The antagonistic personality trait Machiavellianism (Mach) should be characterized by duplicity, proclivity to manipulation, cynical disregard of others, long-term planning, and low aggression. Opposed to theoretical descriptions, recent studies revealed links between Mach and neuroticism, impulsivity, and aggression. The advantages of a multidimensional assessment of Mach are well known but were seldom implemented. Hence, differential effects within Mach have often been neglected. Based on previous research on basic motivational orientations, we derived two facets-Machiavellian approach and Machiavellian avoidance.These facets account for exploitative, strategic striving for resources and for misanthropic, distrustful loss-prevention, respectively. In two studies (total N = 1,000, 21% men), we found support for the two-factor structure, for measurement invariance across sexes, and the nomological network of the 8-item Machiavellian Approach and Avoidance Questionnaire (MaaQ). As expected, Machiavellian approach was primarily associated with hope for power, whereas Machiavellian avoidance was linked to affective criteria and aggression. Both approach and avoidance shared links with disagreeableness, dishonesty, and cynicism. Furthermore, they correlated with other Mach scales. The findings explain counterintuitive links with other constructs found in earlier studies and thereby further the understanding of Mach.
Abstract. The present study examined the nomological network of the Short Dark Tetrad scale (SD4). The SD4 measures narcissism, psychopathy, Machiavellianism, and sadism. We translated the original English SD4 into German and used an online sample ( N = 594, 77% women) to investigate its nomological network with regard to the Big Five, honesty-humility, maladaptive personality traits, impulsivity, aggression, motives, values, sociosexual orientation, the octants of the interpersonal circumplex model, and self-esteem. The overall profile similarities between the observed and hypothesized nomological networks were very high. Few correlations differed concerning direction or magnitude. Hence, our study extends the nomological network of the Dark Tetrad in a meaningful way and suggests that the SD4 can be validly interpreted and used for the assessment of narcissism, psychopathy, Machiavellianism, and sadism.
Machiavellianism is a personality trait emphasizing fraud at others' expense. It is yet unclear whether Machiavellianism is also predictive of less obvious deception, for example inaccurate or meaningless information supposed to gain advantages and to avoid disadvantages (i.e., bullshit). Similarly, it is unclear whether those high in Machiavellianism can recognize bullshit claims and valuable information as such (i.e., bullshit sensitivity). In this study, we investigated whether different facets of Machiavellianism are prone to the production of different sorts of bullshit and how these facets of Machiavellianism relate to bullshit sensitivity. In a sample of 525 participants (72% women), we found that the manipulative side of Machiavellianism (Machiavellian approach) was linked to persuasive bullshitting, that is, the production of bullshit intended to gain desired resources. Likewise, the distrustful side of Machiavellianism (Machiavellian avoidance) went along with higher evasive bullshitting, which means spreading information that ought to prevent individual disadvantages. Next, we found that those high in Machiavellian avoidance, but not Machiavellian approach, were better at differentiating information from bullshit. These links were robust irrespective of different levels of cognitive ability. Ultimately, we discussed future directions for research on bullshitting and disseminating deceptive information in general.
The antagonistic personality trait Machiavellianism (Mach) should be characterized by duplicity, proclivity to manipulation, cynical disregard of others, long-term planning, and low aggression. Opposed to theoretical descriptions, recent studies revealed links between Mach and neuroticism, impulsivity, and aggression. The advantages of a multidimensional assessment of Mach are well known but were seldom implemented. Hence, differential effects within Mach have often been neglected. Based on previous research on basic motivational orientations, we derived two facets—Machiavellian approach and Machiavellian avoidance. These facets account for exploitative, strategic striving for resources and for misanthropic, distrustful loss-prevention, respectively. In two studies (total N = 1,000, 21% men), we found support for the two-factor structure, for measurement invariance across sexes, and the nomological network of the 8-item Machiavellian Approach and Avoidance Questionnaire (MaaQ). As expected, Machiavellian approach was primarily associated with hope for power, whereas Machiavellian avoidance was linked to affective criteria and aggression. Both approach and avoidance shared links with disagreeableness, dishonesty, and cynicism. Furthermore, they correlated with other Mach scales. The findings explain counterintuitive links with other constructs found in earlier studies and thereby further the understanding of Mach.
This meta-analysis investigated how the antagonistic personality trait Machiavellianism (Mach) relates to cognitive and affective empathy. Due to the role of manipulation in Mach, previous research argued that Mach should go along with higher empathic ability but found negative effects very consistently. Thus, some scholars argued that individuals with high scores in Mach had empathic deficits. The current meta-analysis (70 studies, 76 samples, and 232 effect sizes) challenged both perspectives by investigating bivariate and multivariate relations between Mach, self-reported cognitive empathy, cognitive empathic skills, and affective empathy. Further, we tested if gender distributions, student samples, and different utilized Mach scales accounted for differences across studies (i.e., moderated those). Bivariate analyses revealed inverse correlations of Mach with all facets of empathy (ρs from -.10 to -.36). The relations with self-reported and performance-based cognitive empathy almost dissolved when controlling for affective empathy.Neither of the proposed moderators significantly explained differences across studies. In general, studies with a high percentage of men and those comprising non-students revealed more diverse correlations than studies with a large proportion of women and studies that exclusively recruited students. The results suggest low affective empathy in Mach but contradict both the empathic deficits-and the "skilled mind reader"-perspectives.
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