Symphony of influence: Dark Tetrad traits and classical music preference as predictors of stress and cognitive performance.

Dark personality traits are often viewed as merely negative; however, recent research suggests they can exhibit context-dependent adaptive associations, such as supporting stress and cognitive performance, when interacting with music preference and listening. This study aimed to further investigate how dark personalities directly and indirectly relate to stress and performance outcomes. We investigated Dark Tetrad facets, state stress, maths anxiety, and music preferences through a survey, followed by a stress-inducing experimental task with time and social pressures and music or radio listening conditions, with radio acting as the control. Participants (N = 86; mean age = 30.41 years; 54.7% female) showed changes in subjective and physiological stress (heart rate), task accuracy, and calculation time. Both music and radio listening reduced stress during the wait period between tasks. Psychopathic stability and Machiavellian agency negatively predicted state stress and psychopathic stability was associated with faster arithmetic performance. Agentic narcissism was associated with higher accuracy. Moderation analyses showed that high agentic narcissism, combined with a preference for classical music, linked to lower subjective stress. Classical music preference moderated the relationships of psychopathic stability and verbal sadism with subjective stress. Findings suggest that higher levels of these facets may buffer stress and aid arithmetic performance when combined with music preferences. Given the exploratory nature of this study, the findings should be considered preliminary and interpreted with caution. Results highlight the potential value of facet-level personality assessments and suggest that music preferences may support more tailored stress-management for individuals high in specific dark personality facets.