Dark Empath Test: See Your Dark Traits Alongside Your Cognitive Empathy
This test scores two things separately: dark traits like manipulativeness and entitlement, and cognitive empathy, your ability to read and predict other people's feelings. Seeing both together is what tells you whether you fit the dark empath pattern researchers have started describing.
Reviewed by Michael Callans, MSW 
Dark Empath Test is a free, confidential 24-question self-assessment, based on a single 2021 exploratory study (Heym et al.), never validated. It takes about 6 minutes, runs entirely in your browser, and gives you a plain-language profile of your strongest style plus an optional in-depth report. It is an educational screening, not a diagnosis.
Two separate scores that only mean something together
Dark traits and cognitive empathy are usually assumed to be opposites: manipulative people are supposed to lack empathy. Research suggests that isn't always true. This test scores both independently so you can see your actual combination, not an assumption.
Dark traits and cognitive empathy, scored apart
Your relative level of manipulativeness, entitlement, and callous pragmatism, alongside your ability to accurately read and predict what other people are feeling. Two separate scales, not one blended score.
The four-way pattern, explained honestly
Whichever score leads for you, the interpretation walks through what it means combined with a high or low score on the other axis, including the dark empath pattern research has only recently started to describe.
Original items, not a copied instrument
24 items written for this test. We do not reproduce the Short Dark Triad (SD3) or the Basic Empathy Scale, the proprietary research tools this construct is normally measured with.
| Feature | Typical free quiz | Psychology.com |
|---|---|---|
| Scores dark traits and empathy independently | Usually assumes they cancel out | Yes, two separate scales shown as bars |
| Names the actual research construct | Vague personality-quiz language | Yes, cites Heym et al. (2021) |
| Honest that this is an emerging label | Often presented as settled fact | Yes, explicitly not a diagnosis or clinical category |
| Original items, no copied proprietary content | Often unclear where items came from | Yes, 24 original items |
| Avoids using the result to label other people | Encourages labeling exes or coworkers | Yes, framed for self-reflection only |
| Clinician-reviewed language | Rarely | Yes, editorially reviewed |
| Answers stay on your device | Often tracked | Scored in your browser; we only receive anonymous completion counts unless you ask for a PDF or report |
The 2 patterns this test measures
- Dark traits: Manipulativeness, entitlement, and callous pragmatism.
- Cognitive empathy: Reading and predicting what other people are thinking and feeling.
If nothing is endorsed, every pattern scores the same, or the leading patterns tie, the result says so instead of naming a single pattern.
How your result works
This test has two independent 12-item scales, one for dark traits and one for cognitive empathy, each scored on its own 0 to 4 agreement scale. Your leading dimension is whichever one you endorsed more strongly, and the interpretation for it explains both branches: what it tends to mean when your other score is also high, and what it tends to mean when your other score is low. The bars for both scales are shown together so you can see your actual combination rather than just the one that happened to edge out the other.
If your two scores come out close or exactly tied, that is itself informative. It suggests you may not sit steadily in one of the four patterns researchers describe, and that your behavior may shift more with the relationship or the stakes involved than a single score can capture.
What the research actually found
The dark empath label comes from a single 2021 exploratory study by Heym and colleagues, published in Personality and Individual Differences, which looked for distinct personality profiles in a sample of 991 adults, mostly students and people recruited through Amazon's Mechanical Turk, measured on narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and both cognitive and affective empathy. Alongside the expected profile of high dark traits and low empathy, they identified a second group: about 18 percent of that one sample showed elevated dark traits combined with average-to-high empathy, particularly the cognitive kind, the ability to read and predict what others are feeling, without necessarily sharing or caring about it. As of this writing, this is the only published study of the pattern: there is no separate Dark Empath scale, no agreed clinical cutoff, and no independent replication we are aware of, so treat the underlying research as an early, exploratory finding rather than an established category.
This matters because cognitive empathy on its own is a skill, not a virtue. Reading someone accurately can be used to comfort them or to manipulate them more effectively, and the researchers found the dark empath group still showed elevated aggression despite their empathic ability. The pattern is best understood as knowing how someone feels without that knowledge reliably translating into care for how they feel.
This is a research label, not a diagnosis
Dark empath is a recent term from personality research, not a clinical diagnosis, and it does not appear in any diagnostic manual. No single self-report screener, including this one, can reliably tell you whether a specific person, including yourself, fits the pattern. Treat a high score as a prompt to reflect honestly on your own behavior, not as a label to apply to an ex, a coworker, or a family member based on how they made you feel. If someone in your life shows manipulative or exploitative behavior alongside apparent empathy, the more useful question is how their actions affect you, not which personality term best fits them.
