Uncovering the Dark Traits of Human Personality
Strive for Better Work Culture and Customer Safety
WHAT ARE DARK TRAITS?
Dark personality traits are stable characteristics of a person, when triggered, lead to display of undesirable, counterproductive and destructive behavior, that have a negative impact on surrounding people (friends, family, co-worker or customers).
85%
People were aware that dark traits exist in us and they cause distressing incidents.
94%
People agreed that dark traits are harmful for our safety and need to be identified at workplaces
60%
People selected assessments as the most efficient tool for identifying and measuring dark traits
WHAT TRIGGERS DARK TRAITS?
Merely the presence of dark traits in a person does not guarantee that they will behave in an undesirable manner. Dark traits have to be triggered for dark behavior to manifest. They get triggered by various factors, such as trait level, situation and environment.
1. LEVEL OF DARK TRAITS
Different people possess different level of dark traits. Higher the degree of dark traits present, greater will be the frequency at which they get triggered (with the slightest provocation).
2. ENVIRONMENT
When people are in an environment where they hold power over others, there's an innate tendency to misuse that power. That tendency leads to triggering of dark traits.
3. SITUATION
Dark personality traits get triggered in situations when people are not on their guard and are not actively monitoring their behavior i.e in Relaxed Environment & Stressed Environment.
WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS OF HAVING DARK TRAITS?
THE SIX DARK PERSONALITY TRAITS
In order to address the issue of workplace harassment and counterproductive behavior, Mettl created a dark personality inventory consisting of the 6 most common dark traits, to measure them. This trait inventory can be used to assess the predominant dark personality traits of a person.
OPPORTUNISM
Tendency to be deceitful and manipulative. Tendency to possess cynical or negative outlook towards intentions of others.
Strengths: |
Good at Problem Solving, Proactive, and Meets Deadlines |
Weaknesses: |
Team work, Routine Work, Valuing Traditions |
FAMOUS OPPORTUNIST
Known for being innovative, hard working, self-reliant and willing to bribe the system.
OPPORTUNISTIC PEOPLE CAN DIVIDED INTO 3 CATEGORIES
OPPORTUNISTIC
AMBITIOUS | COMPETITIVE | GREEDY |
---|---|---|
Snatches opportunities | Lies to get ahead | Wants more for less work |
Works hard to get access to good opportunities | Likes to stay ahead by working hard | Demands proportionately to efforts |
SELF-OBSESSION
Tendency to possess an inflated sense of self, accompanied by a fragile self esteem which makes the person vulnerable to criticism.
Strengths: | Perfectionist, Self Driven |
Weaknesses: | Proud, Inflexible, Over Sensitive to Criticism |
FAMOUS SELF OBSESSED PERSONALITY

Get aggressive on facing criticism and love to boast about their greatness.
SELF OBSESSED PEOPLE CAN DIVIDED INTO 3 CATEGORIES:
SELF OBSESSION
CONCEITED | ATTENTION-SEEKER | DRAMATIZER |
---|---|---|
Refuses to acknowledge his flaws | Demands unwavering acceptance for any work done | Reacts strongly to lack of appreciation |
Accommodates critical feedback | Keeps realistic expectations | Intrinsically motivated |
INSENSITIVITY
Inability to understand others' pain, suffering and perspective.
Strengths: | Resilient, Confident, Good at Dealing with Difficult Situations |
Weaknesses: | Inability to Connect and Understand the Need of the Customer |
FAMOUS INSENSITIVE PERSONALITY

Was insensitive towards the Jews and saw their extermination as collateral damage for Germany's progress.
INSENSITIVE PEOPLE CAN DIVIDED INTO 3 CATEGORIES:
INSENSITIVITY
LOGICAL | INCONSIDERATE | CALLOUS |
---|---|---|
Prefers rational decision making even if it hurts others | Unaffected by others' emotions | Revels in others' misery |
Prejudiced opinions | Sympathetic | Empathetic |
TEMPERAMENTAL
Tendency to become angry at the slightest provocation, feeling and engaging in anger related emotions pervasively and persistently.
Strengths: | Considerate of Others' Feelings |
Weaknesses: |
Unstable Moods, Easily Provoked |
FAMOUS TEMPERAMENTAL PERSONALITY:

Easily hurt and demotivated by others' take on his paintings. Very often got into fights with his critics.
TEMPERAMENTAL PEOPLE CAN DIVIDED INTO 3 CATEGORIES:
TEMPERAMENTAL
ASSERTIVE | VOLATILE | VIOLENT |
---|---|---|
Imposes opinions on others | Frequent anger outbursts | Provoked without reasons |
Easily influenced by others | Stays calm under stress | Easily hurt by others |
IMPULSIVENESS
Tendency to act on a whim, displaying behavior characterized by little or no forethought, reflection, or consideration of the consequences.
Strength: |
Quick Decision Making |
Weaknesses: | Rash Decision Making |
FAMOUS IMPULSIVE PERSONALITY:

Eccentric and free-spirited in her actions.
IMPULSIVE PEOPLE CAN DIVIDED INTO 3 CATEGORIES:
IMPULSIVE
SPONTANEOUS | CARELESS | RASH |
---|---|---|
Jumps to conclusions | Casual attitude towards things | Acts without carding about consequences |
Thinks through any situation | Guarded and cautious towards things | Plans, monitors, controls things |
THRILL-SEEKING
The tendency to do activities filled with experiences and Thrill-seeking unusual sensations perceived as risky but rewarding.
Strengths: |
Open to New Ideas, Broad Minded, Adventurous, Out-Of-The-Box Thinker |
Weaknesses: | Uncalculated Risk Taker |
FAMOUS THRILL-SEEKER:

Jumped from one successful venture to another, without getting too elated by any one venture, which allowed him to try different industries and excel in different fields.
THRILL-SEEKING PEOPLE CAN DIVIDED INTO 3 CATEGORIES:
THRILL-SEEKING
EXCITABLE | ADVENTUROUS | DAREDEVIL |
---|---|---|
Novelty seeking | Likes the unusual | Taking high stakes risk |
Likes routine | Conservative in choices | Prefers tried and tested paths |
INDUSTRY & JOB-ROLE FRAMEWORKS
Dark traits in industries and job roles can be segregated into three categories, based on the amount of trigger factors that they offer and the level of harm that triggering of dark traits can cause in these workplaces
Our whitepaper on – 'Uncovering the Dark Traits of Human Personality', segregates key industries and job roles into three zones:
RED ZONE:
Impact of dark traits is high, can jeopardize safety of life, or company reputation
YELLOW ZONE:
Impact of dark traits is medium, can disrupt work culture
GREEN ZONE:
Impact of dark traits is low, can cause harm to property and assets
WHEN TO USE ASSESSMENTS TO MEASURE DARK PERSONALITY?
1. ASSESS FOR WORK CULTURE

HIRING
- People with dark traits make up the majority of bad hires in a company
- Bad hires are the leading cause of attrition in a company
- Attrition is one of the biggest productivity drain of a company
leadership development
- People in leadership positions have three times higher propensity tohost dark traits than the average population
- Dark traits lead to undersirable behavior, which in turn leads to employee disengagemen
- Empolyee disengagement is the biggest productivity killer in an organization
CASE STUDY
PREVENTING DISTRESSING INCIDENTS : PROACTIVE VS REACTIVE APPROACH
Problem: A cab company is getting a lot of complaints from customers against rude behavior and harassment. The company management decides to get involved and get to the bottom of this issue, so as to resolve it. They find out that some cab drivers are not following standard protocols and are temperamental and insensitive towards the customer in general.
Reactive Solution:
The company had been conducting background verification as a part of their hiring process. However, the current hiring process was unable to keep drivers with propensity to act rude or cause trouble from b being a part of their employee pool. This was because, the hiring process only took into account the task of keeping existing delinquents in check, and did not assess the trouble brewing potential of other non-delinquent drivers.
Impact
These unchecked potential troublemakers would then go ahead to commit their first time offence while on the job.
Proactive Solution:
The cab company carries out Dark Personality Assessment during hiring and is able to correctly identify drivers that have high level of dark traits (high propensity for causing trouble).
Impact
By filtering out the potential troublemakers, the cab company is left with a refined pool of drivers who are calm and cognizant of the customer's requirements. The customer complaints reduce substantially and the company's productivity increases.
WHEN TO USE ASSESSMENTS TO MEASURE DARK PERSONALITY?
2. ASSESS FOR CUSTOMER SAFETY
High Risk Jobs, where an employee is in charge of customer's life or asset safety, are the places where distressing incidents happen most frequently. In these industries, it is critical to carry out Dark Personality Assessment in order to weed out the potentially harmful employees.
CASE STUDIES
METHODOLOGY
Respondents by Gender
Male


Female
Respondents by Job Role

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Mettl is one of the largest and fastest growing online talent measurement solutions provider globally, and has been at the forefront of online assessment technology since its inception in 2010. We enable organizations to build winning teams by taking credible people decision across two keys areas: Talent Acquisition and Development.