The Role of Conspiracy Beliefs and External Political Efficacy in the Relationship Between Dark Triad Personality and Non-Normative Behaviour

Abstract In recent years, growing attention has been given to the psychological and social factors that may drive non-normative political behaviour, including the role of personality traits, conspiracy beliefs, and political efficacy. The present study focused on the role of conspiracy beliefs and external political efficacy in the relationship between the Dark Triad personality characteristics (Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy) and non-normative behaviour. A total of 712 participants (353 female) completed online questionnaires measuring conspiracy beliefs, external political efficacy (system-regarding trust), and non-normative behaviour (political engagement) as well as the Dirty Dozen scale to assess the Dark Triad characteristics. The results showed no evidence for moderated mediation as initially proposed in models. However, some important relationships between the variables were confirmed: The Dark Triad traits are positively related to the willingness to engage in non-normative political action and that conspiracy beliefs are positively related to non-normative behaviour and negatively related to external political efficacy. The results suggest that both personality and conspiracy beliefs can independently drive non-normative forms of political action, but we conclude that examined personality traits may not play as important role in forming of conspiracy beliefs as previously thought.