International Journal of Psychology

International Journal of Psychology, 2019

Vol. 54, No. 5, 563–572, DOI: 10.1002/ijop.12518

Environmental attitudes in China: The roles of the Dark

Triad, future orientation and place attachment

Niwen Huang1 , Shijiang Zuo1 , Fang Wang1 , Pan Cai1 , and Fengxiang Wang2
1
Beijing Key Laboratory of Applied Experimental Psychology, National Demonstration Center
for Experimental Psychology Education (Beijing Normal University), Faculty of Psychology,
Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
2 The General Hospital of the PLA Rocket Force, Beijing, China

G iven the current environmental situation and social change in China, we explored the relationships between the
Dark Triad traits (Machiavellianism, narcissism and psychopathy) and environmental attitudes (beliefs regarding
environmentally related issues), and the mediating roles of future orientation (the tendency to plan for meeting long-term
objectives) and place attachment (the emotional connection with the place of residence) in these relationships. Using a
national sample from all 31 provinces of mainland China (N = 998), we found that the psychometric structure of the
Dark Triad was well confirmed under Chinese culture. The Dark Triad as a whole was negatively related to environmental
attitudes, but narcissism was not significantly associated with environmental attitudes when the three Dark Triad traits were
considered as the predictors simultaneously. Future orientation and place attachment mediated the association between the
Dark Triad and environmental attitudes. These findings enrich our understanding of the relevant variables of environmental
attitudes and provide references for China’s government and other developing countries to improve environmental issues.
The uniqueness of narcissism could expand the understanding of the commonality and diversity among the Dark Triad
traits, and an efficient tool of the Dark Triad was provided under Chinese culture.

Keywords: Dark Triad; Environmental attitudes; Future orientation; Place attachment; China.

With its rapid economic development and industrialisa-
tion, China has been plagued by environmental issues. In
2013, toxic haze filled the air in the eastern China. The
daily average of fine particulate matter (PM 2.5) in the
most serious areas reached 1000 mg/m3 , which exceeded
the safety standard of the World Health Organization
more than 40 times. The national average temperature has
increased gradually from 1951 to 2016, which reflects the
continuing serious global warming (Ministry of Environ-
mental Protection of China, 2016).
To improve its environmental situation, China’s gov-
ernment and people face a conflict between economic
development and preserving nature. Individuals’ atti-
tudes towards the environment and environmental issues
can affect their pro-environmental behaviours in some
extent. Research has found that environmental attitudes
and pro-environmental behaviours were positively corre-
lated (e.g., Bamberg & Möser, 2007), and environmen-
tal attitude was incorporated into the model of predicting
pro-environmental behaviours (e.g., Bamberg & Möser,
2007). As such, exploring the environmental attitudes of
China’s people and the relevant factors is the first step to
improving environmental issues in China.
According to the previous findings, individual differ-
ences are useful in predicting environmental attitudes (see
the review by Gifford & Nilsson, 2014). Most studies
have examined the impact of the Big Five personality
traits (e.g., Hirsh & Dan, 2007; Milfont & Sibley, 2012),
but research on the influence of the Dark Triad (i.e.,
Machiavellianism, narcissism and psychopathy) is scarce.
The Dark Triad traits reflect the dark side of personal-
ity, and psychologists believe that individuals living in an

Correspondence should be addressed to Fang Wang, Beijing Key Laboratory of Applied Experimental Psychology, National Demonstration Center
for Experimental Psychology Education (Beijing Normal University), Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, No.19 Xinjiekouwai Street,
Beijing 100875, China. (E-mail: fwang@bnu.edu.cn).
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant numbers 31600910) and the other Foundation (grant number
CEP13C004). Niwen Huang and Shijiang Zuo conceived and designed the study. Niwen Huang, Shijiang Zuo and Pan Cai collected and analysed data.
Niwen Huang, Fang Wang and Fengxiang Wang wrote and revised the paper.

