Machiavellianism

By Chris Kim '21

Machiavellianism is a term in sociology which means “trait in which someone manipulates, deceives, and exploits others to achieve their goals.” It is one trait in what is called the Dark Triad. The Dark Triad is a subject in psychology that focuses on three traits: machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy. The term is from a reference to Niccolò Machiavelli, who was a diplomat and philosopher in the Renaissance. His most well-known was a book called “The Prince”, which stated that strong rulers should be harsh with their people and enemies. Immoral and brutal means were justified by glory and survival. Before the 1970s, machiavellianism became a word to describe the art of being deceptive to get ahead. In the 1970s, Richard Christie and Florence L. Geis, developed “the Machiavellianism Scale” which helped machiavellianism become a psychological term. “The Machiavellianism Scale” is used as an assessment tool for machiavellianism. It goes up to a score of 100, calculated from tests composed of a series of questions.

People range throughout the scale; however, there are two types of classes. There are “High Machs”, which are people who scored above 60, and “Low Machs”, people who scored lower than 60. According to the Mach Test, high Machs are more self-centered. They believe in order to get ahead, they must be deceptive. They do not trust pure, human will and goodness, and tend to not depend on others. They believe that humankind is not good by nature. On the other hand, low Machs show empathy to others, and they are honest and trusting. They believe in natural good of people, and they believe that having good morals will help people get further in life. However, if one is too low on the scale, they can be seen as submissive. Typically, this trait is found more in men than in women, but that does not keep it from affecting anyone. Some traits of machiavellianism are: exploitation and manipulation of others to get ahead, lack of principles and values, prioritization of money and power over relationships, cynicism toward goodness and morality, lack of warmth in social interactions, and rarely revealing their true intentions.

Aïn, Syrina Al, et al. “What Is the Emotional Core of the Multidimensional Machiavellian Personality Trait?” Frontiers in Psychology, Frontiers Media S.A., 2013, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3717508/.

“What Is Machiavellianism in Psychology?” Harley Therapy™ Blog, 30 Dec. 2017, www.harleytherapy.co.uk/counselling/machiavellianism-psychology.htm.