Parental Machiavellianism and Children's Cheating in Japan

Abstract

An attempt was made to clarify the developmental aspect of Machiavellianism. Two different types of social learning were considered, one involving "competition" and the other, "transmission" via modeling and teaching. With cheating in a game as a measure of the preschooler's manipulative tendency, two hypotheses were tested: (1) first and only children of low Mach mothers from simple nuclear families will cheat more than those of high Mach mothers; and (2) first and only children of parents who are both high Machs in simple nuclear families will show the least amount of cheating. Both hypotheses were confirmed. The study raised a very interesting suggestion that the nonobvious process of "competition" may override the often overly emphasized process of "transmission."