Related patterns worth exploring
The Dark Triad test measures narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy on their own, the three dark traits this test draws on. If cognitive empathy was your standout, our empathy test and emotional intelligence test look at overlapping but broader capacities. If dark traits led and you want the other end of the spectrum, the Light Triad test measures the prosocial traits researchers use as a contrast, and our covert narcissist test looks at a related but distinct pattern of quiet, indirect entitlement.
Methodology & sources
This test is built around two independent constructs rather than one validated instrument. The dark traits scale draws on the three components researchers typically group under the Dark Triad, manipulativeness, entitlement, and callous pragmatism, most closely associated with Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy respectively (Paulhus and Williams, 2002). The cognitive empathy scale focuses specifically on the perspective-taking side of empathy, accurately reading and predicting what someone else is thinking or feeling, which research distinguishes from affective empathy, actually sharing or being moved by that feeling (Davis, 1983). We wrote all 24 items ourselves, six per subtheme within each scale, and deliberately did not reproduce items from the Short Dark Triad (SD3) or the Basic Empathy Scale (BES), the proprietary or restricted instruments most academic studies of this construct actually use.
The dark empath construct itself comes from a single 2021 exploratory study by Heym and colleagues: a latent-profile analysis of 991 adults, mostly students and people recruited through Amazon's Mechanical Turk, measured on the Short Dark Triad and the Questionnaire of Cognitive and Affective Empathy. About 18 percent of that one convenience sample (175 of 991 people) fit a profile of elevated dark traits combined with average-to-high empathy, distinct from the classic low-empathy dark triad profile. There is no published Dark Empath scale, no established clinical cutoff, and no independent replication of this specific profile split that we are aware of. We use the researchers' term and their framing as the basis for this test's interpretation, while being clear that our items are original, this screener is not the instrument used in that research, and the construct itself remains a single exploratory finding, not an established or validated category. This is an educational self-reflection tool, not a validated clinical measure, and it should never be used to diagnose yourself or anyone else.
References
- Heym N, Kibowski F, Bloxsom CAJ, Blanchard A, Harper A, Wallace L, Firth J, Sumich A. The Dark Empath: Characterising Dark Traits in the Presence of Empathy. Personality and Individual Differences. 2021;169:110172. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2020.110172
- Paulhus DL, Williams KM. The Dark Triad of Personality: Narcissism, Machiavellianism, and Psychopathy. Journal of Research in Personality. 2002;36(6):556-563. doi:10.1016/S0092-6566(02)00505-6
- Davis MH. Measuring Individual Differences in Empathy: Evidence for a Multidimensional Approach. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 1983;44(1):113-126. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.44.1.113
Cite this source
Psychology.com. (2026, September 23). Dark Empath Test. Psychology.com. https://psychology.com/tests/dark-empath
Dark Empath Test FAQ
What is a dark empath?
A dark empath is a term researchers use for someone who combines elevated dark traits, manipulativeness, entitlement, or callous pragmatism, with average to high cognitive empathy, the ability to accurately read and predict what other people are feeling. The term comes from a single 2021 exploratory study by Heym and colleagues, about 18 percent of their 991-person sample, and describes a pattern distinct from the classic low-empathy dark triad profile.
Is dark empath a real diagnosis?
No. It is a research label from one 2021 exploratory study, not a clinical diagnosis, and it does not appear in the DSM or any diagnostic manual. There is no published Dark Empath scale, no agreed cutoff score, and no independent replication of the finding that we are aware of. This test is an educational screener for self-reflection, never validated and never a tool for diagnosing yourself or anyone else.
How can someone be manipulative and empathic at the same time?
Cognitive empathy, accurately reading what someone is thinking or feeling, is a skill that can be used to help or to exploit. Researchers found that people high in dark traits and empathy still showed elevated aggression, suggesting the empathy was not reliably translating into care for the other person, just accurate perception of them.
What does it mean if my dark traits and empathy scores are close or tied?
It means this screener cannot confidently place you in one of the four patterns, and your behavior may shift more by relationship or situation than a single score can capture. Read both interpretations and notice which matches your actual behavior with people you know well.
Can I use this to figure out if someone I know is a dark empath?
We would not recommend it. This test is built for honest self-reflection, and no self-report screener can accurately assess someone else from the outside. If a person's behavior toward you feels manipulative or exploitative, focus on how it affects you and what boundaries you need, rather than on which personality label fits them.
How is this different from a Dark Triad test?
A Dark Triad test measures narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy on their own. This test adds a second, independent scale for cognitive empathy, because dark traits and empathy do not automatically cancel each other out, and seeing both together is what actually differentiates the dark empath pattern from the classic dark triad one. Our <a href="/tests/dark-triad">Dark Triad test</a> covers the three traits in more depth.
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