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The relation between memories of childhood psychological maltreatment and Machiavellianism
Personality and Individual Differences 77 (2015) 81–85
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Personality and Individual Differences journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/paid
The relation between memories of childhood psychological maltreatment and Machiavellianism András Láng ⇑, Kata Lénárd Institute of Psychology, University of Pécs, H-7624 Pécs, Ifjúság str. 6, Hungary
a r t i c l e
i n f o
Article history: Received 11 October 2014 Received in revised form 26 December 2014 Accepted 27 December 2014
Keywords: Machiavellianism Childhood psychological maltreatment Life-History Theory Moral development Alexithymia
a b s t r a c t Machiavellianism is a hot topic in several branches of psychology. Using Life-History Theory several studies identified Machiavellianism as a fast life strategy. According to this idea, Machiavellianism should be related to childhood adversities. Using a sample of adults we investigated the relationship between Machiavellianism and self-reported memories of childhood psychological maltreatment. Participants (247 individuals, 141 female, 32.38 ± 5.43 years of age on average) completed the Mach-IV Scale and the Childhood Abuse and Trauma Scale. Results showed a relationship between neglect and Machiavellianism in general, Machiavellian tactics, and Machiavellian world view. There was also a marginally significant link between punishment and Machiavellian tactics. Results are discussed from a moral developmental perspective and through the alexithymia hypothesis of Machiavellianism. Ó 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction Machiavellianism – a personality trait or attitude that is characterized by a deceitful, materialistic, unemotional, and selfish stance (Christie & Geis, 1970) – has been the focus of intense research since the 1970s. Social, organizational, personality, clinical and evolutionary psychological studies on the topic have been written countlessly. At the same time, developmental researchers have paid far less attention to the emergence of Machiavellianism. At this time, there are two main paradigms that try to explain how certain individuals attain Machiavellian attitudes or personality traits. The first is based on Bandura’s (1977) social learning theory, and the other is based on Life-History Theory (Kaplan & Gangestad, 2005) and Belsky’s evolutionary theory of socialization (Del Giudice & Belsky, 2011). Based on these theories, we investigated whether self-reported memories of childhood psychological maltreatment could be linked to Machiavellianism in adulthood. 1.1. Machiavellianism and social learning In studying the relationship between Machiavellian attitudes in parents and in their offspring, two competing hypotheses have been articulated. According to the complementarity hypothesis (Christie & Geis, 1970), children take on roles in parent–child interaction that are complementary to their parents’. Thus, children of ⇑ Corresponding author. Tel.: +36 30 2686322. E-mail address: [email protected] (A. Láng). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2014.12.054 0191-8869/Ó 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Machiavellian parents would behave in a moral and submissive way, whereas children of non-Machiavellian parents would become manipulative, amoral, and cynical. In a study, Braginsky (1970) found partial support for this hypothesis. The modeling or identification hypothesis (Kraut & Price, 1976) suggests that children would behave in a way similar to their parents. This process is suggested to be mediated by vicarious learning. Thus, children of Machiavellian parents would become Machiavellian individuals themselves as well. Several studies have supported this hypothesis (Kraut & Price, 1976; Ojha, 2007; Rai & Gupta, 1989). The seeming contradiction of the above described two hypotheses can be solved if age is taken into consideration. Children – and adults of course – beyond the oedipal age and with the ability of identification show levels of Machiavellianism similar to their parents’ (Pilch, 2008). In our view, social learning or modeling is not the only possible mediating process between parental Machiavellianism and Machiavellianism in offspring. Being egocentric, having a cynical view of human nature (Christie & Geis, 1970), and lacking empathy and emotional intelligence (Ali, Amorim, & Chamorro-Premuzic, 2009), Machiavellian individuals can be fairly poor and insensitive parents with parenting habits that might even contain elements of neglect and/or abuse. This speculation is evidenced by studies that found significant relationship between Machiavellianism, perceived family disengagement and chaos (Láng & Birkás, 2014) and recalled parental rejection (Kraut & Price, 1976; Ojha, 2007; Ryumshina, 2013). In the next section, to follow this line of reasoning, Machiavellianism is presented as a life history strategy formed by early environmental effects.
