Although Machiavellian individuals (Machs) have been characterized as lacking a concern for conventional standards of morality, it is clear from previous research that high Machs are not consistently more amoral or immoral than low Machs. A study was conducted to explore the ethical orientations of persons who score low versus high in Machiavellianism. The Mach V Scale and the Ethics Position Questionnaire were completed by 119 subjects. Results showed that Machiavellian subjects endorsed ethical positions that were more relativistic and less idealistic than subjects who scored low in Machiavellianism.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Bogart, K. , Geis, F. L., Levy, M., & Zimbardo, P. (1970). No dissonance for Machiavellians. In R. Christie & F. L. Geis (Eds.), Studies in Machiavellianism. New York: Academic Press.
2.
Christie, R. , & Geis, F. (1970). Studies in Machiavellianism. New York: Academic Press.
3.
Cooper, S. , & Peterson, C. (1980). Machiavellianism and spontaneous cheating in competition. Journal of Research in Personality, 14, 70-75.
4.
Exline, R. V. , Thibaut, J., Hickey, C. B., & Gumpert, P. (1970). Visual interaction in relation to Machiavellianism and an unethical act. In R. Christie & F. L. Geis (Eds.), Studies in Machiavellianism. New York: Academic Press.
5.
Forsyth, D. R. (1980). A taxonomy of ethical ideologies. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 39, 175-184.
6.
Forsyth, D. R. (1981). Moral judgment: The influence of ethical ideology. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 7, 218-223.
7.
Forsyth, D. R. , & Berger, R. E. (1982). The effects of ethical ideology on moral behavior. Journal of Social Psychology, 117, 53-56.
8.
Forsyth, D. R. , & Pope, W. R. (1984). Ethical ideology and judgments of social psychological research: Multidimensional analysis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 46, 1365-1375.
9.
Geis, F. L. , & Moon, T. H. (1981). Machiavellianism and deception. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 41, 766-775.
10.
Harrell, W. A. , & Hartnagel, T. (1976). The impact of Machiavellianism and trustfulness of the victim on laboratory theft. Sociometry, 39, 157-165.
11.
Hastie, R. (1983). Social inference. Annual Review of Psychology, 34, 511-542.
12.
Machiavelli, N. (1966). The prince. New York: Bantam. (Originally published 1513).
13.
Schlenker, B. R. , & Forsyth, D. R. (1977). On the ethics of psychological research. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 13, 369-396.
