Dark Desires: The Link Between Dark Triad and Attitude Towards Revenge in Young Adults

Anungtanger Jamir; Arja Prem; Avika Khanna; Dhun Dave; Deepali Panda; Dr. Lokesh L

OPEN ACCESS

PEER-REVIEWED

Correlational Study

| Published: April 26, 2026

Dark Desires: The Link Between Dark Triad and Attitude Towards Revenge in Young Adults

Anungtanger Jamir

M. Sc. Clinical Psychology, Department of Psychology, Kristu Jayanti College (Autonomous), Bengaluru North University, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India Google Scholar More about the auther

, Arja Prem

M. Sc. Clinical Psychology, Department of Psychology, Kristu Jayanti College (Autonomous), Bengaluru North University, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India Google Scholar More about the auther

, Avika Khanna

M. Sc. Clinical Psychology, Department of Psychology, Kristu Jayanti College (Autonomous), Bengaluru North University, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India Google Scholar More about the auther

, Dhun Dave

M. Sc. Clinical Psychology, Department of Psychology, Kristu Jayanti College (Autonomous), Bengaluru North University, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India Google Scholar More about the auther

, Deepali Panda

M. Sc. Clinical Psychology, Department of Psychology, Kristu Jayanti College (Autonomous), Bengaluru North University, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India Google Scholar More about the auther

, Dr. Lokesh L

Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, Kristu Jayanti College (Autonomous), Bengaluru North University, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India Google Scholar More about the auther

DIP: 18.01.035.20261402

DOI: 10.25215/1402.035

ABSTRACT

This study examines how Psychopathy, Narcissism and Machiavellianism, also known as The Dark Triad, are linked to attitudes toward revenge-seeking behavior and to explore the moderating influence of gender in the relationship between the Dark Triad traits and revenge tendency among young adults. A total of 237 participants completed the Short Dark Triad (SD3) scale and The Vengeance Scale. Using quantitative correlational research design and moderation analyses, the findings demonstrated that the Dark Triad were found to be significant predictors of vengeful tendencies and gender did significantly moderate the relationships between narcissism and revenge. However, gender did not moderate the relationship between Machiavellianism and revenge, nor between psychopathy and revenge. This study demonstrates how socially malevolent dispositions can influence vicious interpersonal relationships and vice versa.

Keywords

Psychopathy, Narcissism, Machiavellianism, Dark Triad, Revenge, Gender

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This is an Open Access Research distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any Medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

How to cite this article: Jamir, A., Prem, A., Khanna, A., Dave, D., Panda, D. & Lokesh, L. (2026). Dark Desires: The Link Between Dark Triad and Attitude Towards Revenge in Young Adults. International Journal of Indian Psychology, 14(2), 357-365. DIP:18.01.035.‌20261402, DOI:10.25215/1402.035