Klaas, Brian. Corruptible: Who Gets Power and How it Changes Us (p. 108). John Murray Press. Kindle Edition.

Why overconfidence and arrogance are common traits in powerful people?

Machiavellianism comes from the reductive caricature of a single idea from Italian political philosopher: the end justifies the means. Machiavellianism therefore refers to a personality trait marked by scheming, interpersonal manipulation, and moral indifference to others.

Narcissism, named after Narcissus from Greek mythology (who is destroyed because he falls utterly in love with himself), refers to personality traits that often manifest as arrogance, self – absorption, grandiosity, and a need for recognition from others.

Psychopathy — the darkest trait of the dark triad — often shows up as someone who lacks the ability to feel empathy and is impulsive, reckless, manipulative, and aggressive.

Each of the three traits exists on a continuum.

The Dirty Dozen — a quick, rough measure of whether someone has a mind that plays host to the dark triad.

Open any book about psychopathy and the phrase superficial charm is probably on the first page. Psychopaths are smooth talkers. They’re often incredibly likable, albeit in a glib way. They seem exciting to be around. A key to their success is manipulating others, but doing so requires making others let their guard down.

Psychopaths can feel empathy toward others. It just doesn’t happen naturally. Their regulation of their top – down and bottom – up processing is different from that of the rest of us.

Just because psychopaths don’t naturally feel for others doesn’t mean that they’re unemotional. In fact, one emotion comes extremely naturally to psychopaths: anger.

Many psychopaths can blend in. The successful psychopaths are in boardrooms. They’re signing legislation. They manage hedge funds.

Consider how we hire and promote people. Success relies on charm, charisma, and likability. Job interviews are performances. You may have gotten there with your CV, a good cover letter, and a strong recommendation. But once you’re in the room, it’s all about making the people there like you — while creating the perception that you’re qualified for the job. If you seem nervous, timid, or shy, you’re less likely to be hired. But if you seem confident and polished and always have an answer to whatever question is thrown at you, you’re more likely to be selected. For narcissistic, Machiavellian psychopaths, the standard job interview is the perfect format. They love to talk about themselves. They strategize about how to get what they want. The end justifies the means — even if it means manufacturing lies about themselves or inventing false credentials. And they’re naturally gifted at showcasing superficial charm and charisma.

When psychopaths and Machiavellians are measured in job interviews, they differ from the rest of us in intriguing ways. As you might expect, people who score high on Machiavellianism fabricate, inflate, and lie more during job interviews. But psychopaths also fabricate, inflate, and lie according to the interview that they’re doing.

Psychopaths move chameleonlike through job interviews, completely changing themselves to match what they believe the interviewer is looking for in a new recruit.

Researchers evaluated just under a thousand corporate employees for dark triad traits. They found that narcissists made more money and Machiavellians were better at climbing the corporate ladder. Psychopathy, on the other hand, damaged the career prospects of employees who scored high on it, probably skewed by the “unsuccessful” or undisciplined psychopaths who were unable to blend in.

Study suggests that there are about twenty times more psychopaths in corporate leadership than in the general population.

According to Kevin Dutton, a research psychologist at Oxford and the author of The Wisdom of Psychopaths, the ten professions with the most psychopaths are CEOs, lawyers, TV / radio personalities, salespeople, surgeons, journalists, police officers, members of the clergy, chefs, and civil servants.

The areas where the dark triad is most overrepresented are many of the most influential areas of society. A small number of destructive people can make a big difference. Here’s the emerging picture: Psychopaths are rare, but they’re more drawn to power and are better at getting it. They’re therefore overrepresented in positions of authority.

Moral dilemma:

Everyone in your village is hiding from guerrilla extremists. The guerillas have come to murder every man, woman, and child that they can find. Just as a glimmer of hope emerges that you won’t be found and everyone will survive, a lone baby starts crying. Despite every attempt to calm the baby, nothing works. If the crying doesn’t stop, everyone in the village will be slaughtered. Do you smother the baby to save everyone else?

If you don’t smother the baby, the baby will still die — just at the hands of the guerrillas instead. If you kill the baby, everyone else survives, but you made the choice that ended the baby’s life.

When it comes to doing something monstrous to save themselves, psychopaths hesitate less. That finding suggests a disturbing conclusion. Perhaps it’s a benefit in modern society to be immune from moral self – reflection. Some people are horrified at the prospect of an amoral CEO, president, or prime minister. Others find it reassuring that someone who constantly faces unbearable moral choices is able to disregard compassion and focus on hard – nosed costs and benefits.

“Psychopaths seem to be charming and charismatic, so they climb up the ladder. But they tend to be less effective than those with fewer psychopathic traits.”

For society, then, the dark triad seems to be the worst of both worlds: it helps abusive people rise to the top but makes them underperform once there.

Study of 101 hedge fund managers: as psychopathy increased, performance decreased. One explanation for this is tied to elevated levels of impulsivity and reckless risk – taking in those with dark triad traits. Psychopaths think they’re cleverer than the rest of the population. They see risk just as we do, but figure that they can outsmart consequences.

2019 review of research grant applications to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation:

Women usually wrote in straightforward, cautious language that they could back up. Men often wrote as if they could promise the moon. Because of our predisposition to overconfidence, the men got more funding.