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1.2. Machiavellianism and Life-History Theory Life-History Theory (LHT) is a mid-level evolutionary theory about resource allocation (Kaplan & Gangestad, 2005). According to LHT, personality traits are results of trade-offs in face of environmental challenges encountered in childhood (Brumbach, Figueredo, & Ellis, 2009). According to Belsky’s (Del Giudice & Belsky, 2011) evolutionary theory of socialization, infants’ attachment styles are adaptive responses to parental care. Parental care is not only the most proximate environment of the infant, but parenting also mediates information about environmental conditions in general. Unpredictable conditions (e.g., poverty, low SES, marital stress) – mediated by harsh, insensitive, inconsistent parenting – produce fast life history strategies. These strategies – early maturation and more offspring with less investment, i.e., investing in the self – are adaptive under circumstances with high mortality risk, because at least some offspring might survive (Ellis, Figueredo, Brumbach, & Schlomer, 2009). According to Belsky (Del Giudice & Belsky, 2011) fast life history strategies are not only reflected by insecure attachment styles, early physical maturation, and reproductive strategies fostering short-term relationships, but also by personality characteristics. Although results are inconsistent, several studies (Jonason, Koenig, & Tost, 2010; Jonason & Tost, 2010; McDonald, Donnellan, & Navarrete, 2012) identified Machiavellian characteristics such as impulsivity, exploitativeness, selfishness, inability to delay gratification, and unrestricted sociosexuality as parts of this fast life strategy.
1.3. Machiavellianism and the effects of trauma Besides the above presented assumptions on the relationship between childhood psychological maltreatment and Machiavellianism, trauma literature also contains elements that might be promising in linking Machiavellianism to childhood adversities. After traumatic events victims’ representations of the world, self, and others become very similar to those of Machiavellian individuals. According to Janoff-Bulman (2010), three basic assumptions are shattered in victims of trauma: (i) the belief of invulnerability; (ii) perception of the world as meaningful; and (iii) the positive representation of self and others. Dismissing and fearful attachment (Jonason, Lyons, & Bethell, 2014), or the amoral, antisocial, and exploitative behavior (Christie & Geis, 1970; Furnham, Richards, & Paulhus, 2013) of Machiavellian individuals reflect their vulnerability or their defenses against it (for details see Discussion in Láng & Birkás, 2014). Their cynical view of human nature, their sensitivity (Christie & Geis, 1970), low self-esteem (Andreou, 2000), and low satisfaction with life (Ali & ChamorroPremuzic, 2010) also indicate that Machiavellian individuals have negative representations of the world and people dwelling in it – including themselves. Additionally, Herman (1997) also mentions loss of control over the world, others, and emotion regulation as a significant consequence of trauma. Machiavellian strategies might represent an attempt to regain this lost control in manipulating others (Christie & Geis, 1970).
2. Aims of the study, hypothesis Given the above mentioned links between harsh, insensitive, Machiavellian parenting and Machiavellianism in offspring, and the similarities between the shattered assumption of trauma survivors and the representations of Machiavellian individuals, we formulated the following general hypothesis. Adults with more pronounced Machiavellian attitudes will report having more memories of childhood neglect and abuse. Without formulating a
particular hypothesis, we also investigated which forms of neglect and abuse are related to the different aspects of Machiavellianism. 3. Method 3.1. Sample and procedure After giving their informed consent, 247 participants (141 female) completed the scales. Their average age was 32.38 years (SD = 5.43). More than half of the participants (52%) graduated from a university, and everyone had at least 8 years of formal education. Participants were recruited from the convenience sample of research assistants. Scales and demographic questions were completed in private. 3.2. Measures 3.2.1. Mach-IV Scale (Christie & Geis, 1970) This 20-item self-report scale measures Machiavellian attitudes. The scale consists of three subscales: (i) Tactics subscale measures the willingness to deceive and exploit others for personal gain; (ii) Views subscale measures identification with a cynical world view; and (iii) Moral subscale measures ignorance of morality. Internal reliabilities for total score, Tactics, and Views subscales were acceptable (.55 < Cronbach a < .81). Cronbach a for Moral subscale proved to be insufficient (.22), so this subscale was left out of further analyses. 3.2.2. Child Abuse and Trauma Scale (CATS; Sanders & Becker-Lausen, 1995) CATS is a 38-item self-report measure of recollections of childhood psychological maltreatment. CATS has three subscales: (i) Neglect/Negative Home Atmosphere subscale refers to psychological maltreatment in the most general form including loneliness and neglect; (ii) Punishment subscale refers to rigid and unreasonable home codes and punishment; and (iii) Sexual Abuse subscale refers to direct and indirect forms of sexual mistreatment. Participants rated the frequency of adverse events from 0 (never) to 4 (always). Cronbach as ranged between .54 and .90 for CATS total score and the three subscales. 3.3. Statistical analyses For statistical analyses, we used SPSS 17.0 for Windows. Besides descriptive statistics, we used ANOVAs to test gender differences on the measured variables. Pearson’s correlations and multiple linear regressions were used to reveal relationships between aspects of Machiavellianism and different forms of childhood adversities. 4. Results ANOVAs revealed gender differences on several measured variables (Table 1). Men reported higher levels of Machiavellianism in general and more frequent use of Machiavellian interpersonal tactics. Women reported more frequent memories of psychological maltreatment in general and neglect. To test the relationships between aspects of Machiavellianism and different forms of childhood psychological maltreatment, we used Pearson’s correlations in the first step (Table 2). General Machiavellianism and Machiavellian interpersonal tactics were positively correlated to all measured facets of childhood psychological maltreatment, though in the case of punishment and sexual abuse the correlation should be regarded as unimportant. Cynical world view correlated significantly with CATS total score and neglect.