© 2018 International Union of Psychological Science


564 HUANG ET AL.
unstable environment are more likely to have these traits
due to natural selection (Jonason & Krause, 2013; Zuo,
Huang, Wang, Wang, & Cai, in press). Since China is
experiencing dramatic social change characterised by the
yearly increase in residential mobility (National Bureau
of Statistic of the People’s Republic of China, 2017),
the Dark Triad traits could be increasing in China and
playing an increasing significant role in China’s social
issues. Therefore, the present study aimed to explore the
influence of the Dark Triad traits on individuals’ envi-
ronmental attitudes in China. The mediating roles (future
orientation and place attachment) in these relationships
were also investigated.
The Dark Triad
The Dark Triad, composed of Machiavellianism, nar-
cissism and psychopathy, is a group of personality
traits considered socially aversive (Paulhus & Williams,
2002). All three traits have common features, including
self-promotion, duplicity and aggressiveness (Paulhus &
Williams, 2002). Each trait also has distinguishing fea-
tures: Machiavellianism is characterised by manipulation
and exploitation (Paulhus & Williams, 2002); narcissism
by entitlement, self-centredness and self-importance
(Krizan & Herlache, 2017); and psychopathy by
high impulsivity and thrill-seeking (Jakobwitz &
Egan, 2006).
A myriad of evidence has demonstrated that the Dark
Triad traits are associated with negative behaviours
and traits; for example, all three traits are correlated
with dishonesty, cyber-bullying and sensation-seeking
behaviour (see the review by Furnham, Richards, &
Paulhus, 2013). These traits have also been found to
be negatively correlated with honesty–humility and
agreeableness (Furnham et al., 2013; Jakobwitz &
Egan, 2006); notably, agreeableness is positively asso-
ciated with pro-environmental behaviours (e.g., Milfont
& Sibley, 2012). Overall, the influence of the Dark
Triad on antisocial behaviour in the literature has been
mainly concerned with interpersonal interactions (see
the review by Furnham et al., 2013), but it remains
unclear whether and how the Dark Triad traits affect
human–environment interactions, like environmental
attitudes and pro-environmental behaviours. To uncover
the potential connection, we firstly need to focus on the
cognitive and emotional characteristics of the Dark Triad
individuals.
Cognitive tendency: Low future orientation
The cognitive tendency of people with a high level of
Dark Triad traits may be one of the factors that influence
their environmental attitudes. Future orientation is a cog-
nitive pattern that refers to the tendency to set and achieve
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goals and plan strategies for fulfilling long-term objec-
tives (Joireman, Shaffer, Balliet, & Strathman, 2012).
People with greater future orientation tend to deter-
mine their current behaviour based on the influence of
potential outcomes in the future. Research has observed
positive correlations between the Dark Triad traits and
present orientation (e.g., Stolarski, Czarna, Malesza, &
Szymańska, 2017); that is, individuals with pronounced
Dark Triad traits were more likely to make decisions
based on the immediacy of rewards instead of delayed
outcomes.
According to life history theory, personality traits,
together with various behavioural strategies, regulate
behavioural adaptation to the stability or harshness of
socioecological conditions during childhood (Brumbach,
Figueredo, & Ellis, 2009). Unpredictable conditions
tend to produce fast life strategies; conversely, more
predictable environments tend to produce slow life strate-
gies. Fast life strategies are associated with impulsivity,
short-term opportunism and a present-oriented time
perspective (Griskevicius, Delton, Robertson, & Tybur,
2011). Slow life strategies, by contrast, are associated
with impulse control, long-term goal setting and future
orientation (Griskevicius et al., 2011). Previous research
has suggested that the Dark Triad should be consid-
ered an indicator of fast life strategies (e.g., Furnham
et al., 2013). Therefore, individuals scoring high on the
Dark Triad might be more likely to have a lower future
orientation than others.
Environmental issues are understood as social dilem-
mas with a temporal conflict, which in most cases,
represents a conflict between the satisfying of short-term
and long-term interests (Milfont, Wilson, & Diniz,
2012). Positive environmental attitude often means
that an individual identifies the sacrifice of short-term
interests to protect long-term benefits. Previous studies
have found that future orientation was consistently and
positively related to general environmental attitudes,
pro-environmental behaviour intentions and involve-
ment in pro-environmental activities (e.g., Gu, Huang,
Zhang, & Wang, 2015; Milfont et al., 2012). Therefore,
when individuals scoring high on the Dark Triad traits
encounter the trade-offs between short-term interests and
future environmental benefits, they might tend to satisfy
their immediate interests at the expense of the future
environment due to their low level of future orientation,
which is eventually expressed as negative environmental
attitudes.
Emotional connection: Poor place attachment
Emotional connection may also play an important role in
the relationship between the Dark Triad and environmen-
tal attitudes. Place attachment is defined as an emotional
connection between an individual and a place of resi-
dence (Lewicka, 2010). The direct relationship between
© 2018 International Union of Psychological Science

