The inner life
Machiavellianism
Direct answer
Machiavellianism is the use of cunning, deceit and expedience to gain and keep power; in psychology it names a measured tendency to manipulate others and to hold a cynical view of human nature.
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At a glance
- Also called
- machiavellian personality
- Found in
- Consciousness & Spiritual Psychology
- Related
- Dark Triad, Virtù and Fortuna, Gaslighting, Coercive Control
Machiavellianism is the use of cunning, deceit and expedience to gain and keep power; in psychology it names a measured tendency to manipulate others and to hold a cynical view of human nature.
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What does Machiavellian mean?
The word has two lives. In ordinary speech, Machiavellian means scheming and unscrupulous, willing to use any means that works. The sense grew from the reputation of The Prince, which advised rulers to break faith when keeping it would ruin them.
In psychology, Machiavellianism is a personality trait, defined and measured since 1970. People who score high agree that it is wise to flatter important people and that most people cannot be trusted; in experiments they bargain coolly, resist pressure and exploit loose rules. The trait is a matter of degree across the whole population, and it is one of the three that make up the dark triad.
On the tree of the hidden arts: Power and influence.
What sets Machiavellianism apart
The trait is defined by coolness. Where the other dark traits run hot, the narcissist needing applause and the psychopath acting on impulse, the high scorer on Machiavellianism plans, waits and keeps emotion out of it. Christie and Geis found in laboratory games that such people did best when dealing face to face, when the rules left room to improvise, and when the other players were emotionally stirred. Under tight rules their advantage disappeared.
- Source of the name: Niccolò Machiavelli (1469 to 1527), author of The Prince
- English word: a term of abuse from the later sixteenth century
- Trait defined: Christie and Geis, Studies in Machiavellianism, 1970
- Measure: Mach-IV, twenty statements rated for agreement
- Belongs to: the dark triad, with narcissism and psychopathy
Often mistaken for something else: Psychopathy involves impulsiveness and thrill-seeking; Machiavellianism is the patient, calculating trait, concerned with reputation and the long game.
The story behind Machiavellianism
The Prince was printed in 1532, and within a generation its author's name was a byword. Innocent Gentillet attacked him in a French treatise of 1576, and Elizabethan plays brought a villain called the Machiavel on stage. Frederick the Great wrote an Anti-Machiavel in 1740. In 1970 the psychologists Richard Christie and Florence Geis published Studies in Machiavellianism, with a questionnaire of twenty statements, the Mach-IV, built partly from his sentences.
Why Machiavellianism matters
The word links a sixteenth-century book to a modern measure, and shows how a description of rulers became a label for a trait.
How to read Machiavellianism
Readers apply it to conduct, as a name for calculated bad faith, and keep in mind that it describes a tendency found in degrees.
Machiavellianism in practice: an example
A colleague who praises a manager in public while quietly collecting their mistakes is acting in the everyday sense of the word.
Where readings of Machiavellianism go wrong
Machiavellianism is a description of behaviour and a research scale, not a verdict to pass on a particular person from a few incidents.
Sources and editorial method
This entry summarizes the tradition in the Almanac's own words; where no source is listed, it is an editorial summary rather than a primary text, and symbolic readings are named as the tradition's, not as fact.
- Source
- The Great Almanac Dictionary
- Category
- Consciousness & Spiritual Psychology
- Aliases
- machiavellian, machiavellian meaning, machiavellianism psychology, machiavellian personality
- Last updated
- 2026-09-26
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More in Consciousness & Spiritual Psychology
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Common questions
What does Machiavellian mean?
It means cunning and unscrupulous in the pursuit of power or advantage, especially by deceit. The word comes from Niccolò Machiavelli, author of The Prince.
Was Machiavelli himself Machiavellian?
By the record, not especially. He was a diligent official of the Florentine republic who lost his post and was tortured when it fell. His Discourses argue for republics and law. The adjective comes from one short book.
What is the Mach-IV test?
It is a questionnaire of twenty statements published by Christie and Geis in 1970 to measure Machiavellianism as a trait. Respondents rate their agreement with statements about trust, flattery and expedience.
