The role of Machiavellian views and tactics in psychopathology

Machiavellianism: Psychological, Clinical, and Neural Correlations

Machiavellianism is a personality trait that denotes cunning, manipulative ability, and a desire to gain power by any possible means. Machiavellianism is a subclinical form of psychopathy that has an impact on individual health, professional settings and social order. Machiavellians are more at risk of developing anxiety and depression; however, the underpinning mechanism has not been studied clearly. To avoid major mental health illnesses, it is critical to understand the psychological reasons, brain areas involved, and biochemical substrates for the development of Machiavellianism. This review will address the psychological, clinical and neural correlations of Machiavellianism, its impact on society, and highlight loopholes in comprehending the development of Machiavellianism.

Machiavellianism and Intimate Partner Violence Perpetration: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

This systematic review and meta-analysis estimated the size of the relationship between Machiavellianism and intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetration. Further, we explored whether the strength of this relationship varied depending on IPV type (i.e., physical, psychological, sexual, and cyber), and perpetrator gender. Systematic searches of Medline Complete, PsycInfo, Scopus, and Web of Science databases were conducted on July 4, 2023. Studies were included if they were a peer-reviewed published paper or unpublished dissertation, in English, included a measure of Machiavellianism and IPV perpetration, and reported the relationship between these variables. Study quality was assessed using the AXIS tool. Nineteen studies (N = 9,464) were included in a random-effects meta-analysis revealing a significant, weak, positive correlation between Machiavellianism and IPV perpetration (r = .16, 95% CI [0.11, 0.21], p < .001). Machiavellianism had a significant, weak, positive relationship with cyber (r = .25, 95% CI [0.17, 0.32], p < .001), psychological (r = .20, 95% CI [0.15, 0.24], p < .001), and sexual IPV (r = .10, 95% CI [0.02, 0.19], p = .020). No significant relationship was found for physical IPV. There was no significant difference in the strength of the relationship between women and men. These findings are limited by the measures being self-report, heterogeneity across studies, and the cross-sectional nature of the included studies which limits the understanding of causal pathways. Nonetheless, this meta-analysis shows a link between Machiavellianism and IPV perpetration, and future research should examine how this knowledge may be used to reduce IPV perpetration.

Personality Traits, Ideology, and Attitudes Toward LGBT People: A Scoping Review

This scoping review investigates the existing literature regarding personality traits, ideology, gender roles, and attitudes toward LGBT people. The review was conducted through PubMed and Web of Science databases. After establishing inclusion- and exclusion criteria, 12 studies published between 2013 and 2023 were reviewed, three themes (personality traits, gender roles and differences, and political ideology) were identified through thematic analysis. Several of the studies reported a relation between the personality traits Openness to Experience, Agreeableness and Conscientiousness, and homo- and transnegative attitudes. In particular, lower levels of Agreeableness, high levels of Conscientiousness, and lower levels of Extraversion were related to prejudice. The Dark Triad, especially the antagonistic traits Psychopathy and Machiavellianism, had a strong association with homo- and transnegativity. Multiple studies showed a connection between negative attitudes and ideological views. Especially right-wing authoritarianism (RWA) and social dominance orientation (SDO) were strong predictors of negative attitudes toward LGBT people. The majority of the studies also reported a significant gender difference in attitudes, with men being more prone to exhibit prejudice toward LGBT people than women. There are practical implications of this review relating to interventions which may target the prevention of homo and trans-negative attitudes, promoting inclusion and integration.

Moral Foundations Partially Explain the Associations of Machiavellianism, Grandiose Narcissism, and Psychopathy With Homonegativity and Transnegativity

People with antagonistic (or "dark") personality traits (e.g., Machiavellianism, grandiose narcissism, and psychopathy) are reportedly more racist, sexist, and xenophobic than their non-antagonistic counterparts. In the present studies (N1 = 709; N2 = 267), we examined whether people with antagonistic personality traits are also more likely to express homonegative and transnegative attitudes, and, if so, whether this can be explained by their endorsement of the moral foundations. We found that people high in Machiavellianism, grandiose narcissism, and psychopathy are more likely to endorse homonegative and transnegative views. The associations of Machiavellianism and psychopathy with homonegativity and transnegativity were primarily explained by low endorsement of individualizing moral foundations (i.e., care and fairness), while the association of narcissism with these beliefs was primarily explained by high endorsement of the binding moral foundations (i.e., loyalty, authority, and purity). These findings provide insight into the types of people who harbor homonegative and transnegative attitudes, and how differences in moral foundations contribute to these associations.

Trait Machiavellianism and Agentic Career Success: A Multi-Measure, Multi-Criteria, Multi-Source Analysis

The Five-Factor Machiavellianism Inventory (FFMI) was specifically designed to rectify validity concerns with traditional measures of Machiavellianism. In this study with 550 career targets and 1,127 knowledgeable informants at work from a broad range of occupations and organizations we tested whether the FFMI outperforms traditional measures of Machiavellianism in the prediction of agentic career success using a multifaceted range of proximal and distal career outcomes. Apparent sincerity is a social skill that enables individuals to instill trust and confidence while disguising other intentions. We tested whether apparent sincerity partially mediates the relation of the FFMI with career success. We controlled for gender, human capital, and kind of employment. The results show that the FFMI was a better predictor of agentic career success than traditional Machiavellianism scales. Apparent sincerity partially mediated the FFMI-career success relation. Agency directly and indirectly predicted career success. Planfulness indirectly predicted career success. Antagonism neither directly nor indirectly predicted career success. These results support that the FFMI covers with its dimensions the full range of trait Machiavellianism with reference to criterion validity.