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A. Láng, K. Lénárd / Personality and Individual Differences 77 (2015) 81–85 Table 1 Gender differences on the measured variables; results of ANOVAs. Men (n = 106)
Mach-IV total score Mach-IV tactics subscale Mach-IV views subscale CATS total score CATS neglect subscale CATS punishment subscale CATS sexual abuse subscale
Women (n = 141)
M
SD
M
SD
95.92 34.42 33.64 .53 .55 1.28 0.016
15.91 9.89 6.31 .35 .52 .57 .12
91.10 31.04 32.33 .67 .80 1.32 0.026
14.74 9.03 6.05 .46 .66 .66 .13
F
p
6.058 7.812 2.757 6.339 10.882 .228 .429
<.05 <.01 =.098 <.05 <.005 =.634 .513
Note: df = 1 in each case.
Table 2 Results of Pearson’s correlation and descriptives (M ± SD in diagonal cells) for Mach-IV and CATS.
Mach-IV total score Mach-IV tactics Mach-IV views CATS total score CATS neglect CATS punishment CATS sexual abuse * **
Mach-IV total score
Mach-IV tactics
Mach-IV views
CATS total score
CATS neglect
CATS punishment
CATS sexual abuse
93.17 ± 15.41 .924** .811** .241** .245** .155* .146*
32.49 ± 9.54 .571** .205** .185** .177** .148*
32.89 ± 6.18 .163* .166** .110 .060
.61 ± .42 .933** .622** .335**
.69 ± .62 .373** .294**
1.30 ± .62 .090
.02 ± .12
p < .05. p < .01.
Table 3 Results of multiple linear regressions for Mach-IV and CATS. Significant predictors are highlighted in bold, marginally significant predictors are highlighted in italics. Mach-IV total score
Mach-IV tactics subscale
Mach-IV views subscale
b
t
p
b
t
p
b
t
p
Age Gender (female) Level of education CATS neglect CATS punishment CATS sexual abuse
.095 .210 .048 .234 .060 .077
1.492 3.334 .747 3.354 .910 1.201
.137 .001 .456 .001 .364 .231
.100 .223 .014 .149 .118 .102
1.572 3.512 .210 2.123 1.779 1.592
.117 .001 .834 .035 .077 .113
.064 .123 .148 .169 .031 .002
.984 1.902 2.243 2.345 .452 .032
.326 .058 .026 .020 .652 .974
R square
.118
.108
Given the gender differences on several measured variables, in the second step, we used multiple linear regressions to control for the effects of age, gender, and level of education (Table 3). Results showed that neglect remained the only significant predictor of Machiavellianism, Machiavellian tactics, and Machiavellian world view. In predicting Machiavellian tactics, self-reported frequency of childhood punishment also emerged to be a marginally significant predictor. According to these results, adults with memories of more frequent episodes of neglect and corporal punishment reported more pronounced Machiavellian attitudes.
