Dirty Dozen vs. the H factor: Comparison of the Dark Triad and Honesty–Humility in prosociality, religiosity, and happiness

• Relations among religion, personality, prosociality and happiness were investigated in Iran.
• Religion-prosociality link was not an artifact of gender, happiness, and personality.
• Honesty-Humility diminished correlations between the Dirty Dozen and other variables.
• Dirty Dozen Machiavellianism was the darker trait of the Dark Triad.

Past research has shown that prosocial behavior is related to higher religiosity and Honesty–Humility and lower levels of the Dark Triad (i.e. narcissism, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism). Honesty–Humility and the Dark Triad are theoretically linked traits (related to an exploitive behavioral style) that tend to be studied in isolation. This study showed that religion-prosociality link is not an artifact of gender, happiness, and personality. We examined Honesty–Humility and the Dark Triad in the same sample to better understand how these traits converge and diverge in their associations with self-reported prosociality, religiosity, and happiness. Results suggested that Honesty–Humility and the Dark Triad traits uniquely relate to prosociality, religious orientation and happiness with Honesty–Humility evidencing stronger relations than the Dark Triad as measured by the Dirty Dozen. Data also supported this conclusion that Dirty Dozen Machiavellianism is the “darker” side of the Dark Triad.