High Levels Of Machiavellianism Research Articles

Influence of Childhood Maltreatment on Machiavellianism

ABSTRACT Machiavellianism is characterized by manipulative behavior, lack of empathy, and a willingness to deceive and exploit others for personal gain. Research indicates that one factor that may increase the likelihood and severity of Machiavellianism in adulthood is maltreatment in childhood. However, few studies have attempted to untangle which specific instantiations of childhood maltreatment (e.g. abuse vs. neglect) are most associated with Machiavellianism. In our study, we investigate the association between childhood abuse and neglect on Machiavellianism in a sample of adult women and men recruited online (N = 278) using a Bayesian approach to multiple regression. Results suggest that higher levels of Machiavellianism are associated with physical neglect, with some influence of other forms of maltreatment depending on gender. These findings shed light on potential etiological influences on Machiavellianism and have implications for research on and clinical intervention with people with high levels of this trait.

“There's only room for one of us in this relationship”: Examining the role of the dark triad in high-performance dyads

The Dark Triad is highly relevant in high-performance environments as it offers explanation for feelings of superiority, opportunities to be ruthless in the pursuit of victory, and a heightened belief of influence over others for individual success. High-performance dyads focus on achieving a collective goal to achieve additional individual glory. The aim of this study was to investigate how levels of these traits and (dis)similarity in them was associated with relationship quality of 316 high-performance dyads. Greater dissimilarity in narcissism resulted in higher relationship quality for both dyadic members. Actor effects indicated that higher levels of narcissism, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism were related to a reduction in coaches' own perceptions of relationship quality, whilst only higher levels of Machiavellianism were associated with a reduction in athletes' own perceived levels of relationship quality. Partner effects showed higher levels of athlete Machiavellianism reduced the relationship quality of coaches.

Can Machiavellianism Not be Prosocial? Roles of Empathy and Death Anxiety.

Machiavellianism has always been notorious, as it is egotistical and manipulative. This study aims to explore whether Machiavellian individuals would increase prosocial behavior to buffer death anxiety, based on Terror Management Theory. A total of 420 Chinese volunteers completed a survey regarding Machiavellianism, empathy (cognitive empathy, affective empathy), death anxiety, and prosocial behavior tendencies. The results indicated that affective empathy mediated the relationship between Machiavellianism and some types of prosocial behavior (total, altruistic, anonymous, compliant, dire and emotional), and the mediating effect was moderated by death anxiety. This finding revealed that although individuals with high levels of Machiavellianism were supposed to be callous, when suffering from death anxiety, they became more affective-empathetic, and thus more prosocial. Our study enriches the relationship between Machiavellianism and kindness.

Emotional Neglect, Self-Deception, and Unethical Workplace Behavior: Moderating Effect of Machiavellianism

Based on ethical faded theory, this paper examines the relationship between emotional neglect and unethical behavior via self-deception under the influence of employee Machiavellianism. A two-phased survey involving 253 managerial employees of various private sector service organizations was conducted in the Punjab province of Pakistan. Data showed sufficient reliability and validity of existing measures used in this study. The conditional process analysis revealed that employees emotionally neglected at work indulged in unethical behavior and that self-deception by such employees explained this mechanism. Employee Machiavellianism moderated the relationship between self-deception and unethical behavior, indicating that the indirect effect of emotional neglect on unethical behavior would be more robust for employees with high levels of Machiavellianism in their personalities. Findings help understand the antecedents and conditions that promote unethical behavior at work and warrant the need for effective managerial strategies to prevent it. Implications of these findings have been discussed.

The Role of Dark Personalities and the Setting in Explaining Counterproductive Work Behavior among Nurses in China

The goal of this study was to examine the relationship between dark triad personality (DTP) and counterproductive work behavior (CWB). In addition, the study also examined the main effects and the moderated relationship of four situational variables: organizational justice, organizational transparency, psychological contract breach, and perceived accountability. Data were collected at two hospitals in Beijing, China, and included 259 randomly selected nurses. The main effect results showed that nurses with higher levels of Machiavellianism demonstrated higher levels of organizational and interpersonal CWB. Furthermore, higher levels of psychopathy were related to higher levels of interpersonal CWB, but not organizational CWB. There was no relationship between narcissism and CWB. The main effect findings did not reveal any significant relationship between the four situational variables and CWB. However, the interaction analyses revealed five significant interactions that point to transparency as an important moderator. The paper concludes with conceptual as well as practical implications for the nursing profession. 

