The experience of situational anxiety by persons with pronounced personality traits of the dark triad in a situation of cognitive dissonance

This empirical study is devoted to the study of the role of personal features of the Dark triad (narcissism, psychopathy, machiavellism) in experiencing situational anxiety in conditions of cognitive dissonance. The results of the study show that narcissism has feedback both with personal anxiety and situational anxiety before and after the exposure of the study, which indicates that a person with pronounced narcissism is less subject to anxiety in a cognitive dissonance situation. An interesting result is the positive connection of psychopathy and the difference between situational anxiety before and after exposure, which indicates that the higher the level of psychopathy in a person, the less it is subject to the impact, therefore, the most resistant to cognitive dissonance. Machiavellism does not detect a connection with personal and situational anxiety. The results of the study are an important starting point for future research and can be used when working with persons with pronounced personality traits of the Dark triad.