Dark Core Personality Test: Your D-Factor Score Across Nine Dark Aspects
This dark core personality test explores the common thread D-factor research describes: putting your own gain first even when it costs others, with the beliefs that make that feel fair. Get an educational score, a nine-aspect breakdown, and a free PDF.
Reviewed by Michael Callans, MSW 
Dark Core Personality Test (D-Factor) is a free, confidential 27-question self-assessment, original educational screener, not the D16, D35 or D70. It takes about 5 minutes, runs entirely in your browser, and gives you a plain-language score across 4 interpretation bands plus an optional in-depth report. It is an educational screening, not a diagnosis.
One common core, nine aspects, one honest read
The D-factor research argues that narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy, sadism and their cousins are not separate islands but flavors of one underlying disposition. This screener estimates that shared core with 27 original statements, then shows you which of the nine aspects carry most of your score. There is no diagnosis here and no shaming.
Your D-factor estimate
A single educational score for the common core the research describes: maximizing your own utility at other people's expense, accepting or provoking harm to others along the way, and holding beliefs that justify it. Most dark-trait quizzes score one trait; this one targets what the traits share.
Nine dark aspects, three items each
Egoism, Machiavellianism, moral disengagement, narcissism, psychological entitlement, psychopathy, sadism, self-interest and spitefulness. The breakdown shows which aspects pull your total up, so a moderate score can still point at one specific pattern worth attention.
Honest about self-report and about limits
Dark-trait questionnaires can be answered strategically, and the page says so. Your result is framed as a reflection tool with concrete next steps, never as a verdict, and it links to the trait-specific tests that go deeper on narcissism, Machiavellianism and psychopathy.
| Feature | Typical free quiz | Psychology.com |
|---|---|---|
| Scores the shared core, not one isolated trait | Usually one trait | Yes, one D-factor estimate |
| Breakdown across the nine aspects in the D-factor literature | Rarely | Yes, three original items per aspect |
| Explains how D relates to the dark triad, tetrad and HEXACO | No | Yes, in plain language |
| States that self-reports of dark traits are gameable | Never | Yes, on the page |
| Clinician-reviewed interpretation | Rarely | Yes, clinician reviewed |
| Optional in-depth personalized report | No | Yes, written to your exact scores |
| Answers stay on your device | Often collected | Scored in your browser; only summary scores if you request a PDF or report |
How scoring works
Answers are scored 0–108 in total. Your result falls into one of 4 bands:
| Score | Band | What it suggests |
|---|---|---|
| 0–27 | Low dark core | You endorsed few of the statements about putting your own gain ahead of other people. On this screener, the shared core the D-factor describes does not look like a strong part of how you operate. |
| 28–54 | Middle range of statement endorsement | You endorsed some of the statements, within this page's middle scoring range, which is an editorial grouping rather than a population average. Self-interest shows up in your answers, as it does for nearly everyone, without dominating them. |
| 55–81 | Elevated dark core | You endorsed several statements about putting yourself first at others' expense and justifying it. This describes your answers on this questionnaire, not your position relative to other people. That is worth an honest look, and it is workable. |
| 82–108 | High dark core | You agreed strongly with most of the statements about taking from others and finding it justified. Please read this as information about a pattern you can change, not as a label. |
What the D-factor claims: one common core under the dark traits
For two decades, dark personality research mostly worked trait by trait: narcissism here, Machiavellianism there, psychopathy somewhere else, with sadism, spitefulness and entitlement added as the list grew. In 2018 Morten Moshagen, Benjamin Hilbig and Ingo Zettler proposed a simpler account. They argued that these traits overlap so heavily because they are all expressions of a single underlying disposition, which they called the Dark Factor of Personality, or D. In their definition, D is the general tendency to maximize your own utility while disregarding, accepting or even provoking costs for other people, together with beliefs that serve to justify that behavior.
That definition has two parts, and both matter. The behavioral part is the utility piece: getting what you want even when someone else pays for it. The cognitive part is the justification piece: the stories a person tells themselves about why that was fair, deserved or no big deal. The nine aspects this screener uses are the ones the D-factor team drew on when building their measure: egoism, Machiavellianism, moral disengagement, narcissism, psychological entitlement, psychopathy, sadism, self-interest and spitefulness. Each is a different flavor of the same core, and each adds something the others do not.