Is the link between endorsement and engagement in sexual coercion associated with life history strategy?

We assess whether traits associated with life history strategy moderate the association between endorsement and engagement of sexual coercion. In a sample of 155 men, we measured engagement in subtle sexually coercive behaviours using a novel measure, where participants reported their likely response when faced with several sexual/dating scenarios (e.g., a situation where the participant is sexually rejected). We also measured participants on mating effort, aggression, socioeconomic status (SES), the dark triad traits (psychopathy, narcissism, and Machiavellianism), and endorsement of sexual coercion through acceptance of rape myths. We found that men high in mating effort, SES, and Machiavellianism were more likely to engage in sexually coercion. As expected, greater endorsement was associated with greater engagement in sexual coercion, and this was significantly moderated by narcissism and Machiavellianism, but in opposite directions, with higher levels of Machiavellianism and lower levels of narcissism associated with a greater association between endorsement and engagement. Overall, there was no consistent pattern between traits associated with an accelerated life history strategy and sexually coercive behaviour.

Differential benefits of social resources for low versus high Machiavellians: A three-study constructive replication

The effects of social resources are well established. Yet, we know little about why these effects occur. Drawing on the conservation of resources theory, we examined the possibility that work engagement would carry the effect of social resources on work performance. We further posited that Machiavellianism would interact with social resources to influence work engagement and through it, work performance. Supported by a mini meta-analysis, we found that across three samples, diverse in the operationalization of social resources and national context (i.e., the United States, France, and Malaysia), social resources positively associated with work performance. Results also indicated that work engagement carried the effect of social resources. We further found that the effects of social resources were less pronounced at high levels of Machiavellianism.

The Influence of Chinese Machiavellianism and Moral Identity on the Level of Anxiety in Moral Dilemma Situations in Chinese Students.

Based on the conflict-of-values theory, this study examines the influences of Machiavellianism and ethical values on anxiety in college students when they face moral dilemmas. Questionnaires on the Chinese equivalent of Machiavellianism, moral identity, and anxiety were completed by 115 Chinese college students. The results suggest that Machiavellianism and ethical values influence anxiety, and the interaction between ethical values and Machiavellianism is significant—among individuals with high ethical values, those with high levels of Machiavellianism exhibit markedly higher levels of anxiety than those with low levels of Machiavellianism. However, among individuals with low ethical values, there is no difference in anxiety between those with low or high levels of Machiavellianism. This research, depicting complex relationships among anxiety, Machiavellianism, and ethical values, suggests that leading people to do good deeds not only requires high ethical values but also necessitates the resistance to negative values such as Machiavellianism.

Women high on the Dark Triad traits are more attracted to narcissistic males if they are oriented to long term mating and had fewer experiences with unfaithful men

Mating success is an important issue in modern societies. One in two adults reports poor mating performance. One solution to this problem is to know as much as possible about human mating preferences. In this research, we investigated if women (N = 223) high on the Dark Triad Traits are attracted to males with high levels of narcissism and tested the moderation effect of women's mating orientation and experience with unfaithful men. We showed that women high on all the Dark Triad traits were attracted to males with high narcissism levels. Women with high levels of Machiavellianism, narcissism, or psychopathy that were oriented to long term mating were more attracted to males high on narcissism. Women high on psychopathy who had many experiences with unfaithful men are less attracted by males with high narcissism levels. Experiences with infidelity did not affect the relationships between women's Machiavellianism and narcissism on the one hand and attraction to males high on narcissism, on the other hand. Our research supports the idea of positive assortative mating of women high on the Dark Triad traits, which is conditional on mating orientation and experience with infidelity.

Political skill camouflages Machiavellianism: Career role performance and organizational misbehavior at short and long tenure

On the basis of socioanalytic theory (Hogan & Shelton, 1998) and mimicry-deception theory (Jones, 2014), we hypothesized that political skill would effectively mask Machiavellianism (socioanalytic theory) with consequences for coworker perceived career role performance and actual counterproductive work behavior at low and high levels of job tenure (mimicry-deception theory). We tested our hypotheses in a triangular multisource design in two complementary studies comprised of both target workers and coworkers with a total of N = 1438 participants.In Study 1, we found that when political skill was high, targets received high career role performance ratings from coworkers, and this was also the case when targets had high levels of Machiavellianism (socioanalytic masking effect). For targets with low political skill, the career role performance ratings of high Machiavellians was low at long tenure. The results of Study 2 partly disconfirmed mimicry-deception theory: Individuals high in Machiavellianism and high in political skill did not tend to avoid engaging in overtly mean behaviors toward others and extracting organizational resources at short tenure. Implications and limitations are discussed.

