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Short Dark Triad (SD3)

A 27-item research measure of three 'dark' but normal-range personality traits: Machiavellianism, narcissism, and trait psychopathy. Everyone scores somewhere on these dimensions — elevations describe interpersonal-style tendencies, never a diagnosis.

Length
27 items, about 4 minutes
What you get
3 scored scales, with bands and an optional AI narrative report
Licence & provenance
Distributed free of charge by its authors (Jones & Paulhus; questionnaire publicly hosted on the UBC lab measures page) and reprinted in full in the published paper's appendix. Treated in the literature as freely available for research and educational use; presented here with full citation.
Citation
Jones, D. N., & Paulhus, D. L. (2014). Introducing the Short Dark Triad (SD3): A brief measure of dark personality traits. Assessment, 21(1), 28–41.

Before you start

  • Your answers are saved so we can score them and show your results.
  • Only you can see them, in this browser on this device.
  • We keep them for up to 180 days. You can delete them at any time from your results page.
  • If you choose an AI report, your computed scores (never your individual answers) are sent to Anthropic, our AI provider in the USA, to write it.
  • No one reviews your answers in real time. If you need help now, use urgent support, not a questionnaire.
  • You can stop at any time. Results are educational — never a diagnosis.

Full details in the privacy notice.