A Polish Version of the 'Dark Tetrad' Test Mostly Holds Up, With One Weak Spot

A 931-person validation of the Polish Short Dark Tetrad found the sadism and psychopathy scales performed well, but the Machiavellianism subscale showed weak internal reliability (alpha = .67).

The Short Dark Tetrad (SD4) is a brief 28-item questionnaire used to measure four socially aversive personality traits: subclinical psychopathy, narcissism, Machiavellianism, and sadism. Because psychological tools built in one language and culture don't always translate cleanly, researchers led by Pawel Debski adapted the SD4 for Polish speakers and tested it on 931 adults (average age about 35, roughly three-quarters women) recruited online. Using split-sample statistical testing, meaning the sample was divided so one half could generate a model and the other half could confirm it, the team compared several ways the four traits might fit together. A model that included both trait-specific scales and one broader underlying "dark personality" factor fit the data best. Most subscales showed acceptable reliability, and the sadism items in particular lined up well with an established sadism measure, supporting the tool's validity. However, the Machiavellianism subscale showed weaker internal consistency (alpha = .67), meaning its items didn't hang together as tightly as the other traits' items did. The authors conclude the Polish SD4 is usable as a brief dark-personality screener but say results from the Machiavellianism scale, and comparisons between men and women, should be interpreted cautiously. The sample was an online convenience sample with a gender imbalance and no formal back-translation check, which limits how confidently the findings generalize.