Machiavellianism

1. Machiavellianism Presented by: Sarah newland

2. Outline

3. Machiavelli • 1469-1527 • Italian military and political theorist, historian, poet, and playwright • Wrote The Prince

4. The Prince • One of the first works of modern philosophy • Separation of politics and ethics • “the ends justify the means” • It is permissible to use any means necessary to protect yourself and achieve goals

5. Machiavellianism • Tendency to deceive and manipulate others for personal gain • “Conceptualized as one’s propensity to distrust others, engage in amoral manipulation, seek control over others and seek status for oneself” (Dahling, Whitaker, &Levy, 2009).

6. Characteristics of Machiavelli 1. A lack of affect in interpersonal relationships (a lack of empathy for others) 2. A lack of concern of conventional morality 3. A lack of gross psychopathology (instrumentalist rather than moral view of others) 4. Low ideological commitment (focus on task completion)

7. Measures • Instruments: • Mach IV • Mach V • Mach B • MPS

8. Mach-IV • 20 item personality survey • Scale: (1-5) • Strongly disagree • Disagree • Neutral • Agree • Strongly agree • People scoring above 60 are considered high Machs • People scoring below 60 are considered low Machs

9. Characteristics of High Machs • Typically dissatisfied with their job • Experience high levels of work-related stress • High theft rates • Little consideration for interpersonal concerns • Don’t trust anyone • Lower performance, satisfaction, or commitment, etc. demonstrated by their subordinates • Assume that others have same intentions as themselves

10. Mach IV "The issue is not whether Machiavellianism is a single or multidimensional construct, but whether the construct is measurable using the Mach IV scale” Poor Items Items are double-barreled E.g., "All in all, it is better to be humble and honest than to be important and dishonest.” May evoke defensiveness Items are needlessly controversial, and better wording could have been used Some found five unique dimensions, while others found a single dimension

11. Split-Half Reliability Men- .73 Women- .39 Evidence of discriminate validity No Construct validity Mach V 10 item forced choice response Mach IV

12. Aziz and Meeks (1990) The Machiavellian Behavior Behaviorally examines interpersonal situations in contrast to measuring cognitive constructs Utilizes scenarios designed to be behavioral manifestations of Machiavellianism Psychometrics: Alpha of .70 - .88 Single factor emerging from the factor analysis Studies have found that this scale correlates with sales performance, while Mach IV does not Mach B

13. Machiavellian Personality Study Dahling et al. (2010) 5-point Likert scale with 16 items that cover four dimensions: Tendency to distrust others Willingness to engage in amoral disruptions Desire for status Desire to maintain interpersonal control Reliability= .82 MPS

14. Dimensions of MPS 1. Distrust of others: Cynical outlook on the motivations and intentions of others with a concern for the negative implications that those intentions have for the self. 2. Amoral Manipulation: a willingness to disregard standards of morality and see value in behaviors that benefit the self at the expense of others.

15. Dimensions of MPS 3. Desire for control: a need to exercise dominance over interpersonal situations to minimize the extent to which others have power. 4. Desire for status: desire to accumulate external indicators of success Measure success in terms of extrinsic goals

16. Conclusions These types of scales can be used to determine whom might be best for certain job duties or assignments Machs tend to be dissatisfied with their job Potential to help identify individuals especially prone to incivility, bullying, theft, etc. Unclear whether Machiavellianism is a dispositional characteristic or a behavioral preference Machiavellianism has been found to be negatively correlated with the Agreeableness (r = -.47) and Conscientiousness (r = -.34) dimensions of the Big Five

17. Questions