Machiavellian beliefs and personality: Construct invalidity of the Machiavellianism dimension.

R. Christie and F. C. Geiss (1970) implicitly assume that the component beliefs of Machiavelli's philosophy are linked to other personality traits only as mediated by a central dimension of Machiavellianism. This assertion was cast in the form of a causal model and shown to be false among 351 undergraduates. Ss completed a test battery that included the Mach IV Scale. Confirmatory factor analysis identified 4 component beliefs: flattery, rejection of honesty, rejection of the belief that people are moral, and the belief that people are vicious and untrustworthy. These beliefs differentially relate to personality traits, including dogmatism, self-esteem, and locus of control. A path analysis supported a developmental theory in which the key events are the development of cynicism and the consequent adoption of a competitive stance toward others. Some of the component beliefs were causally antecedent to variables such as competitiveness, whereas other component beliefs were causally dependent on the same variables. Thus, the Machiavellianism total score cannot enter into a logically consistent causal relation with these variables. (34 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)