As previously established by the Psychology Research Think Tank, flirting is evident in many social situations and is used for many purposes other than relationship enhancement. Therefore, we defined flirting behavior as either relational (for the purpose of initiating or enhancing relationships) or instrumental (for the purpose of getting something, like tips at a bar).

This study elaborates on the findings from our first flirting study and connects them to the Dark and Light Triads. These are two related concepts in social psychology which measure the following qualities:

Dark Triad

1. Machiavellianism: Manipulativeness, lack of empathy, and indifference to morality

2. Narcissism: Egotism, grandiosity, need for admiration

3. Psychopathy: Antisocial behavior, impulsivity, selfishness, and callousness

Light Triad

1. Faith In Humanity: Believing that people are mostly good and have good intentions

2. Humanism: Believing that all humans are deserving of respect, appreciation, and kindness

3. Kantianism: Believing that others should be treated as ends in and of themselves, and not as pawns in for someone's own self service (the opposite of Machiavellianism)

We hypothesized that individuals measuring high in Dark Triad traits may engage in flirting for reasons different from individuals measuring high in Light Triad traits.

Methods

This study used psychology students from the University of Alabama to collect participants. These students were tasked (as part of their grade) to find individuals they knew to complete our questionnaire. This allowed us to acquire a sample size of 2865 individuals organized into 955 triads. This sample size means that our findings are more robust compared to a study with fewer participants.

Participants completed online measures of flirting frequency, skill, and motivation across eight social situations, ten predictors of flirting skill, life satisfaction, and friendship quality. Participants also completed measures of the three Dark Triad traits (narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy) and three Light Triad Traits (faith in humanity, humanism, Kantianism). To reduce bias from the main participant, each triad had two informants who rated the main participant on certain measures.

Results

The results suggested that Dark Triad traits (especially psychopathy and Machiavellianism) were associated with instrumental flirting, both as a whole and when measured as individual traits, while Light Triad traits were negatively associated with instrumental flirting. This may be because instrumental flirting is seen as violating moral values, which individuals with Light Triad traits are less likely to do.

Additionally, the only trait that was even slightly positively associated with relational flirting was humanism. This suggests that individuals measuring high in Light Triad traits may not engage in much flirting at all, or that relational flirting is more driven by the situation than personality.