Is Machiavellianism associated with depression? A cluster-analytic study

The link between Machiavellianism and depression remains poorly understood. In this study, we examined the relationship between Machiavellianism and depression using both a variable- and a person-centered approach. A total of 675 university students anonymously completed an online survey. Depression was assessed with the PHQ-9 and Machiavellianism with the Machiavellian Personality Scale (MPS). The MPS was translated into French and Italian for the purpose of the study. Confirmatory factor analysis showed that the translated versions exhibited the expected factorial structure. General health status and student satisfaction were additionally gauged using single-item measures. Machiavellianism was found to correlate positively with depressive symptoms, and negatively with general health status and student satisfaction. However, the identified correlations were generally of small magnitude. The Machiavellianism-depression association was primarily driven by the distrust and amorality components of Machiavellianism. Remarkably, cluster analysis showed that higher levels of Machiavellianism most often coexisted with low levels of depressive symptoms. On balance, our findings are not indicative of a substantial link between Machiavellianism and depression. Potential moderators of the Machiavellianism-depression relationship―such as intelligence quotient or empathic accuracy―may be worth examining in future research.

Relationship between interparental functioning and adolescents' level of Machiavellianism: A multi-perspective approach

Childrearing antecedents of Machiavellianism have been investigated, finding that cold, rejecting, and neglecting parenting is associated with Machiavellianism. However, there is a paucity of research on Machiavellianism and family functioning that is suggested to be a stronger predictor of children's adjustment than parenting. In two cross-sectional, self-report studies with 266 adolescents (115 boys) and 98 families raising adolescents (51 boys), we investigated the relationship between adolescent Machiavellianism and interparental functioning. We found that some aspects of perceived interparental conflict and poor quality coparenting were associated with higher levels of Machiavellianism in boys. The association between interparental discord and Machiavellianism has been discussed with respect to previous studies on family functioning, child maladjustment, and Machiavellianism. The selective relationship between measured indices of interparental functioning and Machiavellianism in boys has been discussed using the male vulnerability hypothesis and the distinct pathways model.

Machiavellianism, Relationship Satisfaction, and Romantic Relationship Quality.

Machiavellianism is characterised by a manipulative interpersonal style, willingness to exploit others, and a preference for emotionally detached relationships. The present studies investigate the extent to which Machiavellianism influences relationship satisfaction and romantic relationship quality. In Study 1, 194 heterosexual partnered women completed Machiavellianism and Relationship Satisfaction measures. Women with higher levels of Machiavellianism reported lower levels of relationship satisfaction. In Study 2, 132 heterosexual partnered women completed Machiavellianism, Trust, Commitment, Control, and Emotional Abuse scales. Women with higher levels of Machiavellianism perceived their partners to be less dependable, reported less faith in their partners, and were less willing to persist with the relationship than those with low levels of Machiavellianism. With regards to negative behavior, Machiavellianism predicted each form of control and emotional abuse investigated, such that those with high levels of Machiavellianism were more likely to engage in controlling behavior and emotional abuse. Findings have important implications for the prediction of romantic relationship quality and in particular for negative behavior such as control and abuse.

Machiavellianism and romantic relationship dissolution

Despite the frequency with which relationships are dissolved and the consequences of this dissolution, few studies have considered the manner in which individual differences (rather than characteristics of the relationship itself) influence the selection of a break up strategy or break up related distress. The current studies were conducted to address this issue. In Study 1, women (N=141) completed Machiavellianism (Christie & Geis, 1970) and break up strategy (Collins & Gillath, 2012) questionnaires. Women with high levels of Machiavellianism were more likely than those with low levels of Machiavellianism to employ Avoidance/Withdrawal, Cost Escalation, Manipulation, and Distant/Mediated Communication when terminating a relationship. In Study 2, women (N=125) completed Machiavellianism (Christie & Geis, 1970) and break up distress (Field, Diego, Pelaez, Deeds, & Delgado, 2010) measures. Machiavellianism did not predict post relationship dissolution distress. Findings are discussed in relation to the Machiavellian interpersonal style and relationship preferences.

