Dark Personalities and Online Behaviour

The online world and new technologies (i.e., smartphones, social media) have afforded opportunity for a myriad of novel interpersonal and intrapersonal behaviour to emerge. Although online behaviour may often both reflect – and be an extension of – face-to-face behaviour, the unique affordances of online behaviour such as anonymity, dating apps, and self-promotion, warrant online behaviour worthy of its own independent investigation. In this chapter, we provide a review of the research linking trait narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and sadism (i.e., the “Dark Triad/Tetrad”) to a range of interpersonal and intrapersonal online behaviour. We begin by considering interpersonal online behaviour between peers (e.g., trolling and cyberbullying) and romantic partners (e.g., ghosting, catfishing, and cyberstalking). We then explore intrapersonal online behaviours, including self-promotion (e.g., strategies of self-presentation and impression-management), and intrasexual competitive tactics (e.g., rival derogation as well as self-promotion). We conclude by considering novel directions for future research in this space.