The Hateful Eight (H8): An Efficient Multifaceted Approach to the Short Dark Tetrad (SD4)

Using the 28 items of the Short Dark Tetrad (SD4; Paulhus et al., 2020), we developed an alternative 16-item version with eight facets called the Hateful Eight (H8). Over 450 undergraduate participants completed the SD4 and two sexual behavior items. We split the sample into exploratory and confirmatory halves. Exploratory factor analyses showed that each SD4 trait—Machiavellianism, narcissism, psychopathy, and sadism—had a two-factor model that fit significantly better than a one-factor model. Taking the two highest-loading items from each factor for each trait yielded eight facets, which we labeled deviousness and scheming (Machiavellianism); leadership and exceptionalism (narcissism); defiance and recklessness (psychopathy); and violent voyeurism and verbal abuse (sadism). Confirmatory factor analysis using both split-half and whole samples supported both an eight-factor/facet solution and hierarchical models in which the eight facets loaded onto the four Dark Tetrad traits, which in turn loaded onto a global Dark Tetrad factor. Participant sex interacted with the H8 composite score in predicting number of sex partners; men showed stronger H8–sex-partners slopes than women. Showing the utility of the H8’s hierarchical, multifaceted structure, this H8-by-sex interaction effect was driven by its narcissism trait, which was in turn driven by its exceptionalism facet.