the Dark Triad and place attachment has been rarely
examined in previous studies. However, the incomplete
emotional function and unfriendly interpersonal styles of
individuals scoring high on the Dark Triad suggest that
they would hardly be able to establish deep emotional
connections with their place of residence.
First, emotional deficiencies are the fundamental
aspect of the Dark Triad traits (Jonason & Krause, 2013).
Individuals scoring high on the Dark Triad traits exhibited
low levels of empathy and a limited ability or motivation
to identify or describe feelings (Jonason & Krause, 2013),
and Machiavellianism and psychopathy were negatively
correlated with emotional intelligence (Veselka, Scher-
mer, & Vernon, 2012). Deficits in emotional functioning
among individuals scoring high on the Dark Triad might
result in their inability to build an emotional connection
with their place of residence and establish stable inter-
personal relationships therein. Scoring high on the Dark
Triad is not necessarily bad news for the individuals,
because the poor emotional connection with the people
and place of residence might facilitate their antagonistic
social strategy and could be adaptive to capture resources
(Jonason & Krause, 2013). In this study, we focused on
the general environmental issue, and this topic brought
up the conflict of the individual–public interest trade-off.
The lack of emotional connection that serves those with
a high score on the Dark Triad well might also relate to
their negative environmental attitudes (Budruk, Thomas,
& Tyrrell, 2009).
Second, the interpersonal styles of individuals scoring
high on the Dark Triad traits might be another factor caus-
ing harm to their place attachment. The Dark Triad traits
have been linked to numerous undesirable interpersonal
outcomes, like aggression and ruthless self-advancement
(see the review by Furnham et al., 2013). Rauthmann
(2012) found that Machiavellians had the most cynicism
towards others, and psychopaths were the most likely to
leave negative impressions in brief meetings. Moreover,
they preferred aggressive humour styles and tended to be
vengeful and less forgiving of others (e.g., Furnham et al.,
2013; Giammarco & Vernon, 2014). As for narcissists,
people viewed them as favourable in a zero or short-term
encounter, but these impressions reversed for long-term
acquaintances. This result is due to the rivalry side of
narcissism characterised by a sense of superiority, ego-
centrism, aggressiveness and devaluation of others (e.g.,
Back et al., 2013; Morf & Rhodewalt, 2001). The inter-
personal styles of individuals scoring high on the Dark
Triad traits might lead to poor social relationships and
weak social ties in their place of residence, and these are
important social predictors of place attachment (Lewicka,
2010). Thus, the Dark Triad traits should be negatively
correlated with place attachment.
Many studies have demonstrated that place attach-
ment, as an emotional connection, plays an important
role in encouraging positive environmental attitudes
© 2018 International Union of Psychological Science
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ENVIRONMENTAL ATTITUDES IN CHINA 565
and pro-environmental behaviours. Budruk et al. (2009)
concluded that a positive environmental attitude was asso-
ciated with a strong sense of place attachment. Vorkinn
and Riese (2001) found that place attachment positively
predicted attitudes about local environmental issues.
Research has also indicated that place attachment was
positively associated with a series of pro-environment
behaviours, including picking up litter in the park,
protecting natural landscapes and fighting against air
pollution (e.g., Gu et al., 2015; Walker & Ryan, 2008).
Therefore, we predicted that the Dark Triad traits
were associated with environmental attitudes through
place attachment. Specifically, people with higher Dark
Triad traits would report lower place attachment and
demonstrate higher negativity in their environmental
attitudes.
The present study
The present study investigated the relationships between
the Dark Triad traits and environmental attitudes in China,
and the mediating roles of future orientation and place
attachment in these relationships. Accordingly, we have
posed the following hypotheses:
H1. All three traits of the Dark Triad (Machiavellianism,
narcissism and psychopathy) are negatively correlated with
environmental attitudes.
H2. Future orientation mediates the relationship between
the Dark Triad and environmental attitudes.
H3. Place attachment mediates the relationship between the
Dark Triad and environmental attitudes.
Furthermore, the Dark Triad traits have mainly been
the concern of Western researchers, whereas the traits
and their psychometric structure are rarely explored under
Chinese culture (e.g., Zuo, Wang, Xu, Wang, & Zhao,
2016). Thus, this study also explores the psychometric
structure of the Dark Triad measure under the Chinese
culture.
METHOD
Participants and procedure
A total of 1199 participants were recruited in exchange
for ¥5 (approximately US$0.75). All the participants were
from the 31 provinces of mainland China to avoid the
influence of environmental attitudes caused by the unique
environmental conditions of specific regions. The ques-
tionnaire was published on the online data collection
platform, and data collection ended when the effective
data exceeded 30 in each province. Participants who
did not successfully complete the attention-test items
(n = 199) or who were younger than 16 years (n = 2) were

