Machiavellianism and Elicitation of Self-Disclosure in a Competitive Friendship

Chi-Fai Lo

doi:10.4236/psych.2021.123026

Abstract

The present study investigated the influence of Machiavellianism and friendship competition on the elicitation of self-disclosure from others within friendship dyads. Male (N = 120) and female (N = 70) participants aged 17 to 60 years (M = 29.15, SD = 12.26) completed a questionnaire containing preliminary demographic questions, Mach IV Scale, Opener Scale and Interpersonal Competition Index. The regression analysis has revealed that Machiavellianism and friendship competition are reliable predictors of the ability to elicit self-disclosure from others, and these results coincide with those of correlation analysis. This study represents the very first attempt to investigate the Machiavellian personality correlates associated with the tendency to elicit self-disclosure from others, and its findings may help shed light upon the direction of future research.

Highlights

The present study investigated the influence of Machiavellianism and friendship competition on the elicitation of self-disclosure from others within friendship dyads
The current study investigates the relationship between Machiavellianism and elicitation of self-disclosure in a competitive friendship
The present study demonstrated that Machiavellianism and competition influence elicitation of self-disclosure within friendship dyads

Summary

Introduction

Recent research findings have indicated that employees high in Machiavellianism are quite disruptive to the effective functioning of organizations (Dahling et al, 2009; Kessler et al, 2010; Kish-Gephart et al, 2010; O’Boyle et al, 2012) These employees are more likely to steal (Fehr et al, 1992; Harrell & Hartnagel, 1976), are economically opportunistic and less cooperative (Sakalaki et al, 2007), have lower job satisfaction and higher turnover (Fehr et al, 1992; Wilson et al, 1996), engage in unethical and counterproductive work behaviours (Kish-Gephart et al, 2010; O’Boyle et al, 2012). All in all, increasing attention has been drawn towards the study of Machiavellianism in recent years due to its prominence in subclinical populations and influence on psychological adjustment (McHoskey, 1999; Martin et al, 2012)

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