1. Machiavellianism and the MACH IV
Summer Polson and Travis Yanul
February 6, 2008

2. Overview What is Machiavellianism? Who was Machiavelli?
Development and Characteristics
MACH IV

3. What is Machiavellianism?
Characterized by a lack of affect in interpersonal relations, a lack of concern with conventional morality, and a view of people as being weak and cowardly
A person’s need to develop and defend their power and success

4. Who is Niccolo Machiavelli?
Born May 3, 1469
Died June 21, 1527
High level Italian diplomat
Most famous as author of The Prince

5. The Prince Originally published 1503
Describes the method by which a prince (a ruler) can maintain control of his realm.
Most famous principles
the end justifies the means
unethical behavior is acceptable, maybe even necessary, if it helps maintain or protect political power
Some argue that this is not exactly what Machiavelli meant.

6. Construct Development
First Introduced
1970 by Christie and Geis
Construct came from research centering on persons of power in organizations and authoritarian personality.
MACH IV was originally created to measure the political personality of leaders in organizations.

7. Four Characteristics of Machiavellianism
A relative lack of affect in interpersonal relationships (lack of empathy for others).
A lack of concern with conventional morality (utilitarian rather than moral view) supports remorseless and instrumentalist view of others.

8. Four Characteristics of Machiavellianism
A lack of gross psychopathology (instrumentalist rather than rational view of others) unhindered by distortions of reality, able to take a calculated analytical view of others and situations.
Low ideological commitment (focus on task completion rather than long-range ideological goals) focus on personal goals instead of caused larger then themselves.

9. Characteristics of High Machs
Resistant to social influence
Hides personal convictions well
Changes position in argument readily
Resistant to confessing
Highly convincing when telling the truth
Suspicious of others motives
Situationally analytical
Does not assume reciprocity
Able to change strategy with situation
Says things others want to hear
Sensitive to information about others
Exploitive, but not viciously so
Exploits more if others cant retaliate
Not acceptable to appeals for compliance, cooperation, or attitude change
Never obviously manipulative
Prefers fluid environment
Preferred by peers as leader
Preferred by peers as work partner

10. Characteristics of High Machs
Christie and Geis
Main difference was that High Machs, compared to Low Machs, relate to others in a manner that characteristically devoid of emotions.

11. Characteristics of Low Machs
Vulnerable to others’ opinion
Wears conviction on sleeve
Clings to convictions
Confesses fairly readily
Less convincing when telling the truth
Accepts others’ motives as face value
Makes gross assumptions about content
Assumes reciprocity
Believes others “ought to” act in certain ways
Becomes locked into single course of action
Tells it like it is
Sensitive to others’ effort
May appear unreasonable in negotiations
Reluctant to exploit
Reacts in socially desirable ways
Often obviously determined
Seek stable environment

12. MACH IV Christie and Geis’ (1970) Mach IV:
1196 college students responded to 71 statements measuring Machiavellian constructs.
20 items with the highest discrimination (i.e., between high and low scorers) at the .05 level chosen for the final Likert format scale.

13. MACH IV Reliability Initial Reliability Recent Reliability Evidence
Measure administered to 9 heterogeneous samples.
Obtained split reliability of .79.
Recent Reliability Evidence
Vast range ( ) of internal consistency coefficients reported.

14. MACH IV Validity Examined discriminant and convergent validities:
No significant correlation with other measures (i.e., intelligence tests, measures of authoritarianism, political preference, racial attitudes, personality, etc.).
Provides support for construct discrimination.

15. Problems with MACH IV?
Respondents answer in socially desirable manner.
Some studies have found poor reliability and validity with the general population (Ray, 1983).
Studies have found MACH IV to measure a single dimension while others have found the MACH IV to measure up to 5 dimensions (Moss, 2005).
Norm data is outdated (from 1960’s).
So, how many constructs measured and does this matter?
Panitz (1989) states, "The issue is not whether Machiavellianism is a single or multidimensional construct, but whether the construct is measurable using the Mach IV scale" (p. 963).

16. The Mach IV Scale

17. Studies Looking at Machiavellianism in the Workplace
If political behavior is perceived to benefit the individual, group, or organization then it is believed that the “end justifies the means” (Fedor et al., 2003).
Confidence and security, which may result from those who consider themselves politically skilled and subsequently actively involved in the organization, leads to lower job tension and higher job satisfaction (Kolodinsky et al, 2003).
Significant relationship found between MACH IV scores and absenteeism. High Mach employees may provide false excuses for absenteeism more often than Low Mach employees (Aziz, 2004).

18. Other Scales MACH V: Forced-choice format
Not as reliable or valid as MACH IV
MACH B (Machiavellian Behavior):
Behaviorally examines interpersonal situations rather than measuring cognitive constructs
Studies have obtained reliability coefficients ranging from .70 to .88.
More suitable for measuring political traits

19. Questions?