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.
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.
A dark empath is a term that describes someone who exploits their ability to understand how other people think and feel. They can recognize another person's perspective while also showing signs of psychopathy, narcissism and Machiavellianism.
In the field of personality psychology, Machiavellianism is a personality trait centered on manipulativeness, callousness, and indifference to morality.
Machiavellianism is a personality trait that denotes cunningness, the ability to be manipulative, and a drive to use whatever means necessary to gain power. Machiavellianism is one of the traits that forms the Dark Triad, along with narcissism and psychopathy.
Extraverted, Turbulent Social Engagers agreed the most. Social Engagers tend to be ambitious personalities, both in terms of improving their social status and improving themselves. Ambition can be a good thing, but in extreme cases, it can also be the foundation of a Machiavellian approach to life.
Machiavellianism can be both positive and negative in organizations depending on how it is used. When Machiavellianism is used to increase managerial effectiveness by providing necessary direction to subordinates to accomplish organizational goals, it is considered a positive attribute.
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.
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.
Machiavellians lack empathy and are typically indifferent and detached, Cassine says. Their focus truly is using people to leverage themselves. “A person with these personality traits has a preference for emotionally detached relationships and doesn't desire to form healthy bonds with others.”
Ever the cynic, Machiavellians believe that everyone is acting in their own self-interest, so they do not form close relationships and do not trust easily. Money and power mean more to them than relationships with people.
One may assume that, at least, Machiavellians at least are happy in their exploitative ways. But the data does not show this to be true. Machiavellians commonly experience depression, paranoia, low self-esteem, and a bevy of other cognitive issues.
While, Skinner (1982) showed that both male and female Machiavellians exhibited higher degrees of depression and anxiety than the general population with moderate personality traits (Ali and Chamorro-Premuzic, 2010).
“Narcissists have a strong sense of entitlement and a constant need for attention and admiration. They are arrogant and consider themselves to be superior to others. “Machiavellians are sly, deceptive, distrusting, and manipulative.
In 1970, studies of Machiavelism led to clarifying Machiavellian personalities as toxic and hostile, with these leaders regarding others as objects or means for personal manipulation.
There is also evidence that Machiavellian individuals project their own insecure personality to people, preventing them from seeing the best in others.
Traits associated with Machiavellianism include duplicity, manipulation, self-interest, and a lack of both emotion and morality. Psychopathy: personality traits associated with psychopathy include a lack of empathy or remorse, antisocial behavior, and being manipulative and volatile.
People with Machiavellian personality tend to be highly intelligent. Consequently, they usually have very ambitious goals to which they dedicate lots of time and effort. They usually focus on taking advantage of other people for their own gain.
Machiavellianism correlated positively, but weakly, with depression. Higher levels of Machiavellianism most often clustered with low levels of depression. No substantial link was found between Machiavellianism and general health status.
Our results suggest that Machiavellians choose partners who are mostly similar to them in personality traits, with especial regard to the central dimension of relationships, that is, warm-heartedness, trustworthiness and intimacy.
The Machiavellian is more strategic in long-term planning in order to meet his/her self-serving goals. Consistent with this long-term view, the Machiavellian has good impulse control, typically better than that of the Narcissist. Overall, the Machiavellian appears less emotional than the Narcissist.
Individuals with high levels of Machiavellianism tend to be characterized by a lack of concern for or caring for relationships, ideology, and concerns of conventional morality while at the same time lacking any other gross psychopathology or cognitive deficits (Christie & Geis, 1970; Jones & Paulhus, 2009).
Machiavellianism is characterized by manipulation and exploitation of others, an absence of morality, lack of emotion, and a higher level of self-interest. Psychopathy is characterized by continuous antisocial behavior, impulsivity, selfishness, callous and unemotional traits (CU), and remorselessness.
Our study, published in Personality and Individual Differences, identified a group of individuals with dark traits who report above average empathic capacities – we call them "dark empaths". Since this study, the dark empath has earned a reputation as the most dangerous personality profile.
Such distrust and lack of both integrity and morality may arise when leaders demonstrate Machiavellian behavior because high Mach individuals exhibit elevated levels of increased narcissism (McHoskey, 1995), mistrust and cynicism (McHoskey & Hicks, 1999).