566 HUANG ET AL.
excluded. Ultimately, 998 participants were included in
the analyses (438 males, 560 females; 5.1% junior high
school, 17.5% senior high school, 68.5% undergradu-
ate or junior college, 7.6% postgraduate, 1.2% doctor-
ate or higher). Their ages ranged from 16 to 64, with a
mean of 28.86 (SD = 6.33) years. All participants were
provided informed consent on the website and com-
pleted an online questionnaire consisting of the following
measures.
Measures
We translated all the scales into Chinese through a proce-
dure of translation and back-translation. We provided the
English–Chinese contrast scales in Appendix S1, Sup-
porting Information.
The Dark Triad
The Dirty Dozen Scale1 (Jonason & Webster, 2010)
includes 12 items measuring the three traits of the Dark
Triad, with four items per trait. Examples of the items are
“I tend to manipulate others to get my way” (Machiavel-
lianism), “I tend to want others to admire me” (narcis-
sism) and “I tend to lack remorse” (psychopathy). Partic-
ipants rated the extent to which they agreed with each item
on a 7-point scale (1 = strongly disagree; 7 = strongly
agree), and their responses to the items for each trait
were averaged for the analysis. In this study, the scale
has acceptable reliabilities (Machiavellianism: α = 0.84,
ωT = 0.84; narcissism: α = 0.85, ωT = 0.85; psychopathy:
α = 0.73, ωT = 0.73).
Environmental attitudes
The New Ecological Paradigm Scale (Dunlap, Van
Liere, Mertig, & Jones, 2000) is a widely used measure of
environmental attitudes. The scale consists of 15 items on
general beliefs about various human–environment rela-
tionships (e.g., “We are approaching the limit of the num-
ber of people the earth can support”), with reverse scoring
for seven items. Participants rated the items on a 7-point
scale (1 = strongly disagree; 7 = strongly agree), with a
higher score indicating a more positive attitude towards
the environment. In this study, the scale has a good
reliability (α = 0.82, ωT = 0.82) and an acceptable con-
struct validity,2 χ2 (76) = 460.52, p < .001, χ2 /df = 6.06,
CFI = 0.90, TLI = 0.86, RMSEA = 0.071, 90% CI [0.065,
0.078].3
1 The Dark Triad has two brief measures: Dirty Dozen and Short Dark Triad (SD3). Although SD3 showed stronger convergent and incremental
validity than Dirty Dozen in Western culture, it showed relatively low reliability of each subscale in a previous study under Chinese culture (Zuo et al.,
2016). For this reason, we chose Dirty Dozen to measure the Dark Triad this study.
2 We applied the CFAs for each scale to test their construct validities under Chinese culture. We mainly used the standard of RMSEA (<0.10) to
judge the fitting of the models because it is less influenced by the sample size; the standards of CFI/TLI (>0.90) were considered secondary.
3 CFI = comparative fit index; TLI = Tucker-Lewis index; RMSEA = root-mean-square error of approximation; and CI = confidence interval.
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Future orientation
The Consideration of Future Consequences Scale
(Joireman et al., 2012) was used to measure future
orientation. This 14-item instrument consists of a
seven-item subscale measuring concern with future con-
sequences (e.g., “I consider how things might be in the
future, and try to influence those things with my day to
day behaviour”) and a seven-item subscale measuring
concern with immediate consequences (e.g., “I only
act to satisfy immediate concerns, figuring the future
will take care of itself”). Participants were asked to
rate the items on a 7-point scale (1 = strongly disagree;
7 = strongly agree). The items of concern with immediate
consequences subscale were reverse scored, and the mean
score of all the items was calculated. A higher score indi-
cates greater concern with the future. In this study, the
scale has an acceptable reliability (α = 0.76, ωT = 0.73)
and a good construct validity, χ2 (75) = 387.77, p < .001,
χ2 /df = 5.17, CFI = 0.91, TLI = 0.89, RMSEA = 0.065,
90% CI [0.058, 0.071].
Place attachment
The 12-item version of the Place Attachment Scale
(Lewicka, 2010) was used to measure place attachment
(e.g., “I miss it when I am not here”). Participants were
asked to rate the city where they resided on a 7-point scale
(1 = strongly disagree; 7 = strongly agree). A higher score
shows a stronger attachment to the city. In this study, the
scale has good reliability, α = 0.86, ωT = 0.86, and con-
struct validity, χ2 (52) = 402.54, p < .001, χ2 /df = 7.74,
CFI = 0.93, TLI = 0.91, RMSEA = 0.082, 90% CI [0.075,
0.090].
Demographic variables and attention tests
Participants’ age, gender, educational level and socioe-
conomic status (SES) were collected. Educational level
was measured as 1 for junior high school, 2 for senior high
school, 3 for undergraduate or junior college, 4 for post-
graduate and 5 for doctorate or higher. SES was rated by
participants’ subjective judgement of their family income
level on a 7-point scale (1 = low level in society; 7 = high
level in society). Two attention-test items (e.g., “When
you see this item, please select the fifth option”) were
included in the Dark Triad and future orientation mea-
sures and participants’ data were included in the analysis
only if they had successfully completed both items.
© 2018 International Union of Psychological Science

