“People with a Machiavellian personality tend to manipulate, lie, act callously, and disregard morality,” she says. “This is all in an effort to achieve goals or gain power.” They tend to exhibit three main characteristics: they lack empathy, they're deliberate, and they're self-confident.
“Machiavellians are sly, deceptive, distrusting, and manipulative. They are characterized by cynical and misanthropic beliefs, callousness, a striving for … money, power, and status, and the use of cunning influence tactics.
Machiavellianism is a personality trait that denotes cunningness, the ability to be manipulative, and a drive to use whatever means necessary to gain power.
Can a Machiavellian be a good person? Since Machiavellianism is associated with amoral tendencies and cynicism, it can be hard to associate a true Machiavellian personality with the word "good." Instead, it is best to consider when high-Mach traits are useful and appropriate.
Machiavellian leaders manipulate and undermine others using cunning and duplicitous methods. They actively work at being viewed as ingratiating towards others so that they are not seen as a threat.
Fortune and Virtù
Finally, leaders must not rely on luck, Machiavelli wrote, but should shape their own fortune, through charisma, cunning and force. As Machiavelli saw it, there were two main variables in life: fortune and virtù. Virtù (not virtue) meant bravery, power and the ability to impose one's own will.
Machiavellian personality traits are often associated with low levels of empathy and lack of interpersonal closeness. However, some individuals high on Machiavellian traits have been shown to be skilled at affective-perspective taking and thereby may appear to exhibit an empathic response.
Machiavellianism is generally interpreted as an immoral doctrine, and so is used as a term of reproach and dishonor. But Machiavelli's arguments have also been seen as recognition of the realities of political life, and so some view Machiavellianism as amoral, objective, or descriptive, rather than immoral.
Motivation. A 1992 review described the motivation of those high on the Machiavellianism scale as related to cold selfishness and pure instrumentality, and those high on the trait were assumed to pursue their motives (e.g. sex, achievement, sociality) in duplicitous ways.
Abstract. Affective coldness is one of the main features of Machiavellianism. Recent studies have revealed that Machiavellians are emotionally detached and that this “affective blunting” is associated with intense feelings, emotional instability, negative emotions, and difficulty in enduring distress.
Common signs and examples of Machiavellianism
Competing with others rather than cooperating. Manipulating others in order to reach their goals. Luring others into wild behaviour to further their own ends. Making plans for personal benefit with no consideration of their effect on other people.
: of or relating to the belief that a ruler is justified in using any means to stay in power. : characterized by dishonesty or trickery. Machiavellian noun.
Machiavellianism is not a mental health diagnosis; rather, it's a personality trait describing a manipulative individual who deceives and tricks others to achieve goals. It is based on the political philosophy of the 16th-century writer Niccolò Machiavelli.
Someone with the trait of Machiavellianism will tend to have many of the following tendencies: only focused on their own ambition and interests. prioritise money and power over relationships. come across as charming and confident.
According to Benner, Machiavelli's moral precepts are rooted in his conception of human agency as “bounded” and responsible: he posits that human nature generates a capacity for choice and action that permits people to overcome external forces (such as “fortune”) in order to realize tangible moral goods.
adjective [usually ADJECTIVE noun] If you describe someone as Machiavellian, you are critical of them because they often make clever and secret plans to achieve their aims and are not honest with people.
Machiavellian personality traits are often associated with low levels of empathy and lack of interpersonal closeness. However, some individuals high on Machiavellian traits have been shown to be skilled at affective-perspective taking and thereby may appear to exhibit an empathic response.
Those who score high on the scale (High Machs) are more likely to have a high level of deceitfulness and a cynical, unempathetic temperament. Machiavellianism is one of the traits in the dark triad model, along with psychopathy and narcissism.
What does Machiavellian mean? In a nutshell: Machiavellian is a term used to describe someone whose sole purpose is to manipulate and corrupt others for the individual's personal gain. The term originated from the Italian Renaissance diplomat and writer Niccolò Machiavelli, who was the author of The Prince.
To Machiavelli, authenticity—or at least openness—is essential to good leadership. After all, any leader “who seeks to deceive will always find someone who will allow himself to be deceived.” And, in the long run, that never turns out well. Machiavelli's got a bad rap for being a ruthless, cutthroat kind of guy.
Women with high levels of Machiavellianism also reported greater use of controlling behavior and emotional abuse directed at their partner. These findings indicate that though women with high levels of Machiavellianism enter long-term relationships, these are more likely to be poor in quality.
Machiavelli believed that public and private morality had to be understood as two different things in order to rule well. As a result, a ruler must be concerned not only with reputation, but also must be positively willing to act unscrupulously at the right times.