The dark triad subclinical traits involve toxic behaviours which you may be familiar with: Using specific strategies to achieve selfish goals; dishonest social tactics and manipulation for personal gain.

But while discussions of narcissism are popular these days and the dark triad traits are often discussed together, in practice it can be tricky to discern between Machiavellianism and narcissism.

There is a significant amount of literature, especially with narcissism which involves several types of narcissists (a topic for another time), and I’m going to try and keep it simple here. What is a narcissist, what is a Machiavellian, and what’s the difference?

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