The research group publishes the D16, D35 and D70 item sets for research use and runs a public project at darkfactor.org. This page does not reproduce those items. Our 27 statements are original, written in plain language to sample the same nine aspects, and the bands are educational ranges rather than published cutoffs. If you want the research instrument itself, the darkfactor.org project is the honest place to find it.
How D relates to the dark triad, the dark tetrad and HEXACO
The dark triad, introduced by Delroy Paulhus and Kevin Williams in 2002, groups narcissism, Machiavellianism and psychopathy as three overlapping but distinct traits. The dark tetrad adds everyday sadism. The D-factor does not replace those models so much as sit underneath them: it proposes that what the triad and tetrad traits have in common is D, and that what makes each trait distinctive is a particular mix of the nine aspects. A narcissistic person leans on entitlement and self-enhancement; a psychopathic pattern leans on callousness and impulsivity; a Machiavellian pattern leans on strategic self-interest. All three share the willingness to let other people pay.
The closest cousin in mainstream trait psychology is the Honesty-Humility factor of the HEXACO model. Honesty-Humility covers sincerity, fairness, greed avoidance and modesty, and low scores on it track dark traits closely. The D-factor team has argued that D is broader than low Honesty-Humility because it also captures the justifying beliefs, while critics have argued the two are nearly the same thing measured with different labels. For a reader, the practical takeaway is the same either way: if your dark core result runs high, our HEXACO Personality Test profile offers a related Honesty-Humility perspective, although the result of one original questionnaire cannot reliably predict your result on another, and the two pages describe the same tendency from two angles.
If one trait interests you more than the shared core, the trait-specific pages go deeper: Narcissism Test, Machiavellianism Test and Psychopathy Test each use the same careful framing, and Dark Triad Test and Dark Tetrad Test show the traits side by side as a profile. The Light Triad Test looks at the opposite pole, the everyday tendency to treat people as ends rather than means.
An honest note: self-reports of dark traits are gameable
Every dark-trait questionnaire, including the research instruments, asks people to admit to things most of us are not proud of. That creates two problems. Someone who wants a low score can give one by simply disagreeing with everything, and someone in a self-critical frame of mind can give themselves a higher score than their behavior warrants. Research instruments partly handle this with large samples, careful item wording and comparison against behavioral tasks; an online screener cannot. Your result here is only as honest as your answers on the day you gave them.
That is not a reason to dismiss the result. It is a reason to read it as a conversation starter. If your score surprised you, in either direction, the most useful question is not whether the number is right but which specific statements you endorsed and whether the people who know you best would agree. A high score that matches what friends, partners or colleagues have told you is worth taking seriously. A high score that matches nobody's experience of you may say more about your mood than your character.
What to do with your result
A low or average score needs no action beyond curiosity. If one aspect stood out in the breakdown, read its description and notice whether it shows up in a particular relationship or setting; most of us have one context where our worst side gets more airtime. An elevated or high score deserves a more honest look, and the good news is that the behaviors behind it respond to work. Entitlement, spite and moral disengagement are habits of thought as much as fixed traits, and cognitive behavioral and schema-focused approaches target exactly those habits.
If your score is high and your relationships keep ending the same way, or people you care about have told you that you hurt them, a therapist who works with personality patterns can help you see what you are doing and change it without turning the conversation into a trial. If any part of this page left you feeling heavy about yourself, that reaction is itself a sign of a conscience doing its job. Support is available, and the therapist directory on Psychology.com is one place to start.
Enjoyment of another person's discomfort is a more specific question than general self-interest; Everyday Sadism Test explores it with its own limitations.
