Model of Utilitarian Ethical Judgment in the Relationship with the Dark Triad: Mediating role of Honesty/Humility and Empathy

For years, philosophers and psychologists seek to explain why people behave in ethical or unethical practices. This study was aimed to determine the causal model fitness of relationship between the dark triad and utilitarian moral judgment, with the mediating role of honesty/humility and empathy.

This study was a descriptive-correlation research. Statistical society of this study was all female secondary high-school students in Birjand. Among them, 288 students were selected by random cluster sampling method. Four standard questionnaires were used to collect data. Furthermore, Pearson correlation coefficient and path analysis were used to test the main hypothesis of the study.

Results showed that although the initial proposed models do not fit data well, but after removing non-significant paths and applying the correction indices of model, just empathy mediated the relationship between dark tetrad and utilitarian moral judgment. Honesty/humility doesn’t play any role in this relationship.

These findings confirmed findings of previous research and provided practical recommendations for professionals and therapists in working with individuals with high scores on narcissism, Machiavellianism and psychopaths and considering the role of empathy in moderating this relationship.