RESULTS
The psychometric structure of the Dark Triad
To test the construct validity of the Dirty Dozen
Scale under Chinese culture, three confirmatory
factor analyses (CFAs) were conducted. In the
one-dimensional model (Figure 1a), all items were
allowed to load on a single factor. The model fit poorly,
χ2 (54) = 1763.51, p < .001, χ2 /df = 32.66, CFI = 0.67,
TLI = 0.60, RMSEA = 0.178, 90% CI [0.171, 0.185].
The three-dimensional (Figure 1b) and hierarchical
(Figure 1c) models were structurally equivalent, and fit
the data well, χ2 (51) = 358.78, p < .001, χ2 /df = 7.03,
CFI = 0.94, TLI = 0.92, RMSEA = 0.078, 90% CI [0.070,
0.085]. Moreover, the three-dimensional and hierarchical
models fit significantly better than the one-dimensional
model, △χ2 (3) = 1404.74, p < .001, which is similar
to the psychometric structure under Western culture
(Jonason & Webster, 2010).
Descriptive statistics and zero-order
correlations
The descriptive statistics and correlations are presented
in Table 1. The Dark Triad traits (Machiavellianism,
narcissism and psychopathy) were positively intercor-
related (rs = 0.36–0.60, ps < .001), which is consistent
with previous studies (see the review by Furnham et al.,
2013). As predicted, Machiavellianism, narcissism and
psychopathy were negatively related to environmental
attitudes and future orientation (rs = −0.23 to −0.12,
ps < .001). Machiavellianism and psychopathy were
negatively related to place attachment (rs = −0.16 to
−0.12, ps < .001) but the correlation between narcissism
and place attachment was not significant (r = −0.05,
p = .146).
Multiple regression analysis
We conducted a hierarchical multiple regression, in
which age, gender, educational level and SES were
entered as controlled variables, and Machiavellianism,
narcissism and psychopathy were entered simultaneously
as independent variables to explore their specific effects
on environmental attitudes (Table 2). After controlling
for the demographics, the regression model involving
the three Dark Triad traits simultaneously had a signifi-
cant effect, F(7, 990) = 12.973, p < .001, △R2 = 0.069.
Specifically, Machiavellianism negatively predicted envi-
ronmental attitudes, β = −0.13, t = −3.35, p = .001, 95%
CI [−0.14, −0.04]; psychopathy negatively predicted
environmental attitudes, β = −0.15, t = −3.88, p < .001,
95% CI [−0.18, −0.06]); but narcissism did not sig-
nificantly predict environmental attitudes, β = −0.03,
© 2018 International Union of Psychological Science
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ENVIRONMENTAL ATTITUDES IN CHINA 567
t = −0.77, p = .439, 95% CI [−0.05, 0.02]. These results
partly confirmed H1: the Dark Triad as a whole was
negatively associated with environmental attitudes, but
narcissism was not correlated to environmental atti-
tudes when the effects of the other two traits were both
concerned.
Next, we performed a sensitivity analysis to estimate
the effect size that the study was able to detect with a
power of 95% and α = 0.05. The result indicated that
the minimum effect size to which the linear multiple
regression was sufficiently sensitive was 0.019, and the
△R2 = 0.069 was larger than the minimum effect size.
Mediation analyses
The structural equation model (Figure 2) was fit to exam-
ine the mediating roles of future orientation and place
attachment between the Dark Triad and environmental
attitudes, after controlling for age, gender, educational
level and SES. Only the Dark Triad was a single latent
variable that was produced by the Machiavellianism, nar-
cissism and psychopathy subscales scores, whereas all the
other variables were manifest variables based on the scale
scores. The results of the structural equation model are
shown in Figure 2. The current model was well accepted,
with χ2 (27) = 148.50, p < .001, χ2 /df = 5.50, CFI = 0.88,
TLI = 0.83, RMSEA = 0.067, 90% CI [0.057, 0.078].
In this model, there was a significant negative direct
effect of the Dark Triad on environmental attitudes,
β = −0.211, p < .001, 95% CI [−0.250, −0.106]. We
applied the bootstrap to examine the mediating effects
using 1000 iterations and estimating 95% bias-corrected
confidence intervals. The Dark Triad had significant neg-
ative indirect effects on environmental attitudes through
future orientation, indirect effect (a × b) = −0.076, 95%
CI [−0.098, −0.053], and place attachment, indirect effect
(a × b) = −0.012, 95% CI [−0.024, −0.001]. Thus, H2
and H3 were supported.
We also tested whether future orientation and place
attachment mediated the effects of three single Dark Triad
traits on environmental attitudes, and we reported these
results in Appendix S1.
DISCUSSION
Given the environmental issues and social development,
focusing on the Dark Triad and environmental attitudes
in China is critical. The present study used a relatively
large sample from all 31 provinces of mainland China to
investigate the psychometric structure of the Dark Triad,
the relationships among the Dark Triad traits and environ-
mental attitudes, and the mediating roles of future orien-
tation and place attachment in this relationship under Chi-
nese culture. The results revealed that the measurement of
the Dark Triad—Dirty Dozen had good reliabilities and
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Figure 1. One-dimensional (a), three-dimensional (b) and hierarchical (c) models of the Dirty Dozen Scale (item numbers in the figure correspond to