Evading Detection: What Do We Know about Men Charged with Extrafamilial Child Sexual Abuse following Delayed Detection?

Most child sexual abuse (CSA) remains unreported and undetected. Despite this, much of what we know about perpetrators of CSA is derived from samples of convicted CSA offenders. Significant knowledge gaps remain about those who have evaded detection. This study addresses this gap with an in-depth content analysis of the case files of ten convicted child sexual offenders (CSOs) with the longest detection lag, selected from a broader group (n = 349) of men incarcerated at the Massachusetts Treatment Center (MTC). Participants were examined on a range of offender characteristics including Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), cognitive distortions, antisocial traits, indicators of pedophilia and Machiavellian or narcissistic traits, offense facilitating factors, and grooming behavior. A tentative profile emerged with the following characteristics: direct experience of childhood abuse, various cognitive distortions, specialized rather than versatile criminal history, pedophilic traits, Machiavellian traits, and engaging in a range of offense-facilitating behaviors including grooming. We provide insight into offenders who evade detection for CSA and set the foundation for further research to inform prevention strategies for law enforcement agencies and child-serving organizations.

The Dark Side of Humanity Scale: A reconstruction of the Dark Tetrad constructs

There has been an absence of consideration regarding measurement invariance across males and females in the widely available Dark Tetrad (DT) scales which measure psychopathy, Machiavellianism, narcissism and everyday sadism. This has resulted in criticisms of the measures, suggesting that the assessed constructs are not wholly relatable between the groups. This article documents the construction and validation of the Dark Side of Humanity Scale (DSHS), which measures dark personalities from an alternative viewpoint, determined by the constructs as they emerged from the male and female data, whilst aligning with theory and attaining invariance between sex. Across four samples (n = 2409), using a diverse range of statistical methods, including exploratory graph analysis, item response theory and confirmatory factor analysis, a divergence from the widely available DT measures emerged, whereby primary psychopathy and Machiavellianism were unified. This corroborated past research which had discussed the two constructs as being parallel. It further supported the DSHS with a shift away from the traditional DT conceptualisation. The resulting scale encompasses four factors which are sex invariant across samples and time. The first factor represents the successful psychopath, factor two addresses the grandiose form of entitlement, factor three taps into everyday sadism whilst the fourth factor pertains to narcissistic entitlement rage. Construct and external validity of the DSHS across two samples (n = 1338), as well as test-retest reliability (n = 413), was achieved. The DSHS provides an alternative approach to investigating the dark side of human nature, whilst also being sex invariant, thus making it highly suitable for use with mixed sex samples.

Does Machiavellianism meaningfully differ from psychopathy? It depends

Machiavellianism is a personality construct characterized by cynicism, callousness, and skillful manipulation of others to achieve personal gains. We review the Machiavellianism literature with a particular focus on its measurement alongside narcissism and psychopathy in the so-called "Dark Triad" (DT). We discuss criticisms of Machiavellianism on the grounds of insufficient construct validity as well as its virtual indistinguishability from psychopathy when assessed by commonly used instruments. As a response to these criticisms, we offer the super-short form of the Five Factor Machiavellianism Inventory (FFMI-SSF) as an alternative. The goal of the present study was to evaluate the FFMI-SSF in relation to psychopathy and basic personality traits (i.e., the Five Factor Model) and to compare it to widely used measures of the DT and psychopathy in a large undergraduate sample (n = 1004).

Development and Validation of the Super-Short Form of the Five Factor Machiavellianism Inventory (FFMI-SSF)

Previous findings have showed that existing measures of Machiavellianism often fail to distinguish Machiavellianism from another construct in the Dark Triad (i.e., psychopathy) and do not align with theoretical descriptions. To rectify this, a 52-item measure (i.e., FFMI) was developed to measure traits that are the most theoretically relevant to Machiavellianism using the Five-Factor model of personality. The aim of the current study is to develop a briefer version of the FFMI that can be used in situations in which efficiency is critical. Using data collected from three samples (total N = 1,945), we developed a 15-item measure of Machiavellianism (i.e., FFMI-SSF) that was shown to be similarly effective as the FFMI in capturing core personality traits relevant to Machiavellianism and distinguishing Machiavellianism from psychopathy and narcissism.