Machiavellianism in long-term relationships: Competition, mate retention and sexual coercion.

Machiavellianism is characterized by a manipulative interpersonal style and willingness to exploit others (Christie & Geis, 1970). Though previous research has focused on the influence of Machiavellianism in short-term relationships, Machiavellianism may also influence behavior within long-term committed romantic relationships. Heterosexual men (N = 93) and women (N = 141) in current romantic relationships of at least 12 months duration were recruited online. Participants completed Machiavellianism, Intra-Sexual Competition, Mate Retention and Sexual Coercion scales. Regression analyses revealed that those with high levels of Machiavellianism were more likely to compete with same-sex rivals, directly guard a mate and employ inter-sexual or intra-sexual negative inducements as a form of mate retention than those with low levels of the personality trait. Gender did not moderate the influence of Machiavellianism on these behaviors. Findings highlight the influence of Machiavellianism within long-term committed romantic relationships.

Machiavellianism and sexual behavior: Motivations, deception and infidelity

The current study investigated the influence of Machiavellianism, a personality trait characterized by a manipulative interpersonal style and willingness to exploit others (Christie & Geis, 1970), on three areas of sexual behavior. Men (N=90) and women (N=192) aged 18–81years (M=25.82, SD=9.85) completed the Mach IV (Christie & Geis, 1970), YSEX Questionnaire (Meston & Buss, 2007), Sexual Deception Scale (Marelich, Lundquist, Painter, & Mechanic, 2008) and Intentions Towards Infidelity Scale (Jones, Olderbak, & Figueredo, 2011). Those with high levels of Machiavellianism were more likely to engage in sexual behavior for physical reasons, goal attainment and insecurity. In particular, Machiavellian men and women endorsed stress reduction, experience seeking, resources, social status, revenge, utilitarian reasons, boosting self-esteem, duty/pressure, and mate guarding as motivations for sexual behavior. Machiavellianism was also a significant predictor of each form of sexual deception investigated (blatant lying, self-serving and avoiding confrontation) and intentions to engage in infidelity. Sex did not moderate the influence of Machiavellianism on sexual behavior.

Opportunistic claiming behaviour in two-sided markets

Consumer opportunistic behaviour has long drawn attention from both managers and scholars, but its special application to two-sided markets has been ignored. In this paper, we consider four primary factors that contribute to consumer opportunistic behaviour: individual personality (Machiavellianism); service guarantee policy; platform attitude and reference-group behaviour, following the ethical decision-making model (Ferrell and Gresham, 1985); and characteristics of two-sided markets. We obtained four findings. First, consumers with higher levels of Machiavellianism (High Machs) are more likely to engage in opportunistic claiming behaviour; second, reasonable compensation evokes a desire for unethical behaviour in consumers with lower levels of Machiavellianism (Low Machs), while reducing the likelihood of opportunistic claiming behaviour in High Machs. Moreover, platform attitude and reference group behaviour only have significant effects on Low Machs. Specifically, and third, platforms with tolerant attitudes are more likely to be confronted by opportunistic claims; fourth, a reference group's opportunistic behaviour misleads others into behaving similarly.

The Moderating Effect of Machiavellianism on the Psychological Contract Breach–Organizational Identification/Disidentification Relationships

We explore whether Machiavellianism—a personality trait which describes the extent to which individuals ignore values and ethical considerations when the ends justify the means—will influence their responses to their employing organizations’ failure to fulfil promised obligations (psychological contracts). Specifically, we draw on psychological contracts theory and the group value model to argue that Machiavellianism will moderate the relationships between psychological contract breach and (1) organizational identification; and (2) organizational disidentification. We tested our hypotheses in a study of 262 employees from various organizations at two points in time. We found that psychological contract breach was negatively related to organizational identification and positively related to organizational disidentification. Furthermore, employees with higher levels of Machiavellianism tended to disidentify with their organizations to a greater extent (at Time 2) in response to psychological contract breach (at Time 1) than did employees with low levels of Machiavellianism. Machiavellianism did not moderate the relationship between psychological contract breach and organizational identification. Our study contributes to extant research exploring the importance of Machiavellianism in the workplace. Specifically, we show that employees with high levels of Machiavellianism are more likely to disidentify in response to psychological contract breach but do not tend to identify to a lesser degree. This study builds on the extant research exploring individual differences in the psychological contract dynamics by considering Machiavellianism as a moderator of the breach–outcome relationship.