© 2018 International Union of Psychological Science

items in the original scale (Jonason & Webster, 2010), and the English–Chinese contrast scale is also presented in Appendix S1; ***p < .001).
HUANG ET AL.
568
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ENVIRONMENTAL ATTITUDES IN CHINA 569

TABLE 1
Means, SD and correlations among the measured variables

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1. Age —
2. Gender 0.17*** —
3. Educational level 0.01 0.18*** —
4. SES 0.05 0.19*** 0.50*** —
5. Machiavellianism −0.01 0.11** 0.00 −0.06 —
6. Narcissism −0.08* −0.01 0.03 −0.03 0.42*** —
7. Psychopathy 0.03 0.07* −0.03 −0.11** 0.60*** 0.36*** —
8. Future orientation −0.01 0.15*** 0.18*** 0.25*** −0.18*** −0.16*** −0.18*** —
9. Place attachment 0.04 −0.00 −0.04 0.04 −0.12*** −0.05 −0.16*** 0.11** —
10. Environmental attitude −0.09*** −0.04 0.06 −0.03 −0.23*** −0.12*** −0.23*** 0.35*** 0.13*** —
M 28.86 — 2.82 3.79 2.26 3.56 2.15 4.68 5.18 5.60
SD 6.33 — 0.69 1.27 1.30 1.58 1.11 0.84 1.02 0.87

Note: Gender was dummy-coded as 0 for female and 1 for male. SES = socioeconomic status.
*p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001.

