Delroy Paulhus, PhD.

Although he has researched many psychological issues, Professor Del Paulhus has devoted much of his career to researching self-presentation and dark personalities. His research is published in more than 130 publications, including several books.

Dr. Paulhus attended Carleton University, where he received undergraduate degrees in both mathematics and psychology. He completed his PhD in psychology at Columbia University. There, he studied issues surrounding Machiavellianism, self-presentation and defense mechanisms supervised by Richard Christie and Harold Sackeim. As a post-doctoral student at the University of Georgia, Dr. Paulhus studied the dynamics of self-presentation with Abraham Tesser.

In 1982, Dr. Paulhus joined the faculty at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, British Columbia, where he continues to teach as a full professor. He has also taught at U.C. Berkeley and U.C. Davis. His research on self-presentation includes both personality and situational determinants, interrelations with defense mechanisms, values, and traits, as well as, various methods of detection. His approach to dark personalities (narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy, sadism) emphasizes the necessity to study them as a constellation, rather than individually. Other research interests include perceptions of intelligence and personality, birth order,and acculturation. He often couches his work in terms of agency and communion. Back to the top