Measurement invariance tests of revisions to archaically worded items in the Mach IV scale

The Machiavellian IV [1] instrument, developed almost 50 years ago to measure trait Machiavellianism and still in wide use in personality research, uses item wording that is not gender-neutral, makes use of idiomatic expressions, and includes archaic references. In this two-sample study, exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was conducted on one sample to examine the structure of responses to the Mach IV. In an independent second sample the resulting EFA structure was analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis-based measurement equivalence/invariance (ME/I) tests in a control group with the original archaic items and a treatment group with eight items rewritten in a more modern vernacular. Specific model testing steps [2] and statistical tests [3] were applied in a bottom-up approach [4] to ME/I tests on these two versions of the Mach IV. The two versions were found to have equal form, equal factor loadings, but unequal indicator error variances. Subsequent item-by-item tests of error invariance resulted in substantial decrements to fit for three revised items suggesting that the error associated with these items was not equal across the two versions.

Addiction and the Dark Triad of Personality

In this article, we review associations between the Dark Triad of personality (narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy) and addictive behaviors, both substance-related and non-substance-related. We summarize evidence from personality and clinical research and integrate it with prevailing models of addiction. Specifically, we discuss addictive behavior in the light of affect regulation, which is likely more relevant in narcissism, as well as inhibitory deficits, a putative mechanism in psychopathy. These mechanisms can be related to central motives of the respective personality constructs, such as stabilization of self-esteem in narcissism and impulsive stimulation seeking in psychopathy. We conclude that different mechanisms might lead to similar observable behavior in narcissism and psychopathy at earlier stages of the addiction cycle, but psychopathic disinhibition might be particularly relevant at later stages. This underpins the importance of considering personality factors for the understanding and treatment of addiction.

The Dark Triad and Deception Perceptions

The present cross-sectional study (N = 205) tested the hypothesis that the Dark Triad traits – narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy – and the PID-5 maladaptive personality traits – Negative Affectivity, Detachment, Antagonism, Disinhibition, and Psychoticism – are associated with specific deception-related perceptions: perceived cue-based deception detectability, perceived deception production ability, and perceived deception detection ability. Participants completed personality and deception measures in an online setting. All three Dark Triad traits and Antagonism were associated with perceived deception production ability, but not (substantially) with perceived deception detection ability and cue-based deception detectability. The results provide a more fine-grained picture of biases associated with the Dark Triad traits in the context of deception and further support the relevance of Antagonism and Detachment as deception-relevant personality traits.

Individual Differences in Risk Perception of Artificial Intelligence

Abstract. This cross-sectional study (N = 325) investigated the relationship between the Dark Triad personality traits and the perception of artificial intelligence (AI) risk. Narrow AI risk perception was measured based on recently identified perceived risks in the public. Artificial general intelligence (AGI) risk perception was operationalized in terms of plausibility ratings and subjective probability estimates on deceptive AI scenarios developed by Bostrom (2014) , in which AI-sided deception is described as a function of intelligence. Machiavellianism and psychopathy predicted narrow AI risk perception above the shared variance of the Dark Triad and above the Big Five. In individuals with self-reported knowledge of machine learning, the Dark Triad traits were associated with AGI risk perception. This study provides evidence for the existence of substantial individual differences in the risk perception of AI.

Machiavellian tendencies increase following damage to the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex

Machiavellianism - a personality trait that is characterized by a tendency to distrust, deceive and exploit others - has been the focus of growing attention in psychological research. Neuroimaging studies of Machiavellianism highlight the influence of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) on Machiavellianism tendencies. However, knowledge regarding the causal role of the left and right dlPFC on Machiavellianism is still obscure. Here, we measured general Machiavellian tendencies, as well as two subscales (i.e., Machiavellian Views and Machiavellian Tactics) in a large sample of brain-injured patients (N = 129) and non-brain-injured control participants (N = 37) to determine whether Machiavellianism tendencies can be altered by brain damage. We analyzed Machiavellianism tendencies as a function of lesion location, with patients separated into four groups based on dlPFC damage: left dlPFC damage, right dlPFC damage, non-dlPFC damage, and healthy controls. We found that left dlPFC damage increased Machiavellianism in general, and Machiavellian perspective (views) in particular, but did not modulate behavior (tactics). Critically, left dlPFC damage predicted higher levels of Machiavellianism after controlling for general and emotional intelligence, linguistic abilities, empathy and psychopathology. These findings establish a causal role of the left dlPFC in modulating Machiavellian views, and indicate that one can hold Machiavellian views without necessarily endorsing Machiavellian tactics.

The Malevolent Side of Human Nature

The term dark triad refers to the constellation of narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy. Over the past few years, the concept has gained momentum, with many researchers assuming that the dark triad is a prominent antecedent of transgressive and norm-violating behavior. Our purpose in this meta-analytic review was to evaluate (a) interrelations among narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy; (b) gender differences in these traits; (c) how these traits are linked to normal personality factors; and (d) the psychosocial correlates of the dark triad. Our findings show that dark triad traits are substantially intercorrelated, somewhat more prevalent among men than women, predominantly related to the Big Five personality factor of agreeableness and the HEXACO factor of honesty-humility, and generally associated with various types of negative psychosocial outcomes. We question whether dark triad traits are sufficiently distinct and argue that the way they are currently measured is too simple to capture the malevolent sides of personality. Because most research in this domain is cross-sectional and based on self-reports, we recommend using a cross-informant approach and prospective, longitudinal research designs for studying the predictive value of dark triad features.