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The Dark Triad Traits and Fame Interest: Do Dark Personalities
Desire Stardom?
Ashton C. Southard
1
&Virgil Zeigler-Hill
1
Published online: 15 February 2016
#Springer Science+Business Media New York 2016
Abstract Popular media has become increasingly flooded
with material concerning fame and celebrities. Although the
fascination with fame is not a new phenomenon, the emer-
gence of YouTube.com and reality television has led to the
perception that fame is something that seemingly anyone can
achieve. Researchers have examined the characteristics that
are associated with the desire for fame and have found that
narcissism is one of the most consistent predictors of fame
interest. The goal of the present study was to extend previous
research by examining how the additional two Dark Triad
personality traits (i.e., psychopathy and Machiavellianism;
Paulhus and Williams 2002) and another conceptualization
of narcissism (i.e., grandiose and vulnerable forms of patho-
logical narcissism) relate to aspects of fame interest among
569 undergraduate students. Facets of psychopathy and nar-
cissism were associated with multiple aspects of fame interest,
whereas Machiavellianism was negatively associated with de-
siring fame for altruistic purposes only. Discussion focuses on
possible explanations for the associations that the Dark Triad
personality traits had with the six dimensions of fame interest.
Keywords Fame .Pathological narcissism .Psychopathy .
Machiavellianism
There is a growing obsession in the media focusing on celeb-
rity and entertainment culture. People are constantly inundat-
ed with images of fame and celebrity status by multiple media
outlets including television, magazines, websites, and blogs.
Although interest in fame is far from a new development,
actually becoming famous seems like a more realistic possi-
bility than ever before. Multiple outlets have made it possible
for regular individuals to become famous –at least for a brief
period of time –by doing things such as landing a role on a
reality television show (e.g., Toddlers and Tiaras,The Real
World,Big Brother), participating in a televised competition
program (e.g., The Bachelor,American Idol,Survivor), or
posting a video on YouTube.com that goes viral. The per-
ceived ease of achieving fame may be motivating large num-
bers of individuals –especially younger individuals –to strive
for celebrity status. Consistent with this possibility, research
has found that 40 % of children between the ages of 10 and 12
reported that becoming famous is their biggest goal in life,
with kindness toward others and achievement taking second
and third place, respectively (Uhls and Greenfield 2012).
The increase in the desire for fame has led several re-
searchers to begin examining various aspects of this desire.
These studies have found that individuals report a variety of
reasons for desiring fame which include receiving attention,
gaining wealth, increasing their social status, and becoming
more attractive (e.g., Gountas et al. 2012). Maltby (2010)
identified six dimensions of fame interest that capture the rea-
sons individuals want to be famous: celebrity lifestyle (i.e.,
desire for the wealth, access to high-profile social groups,
publicity, and travel that accompany celebrity status), per-
ceived suitability (i.e., belief that one is suitable for celebrity
status, or possessing personal characteristics that are appropri-
ate and suitable for fame), altruistic (i.e., desiring fame for
altruistic purposes such as improving the social and economic
status of close others or the ability to draw attention to per-
ceived social injustices), intensity (i.e., a desperate desire for
fame reflecting willingness to ignore and/or disregard other
aspects of life in the pursuit of fame), drive (i.e., being driven
*Ashton C. Southard
southard@oakland.edu
1
Department of Psychology, Oakland University, 206 Pryale Hall,
Rochester, MI 48309, USA
Curr Psychol (2016) 35:255–267
DOI 10.1007/s12144-016-9416-4
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