TABLE 2
Results of the multiple regression predicting environmental attitudes

Step 1 Step 2
Variables β t β t

Controlled variables Age −0.08* −2.43 −0.08** −2.63

Gender −0.03 −0.92 −0.00 −0.02
Educational level 0.10** 2.74 0.11** 3.10
SES −0.07 −1.79 −0.10** −2.81
Independent variables Machiavellianism −0.13** −3.35
Narcissism −0.03 −0.77
Psychopathy −0.15*** −3.88
F 3.90** 12.97***
Adjusted R2 0.011 0.078
△R2 0.015** 0.069***

Note: Gender was dummy-coded as 0 for female and 1 for male. SES = socioeconomic status.
*p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001.

construct validity under Chinese culture. The Dark Triad
(i.e., Machiavellianism, narcissism and psychopathy) as a
whole was negatively associated with environmental atti-
tudes, but narcissism was not related to environmental
attitudes after controlling for the common contribution of
the Dark Triad traits. The mediating roles of future ori-
entation and place attachment were significant between
the relationship of the Dark Triad and environmental atti-
tudes.
Theoretical and practical contributions
There were several theoretical and practical contributions
and implications of this study. First, we focused on the
relationship between the Dark Triad and environmental
attitudes. On the one hand, the results enrich the liter-
ature about the relevant variables of environmental atti-
tudes under Chinese culture. Environmental psychology
studies have paid more attention to the Big Five personal-
ity traits. The relevance of the Dark Triad, which has been
viewed as part of the dark side of human nature (Paulhus
& Williams, 2002), has been ignored by researchers. This
study provides robust evidence of negative associations
between the Dark Triad traits and environmental attitudes
through a national sample in mainland China. Combined
with previous studies, the present results provide a more
complete picture by including the Dark Triad as a factor
that may relate to attitudes towards the environment. On
the other hand, this study presents novel findings: the neg-
ative effects of the Dark Triad on human–environment
interactions indicate that the Dark Triad traits have a
broader scope of impacts because the antisociality of the
Dark Triad traits has mainly been embodied in interper-
sonal relationships in previous studies (see the review by
Furnham et al., 2013).
Second, this study explored the possible indirect path-
ways involving cognitive and emotional processes, and
observed that the Dark Triad traits reduced future orienta-
tion and place attachment, which could then damage envi-
ronmental attitudes. Environmental issues are not only a
temporal conflict (short- vs. long-term interests) but also a
social conflict (private vs. public interests; Milfont et al.,

© 2018 International Union of Psychological Science


570 HUANG ET AL.
Figure 2. Model of future orientation and place attachment as mediators of the relationship between the Dark Triad and environmental attitudes
(*p < .05, ***p < .001).
2012). Individuals scoring high on the Dark Triad traits
were more likely to prefer the short and private inter-
ests. These findings could offer some guidance for the
government of China and other developing courtiers at a
similar stage to set and implement the policies of improv-
ing environmental issues, and further provides indirect
references for worldwide issues such as global climate
change. For example, environmental protection advertise-
ments that emphasise potential immediate earnings (e.g.,
cleaner water and food) rather than losses (e.g., loss of
money and comfort) would be more effective for people
adopting an antagonistic social strategy because they are
unlikely to make personal sacrifices or relinquish imme-
diate profit. Strengthening residents’ identity and attach-
ment towards the communities or cities where they live
should be another way to improve the public’s environ-
mental attitudes.
Third, this study interestingly observed no significant
correlation between narcissism and environmental atti-
tudes when considering the specific simultaneous effects
of the three traits. This finding suggests that narcis-
sism is not as “dark” as the other two traits. On the
one hand, the primary motivation of narcissists is to
pursue and maintain their public image or self-esteem
(Back et al., 2013; Morf & Rhodewalt, 2001); when inter-
acting with the natural environment, which is usually
non-threatening to their self-esteem and public image,
demonstrating strong negative environmental attitudes is
unnecessary. This study was concerned with general envi-
ronmental attitudes but the environmental attitudes of
narcissists might be situational. If protecting the envi-
ronment could help improve positive self-image, they
might be motivated to show positive environmental atti-
tudes or pro-environmental behaviours. Future research
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could explore how to create appropriate situations to
motivate narcissists’ positive environmental attitudes and
pro-environmental behaviours. On the other hand, even
if narcissists showed a similar short-term orientation of
cognitive tendency (r = −0.16, p < .001), they did not
exhibit poor place attachment (r = −0.05, p = .146) in
this study, suggesting that the emotional ability of nar-
cissists is relatively better than Machiavellians and psy-
chopaths. Indeed, prior study has found that narcissism
was positively related to emotional intelligence, whereas
the other two traits were negatively correlated with it
(Veselka et al., 2012). As such, this finding showed that
although narcissism is a dark personality trait, it was
slightly brighter than Machiavellianism and psychopathy
in some aspects. Future research could further uncover the
potential distinct performances of the Dark Triad traits on
outcomes from different fields resulting from their unique
motivations and characteristics.
Finally, this study also contributes to the research of
the Dark Triad traits in China. We provided evidence
of the satisfactory reliabilities and construct validity of
the brief measure of the Dark Triad—the Dirty Dozen
Scale under Chinese culture, which was consistent with
Western culture (e.g., Jonason & Webster, 2010). This
finding could help researchers when choosing an efficient
tool to conduct relevant research under Chinese culture.
Limitations and future directions
This study’s limitations and future directions for research
should be considered. First, the dependent variable in
this study was general environmental attitudes rather
than pro-environmental behaviours. Although environ-
mental attitudes play an important role in determining
© 2018 International Union of Psychological Science

