Date

11-13-2025

Department

School of Behavioral Sciences

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology (PhD)

Chair

William McMillan

Keywords

cultural Christianity, biblical Christianity, Dark Triad personality traits, Self Deception Questionnaire-12, Short Dark Triad survey-ultrashort version, Christian Spirituality Scale

Disciplines

Christianity | Psychiatry and Psychology

Abstract

A review of the psychological literature on Christianity as a regulator of Dark Triad personality traits over the last 25 years revealed just a handful of quantitative and qualitative studies that relied exclusively upon long-standardized constructs drawn from cultural Christian ideology. Such constructs remain in direct contrast to biblical tenets to opine that Christianity has no important impact upon the development and persistence of highly aversive Dark Triad social attributes. The current quantitative pilot study was conducted in a small sample (n=26) of adult male and female born-again members of an international Evangelical Christian motorcycle ministry whose primary recruitment is within the outlaw biker gang community as most likely representative of Dark Triad personalities outside the criminal justice system. Data were collected by an anonymous online survey consisting of two standardized psychometric instruments (the Self Deception Questionnaire-12 and the Short Dark Triad-ultrashort version), and the validated biblically-adherent Christian Spirituality Scale. A series of simple regression analysis tests resulted in statistically nonsignificant results. However, nuances within the results suggested at least a small effect size in the cognitive and behavioral subscales of all three personality types, suggesting that future studies reliant upon much larger samples would indeed demonstrate that the internal sanctification process inherent exclusively within a Bible-centric Christian population changes lives in accordance with God’s promises.

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