Machiavellianism and Aggression as Predictors of Emotional Manipulation

Abstract

Background: Manipulation is the deliberate attempt by individuals to influence the actions of others. Machiavellianism is associated with a variety of undesirable behaviors including emotional manipulativeness, exploitation of others, high aggression, and low morality. Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the associations between Machiavellianism, proactive and reactive aggression and emotional manipulation, and to test whether Machiavellianism added incrementally to the aggression in predicting emotional manipulation, poor emotional skills  and concealment of emotions.  Methods/Approach: The Emotional Manipulation Scale,  Short Dark Triad and  the Reactive-Proactive Aggression Questionnaire were applied to a sample of 332 individuals. Data was collected online from an convenient sample of the general population. Results: The findings showed that Machiavellianism positively predicted emotional manipulation, poor emotional skills and concealment of emotions. Proactive aggression  positively predicted emotional manipulation and concealment of emotions  while reactive aggression positively predicted emotional manipulation. The results showed that Machiavellianism did add incrementally to reactive and proactive aggression in accounting for variance in emotional manipulation,  poor emotional skills, and concealment of emotions.

Conclusions: The results generally indicate a greater importance of Machiavellianism than aggression in explaining emotional manipulation and provide additional insight into the complex relationships between individual factors and manipulative behavior.

Keywords: Machiavellianism, leadership, aggression, emotional manipulation