pro-environmental behaviours, the gap between attitudes
and actual behaviours should be noted. Many factors can
influence pro-environmental behaviours, such as demo-
graphic factors, external factors (e.g., economic, social,
cultural) and internal factors (e.g., motivation, emotion,
responsibilities; Gifford & Nilsson, 2014). Therefore,
although studying behaviours directly is difficult and
costly, future research should continue to explore the rela-
tionship between the Dark Triad and pro-environmental
behaviours through self-reported or objective measures of
behaviours.
Second, we used a brief measure of the Dark Triad
traits, whereas some research has suggested these
traits are multidimensional (Furnham et al., 2013). For
example, factor analyses of the Narcissistic Personal-
ity Inventory usually yield more than two dimensions.
Psychopathy is divided into primary and secondary
forms. Future research could use longer instruments
that differentiate the sub-components of narcissism and
psychopathy.
Third, the variance explained by the Dark Triad traits
and the effect sizes of the mediating variances are signif-
icant but relatively weak. These results are similar to the
effect of the Big Five personality traits on environmen-
tal attitudes (e.g., Hirsh & Dan, 2007; Milfont & Sibley,
2012). Even a small incremental value, when aggregated
across all people in China, may have an important role in
overall environmental attitudes and improvement of envi-
ronmental issues. However, researchers should also note
that the small effect sizes might be due to the large sam-
ple causing the significant or other variables influencing
environmental attitudes not be assessed in this study.
Finally, the data were collected in mainland China, a
country where social changes and severe environmental
issues have recently occurred. Although we observed a
similar negative effect of the Dark Triad between Western
and Chinese culture, there was still insufficient evidence
to conclude cultural consistency. Future research should
focus on whether culture-specific aspects exist.
CONCLUSIONS
In conclusion, the present study found that the psycho-
metric structure of the Dark Triad was consistent under
Western and Chinese culture, and the Dark Triad as a
whole was negatively related to environmental attitudes
in China. However, when the specific effects of the three
traits were considered, only Machiavellianism and psy-
chopathy were negatively associated with environmental
attitudes. Future orientation and place attachment served
as the mediating variables of the association, that is, indi-
viduals high in the Dark Triad traits had a low future ori-
entation and place attachment; thus, they exhibited nega-
tive environmental attitudes. As concern about the envi-
ronment and research on the Dark Triad traits continue
© 2018 International Union of Psychological Science
1464066x, 2019, 5, Downloaded from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ijop.12518 by Rajiv Gandhi Indian Institute Of Management Shillong, Wiley Online Library on [08/11/2023]. See the Terms and Conditions (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/terms-and-conditions) on Wiley Online Library for rules of use; OA articles are governed by the applicable Creative Commons License
ENVIRONMENTAL ATTITUDES IN CHINA 571
to develop, the results could contribute to verifying the
measurement of the Dark Triad under Chinese culture,
enriching the knowledge about the relevant variables of
environmental attitudes and the different representations
of the three Dark traits.
Manuscript received September 2017
Revised manuscript accepted June 2018
First published online July 2018
SUPPORTING INFORMATION
Additional supporting information may be found online in the
Supporting Information section at the end of the article.
Appendix S1. English-Chinese contrast scales and supplemen-
tal analyses.
Appendix S2. Original data.
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