Bright Minds, Dark Hearts: Intelligence in the Dark Triad

Machiavellians may be the most intelligent of the dark personalities.

In popular culture, “evil genius” characters-that is, someone who combines brilliance with malevolence-have had recurring popularity. There is even a widespread misconception, which I have discussed in a previous post, that psychopaths are more intelligent than the average person (Furnham, Daoud, & Swami, 2009), even though research has not found this to be the case (O’Boyle, Forsyth, Banks, & Story, 2013). On the other hand, a recent study suggests that…