Methodology & sources
This is an original educational screener informed by the Dark Factor of Personality research of Moshagen, Hilbig and Zettler (2018), who define D as the tendency to maximize one's own utility while disregarding, accepting or provoking costs to others, accompanied by beliefs that justify doing so. The research team's D16, D35 and D70 item sets (Moshagen, Zettler and Hilbig, 2020) are published for research use and hosted at darkfactor.org; this page does not reproduce any of them. Our 27 statements are our own plain-language writing, three for each of the nine aspects the D-factor literature draws on: egoism, Machiavellianism, moral disengagement, narcissism, psychological entitlement, psychopathy, sadism, self-interest and spitefulness. Each statement is rated on a five-point agreement scale scored 0 to 4, giving a total from 0 to 108.
The nine-aspect breakdown is our own grouping for educational purposes, not a validated subscale structure, and the four bands (low, average, elevated, high) are equal quarters of the range chosen for readability, not clinical cutoffs. No normative sample underlies them, and the research on D does not validate this questionnaire. Self-reports of socially undesirable traits can be shaped by how a person wants to appear, so a score here is a reflection prompt, not a measurement of character. The test screens for education and self-reflection only; it cannot identify a personality disorder, and nothing on this page is a substitute for assessment by a licensed clinician.
References
- Moshagen M, Hilbig BE, Zettler I. The dark core of personality. Psychological Review. 2018;125(5):656-688. doi.org/10.1037/rev0000111
- Moshagen M, Zettler I, Hilbig BE. Measuring the dark core of personality. Psychological Assessment. 2020;32(2):182-196. doi.org/10.1037/pas0000778
- Bader M, Hartung J, Hilbig BE, Zettler I, Moshagen M, Wilhelm O. Themes of the dark core of personality. Psychological Assessment. 2021;33(6):511-525. doi.org/10.1037/pas0001006
- Paulhus DL, Williams KM. The Dark Triad of personality: Narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy. Journal of Research in Personality. 2002;36(6):556-563. doi.org/10.1016/S0092-6566(02)00505-6
- Ashton MC, Lee K. Empirical, theoretical, and practical advantages of the HEXACO model of personality structure. Personality and Social Psychology Review. 2007;11(2):150-166. doi.org/10.1177/1088868306294907
Cite this source
Psychology.com. (2026, October 5). Dark Core Personality Test (D-Factor). Psychology.com. https://psychology.com/tests/dark-core
Dark Core Personality Test (D-Factor) FAQ
What is the dark core of personality, or D-factor?
The D-factor is a proposal from Moshagen, Hilbig and Zettler (2018) that the dark personality traits share one underlying disposition: a tendency to put your own gain first even when other people pay for it, plus beliefs that make that feel justified. Narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy, sadism, spitefulness and the rest are described as different flavors of that one core.
Is this the official D16, D35 or D70 test?
No. Those item sets are research instruments from the Dark Factor of Personality project at darkfactor.org, and we do not reproduce them. This page uses 27 original statements written to sample the same nine aspects, with educational bands rather than research cutoffs. If you want the research version, the darkfactor.org project is where to find it.
Does a high score mean I have a personality disorder?
No. This screener cannot identify a personality disorder, and a high score is not a diagnosis of anything. Dark traits exist on a continuum across the whole population; a high score means you endorsed a lot of statements about self-interest at others' expense, which is worth reflecting on and, if it matches what people tell you, worth discussing with a therapist. Only a licensed clinician can assess a personality disorder.
How is this different from the dark triad test?
The Dark Triad Test scores narcissism, Machiavellianism and psychopathy as three separate bars and tells you which leads. This test targets what those traits share, gives you one core score, and breaks it down across nine narrower aspects. If you want to see the traits side by side, take the triad or Dark Tetrad Test; if you want the common thread, take this one.
Is the test really confidential?
Yes. It runs entirely in your browser. Your individual answers are scored in your browser and are never sent to us or linked to you. They stay in this tab so you can return to your result, and closing or clearing the tab clears them. If you ask us to email the PDF, we receive your summary scores with your email address, never your individual answers. No account is needed.
Can I fake a low score?
Yes, easily, and so can anyone on any dark-trait questionnaire; that is a known limit of self-report. The result is only useful if you answer the way you actually think and behave, not the way you would like to be seen. If you are curious whether your self-image matches others' experience, ask one honest friend to rate you on a few of the statements.
Related tests
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Narcissism Test
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