According to recent studies, good guys really do finish last.

Sure, women say they just want a nice guy—someone selfless, stable and funny. But there’s a reason sax-playing, pot-smoking Bill Clinton bagged more chicks than Earth-loving Al Gore. And now, in countries from Latvia and Lebanon to Canada and Korea, science is backing up one of our longest-held stereotypes about masculinity.

Men who exhibit a “dark triad” of personality traits—which includes narcissism, psychopathy and Machiavellianism (a tendency to be cunning, deceitful and dishonest)—not only get the most women, they also are the most successful at stealing other guys’ girls.

At least that’s the preliminary finding of a major study presented last month by David Schmitt of Bradley University at the Human Behavior and Evolution Society meeting in Kyoto, Japan. With the help of a global team of researchers, Schmitt surveyed over 35,000 people in 57 countries.

To determine what makes a boy bad, Schmitt’s study measured three core qualities within a normal range, asking participants if they agree with statements like, “I think I’m a special person,” “it is wise to flatter important people” and “I enjoy driving at high speeds.”

And while it’s not a good idea to be totally evil, the results show that being a bit more self-loving, cunning and risk-taking than the average Joe, Jose or Yousif may help get you more girls just about anywhere on the globe.

Schmitt’s results are supported by the independent findings of another new study, in which Peter Jonason of New Mexico State University at Las Cruces gave personality tests to over 200 college students.

Many people assume that genetics and evolution dictate that men want many partners, while women prefer monogamy. But according to Schmitt, “that’s not what evolutionary psychologists think now.”

The contemporary view is that both sexes seek different kinds of relationships—pair bonding, short-term involvements or some combination of the two—at different points in their lives.
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If that is the case, wouldn’t women with high dark triad scores have the same interest in having numerous partners and poaching other girls’ guys as their male counterparts?

Not necessarily. According to Schmitt, when men have flings, they’re not looking for a deep connection. In other words, quantity is key.

But even though women may be just as interested in sleeping around, quality plays a much bigger role when picking partners. Studies indicate that women who have one-night stands tend to look for partners with traits perceived as highly masculine. These characteristics include facial symmetry, high levels of testosterone and even masculine tones of voice, but also dark triad qualities like callousness, arrogance and a need for thrills.

Not surprisingly, bad boys are often good at presenting themselves as desirable short-term mates: their psychopathic tendencies often translate into high levels of charm and intelligence; the narcissism means they pay attention to their physical appearance; and a Machiavellian streak is good for establishing social dominance and getting to the top of social hierarchies.

The combination of characteristics that make a bad boy are uncommon—a good thing, because being a bad boy doesn’t work if everybody’s doing it.

“Only a certain percentage of people can follow that strategy,” says Schmitt. Societies work well if about 5–10 percent (with the remaining majority being altruistic “cooperators”) of the population is dark triad-style “cheaters” or people who behave in ways that, in addition to helping them score women, can lead to ostracism or have other serious social costs.

In fact, once “cheaters” cross a threshold of around 10–15 percent of the population, social structures are in danger of breaking down according to Schmitt. That’s bad news for Russia, where almost 40 percent of men received high dark triad scores. In fact, Schmitt found that Eastern European men as a whole tended to score highly on dark triad traits, leading him to speculate that those qualities were perceived as advantageous to survival in a Communist society.

But while men with high dark triad scores tend to have more sexual partners, not know their partners very well and have a greater interest in short-term affairs than your average guy, these aren’t necessarily characteristics women want. According to Schmidt, it may just be their approach.

“It may not be that women are particularly interested in [bad boys]. It could just be that these men seek it so often,” Schmitt says. “They’re putting themselves out there more.”

Maybe there’s hope for good guys after all.
Take the test: how bad are you?