered. Given the subject matter, we would not have it any other way.
Can these traits change?
Traits are tendencies, not life sentences. Research finds personality shifts gradually across adulthood, and specific habits — pausing before acting, apologising promptly, sharing credit out loud — move behaviour long before they move a questionnaire score. The growth suggestions on each trait page are written with that in mind.
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Disclaimer: This test is for entertainment and self-reflection only. It is not a diagnosis and is not medical or psychological advice. Read the full disclaimer →