5. Discussion Results partially confirmed our hypothesis. Negative home atmosphere, loneliness, and parental neglect were weakly, but significantly and consistently linked to Machiavellianism in general, Machiavellian interpersonal tactics, and cynical views of human nature. Moreover, punishment also seemed to play a role in the emergence of deceitful and exploitative interpersonal tactics. These results might give further support for the idea that Machiavellian personality traits are possible strategic responses to childhood adversities (McDonald et al., 2012). There might be other links connecting childhood neglect to adult Machiavellian personality traits, interpersonal tactics, and a cynical worldview. Several studies report relationships between
.066
neglect and moral development. In a study by Smetana, Kelly, and Twentyman (1984), neglected children – but not their physically abused or nonmaltreated peers – considered it to be more universally wrong for themselves (but not for others) if resources were distributed in an unfair way. This result might reflect the egocentric stance of Machiavellians, and at the same time this sensitivity for being bumped might also entitle them to exploit others. In investigating children’s emotional reactions to moral transgressions, Smetana et al. (1999) found that in the opinion of neglected children perpetrators would feel less sadness when committing a transgression. With respect to punishment, Rotenberg, Betts, Eisner, and Ribeaud (2012) found that corporal punishment was negatively associated with children’s trustworthiness and negatively predicted changes in children’s trustworthiness in one year’s time. Moreover, Waller et al. (2012) reported that corporal punishment – but not positive parenting – contributed to the development of children’s deceitful-callous behavior. In discussing the relationship between punitive school environment and dishonesty, Talwar and Lee (2011) argue that children may use deceit as a strategy to subvert the unfair and authoritarian discipline. Corporal punishment is also known to prevent moral internalization (Gershoff, 2002). All these features – dishonesty, deceitful-callous behavior, and superficial obedience to social norms – are trademarks of Machiavellian individuals. The other variable that could link neglect to Machiavellianism is alexithymia. Zlotnick, Mattia, and Zimmerman (2001) found that
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both emotional and physical neglect, rather than abuse, resulted in alexithymia in their adult subjects. According to Wastell and Booth (2003) alexithymia leads to Machiavellianism as a nonvolitional strategy, because Machiavellian individuals are unable to read their own and others’ emotions. This lack of the capacity to emotionally connect with others, gives free way to manipulative strategies, because their effects on others (e.g., sadness, pain) and on themselves (e.g., sense of guilt) are not realized. Although previous studies have already identified Machiavellianism as a fast life strategy, they have done so comparing fast life personality traits to Machiavellian characteristics. To our knowledge, our study is the first to reveal relationship between childhood neglect, punishment, and adult Machiavellianism. Our results might have some clinical implications as well. Machiavellian attitude can be considered as an adaptive response to neglectful environment. Though, this once adaptive strategy can have very high costs later (Allen, Fonagy, & Bateman, 2008). While striving for the fulfillment of their unfulfilled needs, neglected individuals are at risk to proactively select neglecting or abusive relationships in their lives (Howe, 2005). In these potentially harmful environments pursuing a Machiavellian strategy might be adaptive, but could have high costs. Deceitful and exploitative behaviors might lead to retaliation or abandonment by the deceived and exploited, thus leading to repetition of trauma (Stern & Stern, 2013). We believe that Machiavellianism is not the only possible response to neglect, but Machiavellian neglected individuals should be paid more attention, because they might be at risk to revictimization. Psychological interventions with neglected individuals might also take Machiavellianism into account as a possible response to neglect. Machiavellian individuals will rely on their deceitful and exploitative strategy to cope with almost every interpersonal relationship, no matter whether they are neglectful or supportive. This might also undermine social support that is an essential element of psychological well-being (Thoits, 2011). To enhance mental health in Machiavellian neglected individuals, psychological interventions with them could follow the aims of the dynamic maturational model of attachment and adaptation (Crittenden, 2005). According to this approach, aims of the intervention should be at least twofold. First, awareness to the self-defeating functioning of this strategy in normal environment should be raised. Second, Machiavellian individuals should be empowered to use flexible strategies to cope with environments different from their neglectful childhood environment. Of course, there are some limitations to our study. In our opinion, measuring traumatic events with a self-report measure might raise the main concern. According to Newberger and DeVos (1988, p. 505), ‘‘the meaning a child makes of experiences influences how the experience affects the child’’. In our opinion, CATS captures traumatic events that are called relational traumas (Schore, 2003; Schuder & Lyons-Ruth, 2004) in trauma literature. Whereas one-shot traumas are easily repressed or cast out of consciousness, relational traumas have a cumulative negative effect. Thus, these adverse experiences become the second nature of the affected person. So, although they are not remembered as trauma, rather as normal way of living, episodes of these cumulative traumas can be recalled. This makes CATS a reasonable choice for the reliable retrospective measure of childhood psychological maltreatment. The normative nature of our sample might represent another limitation. In our study, means for all CATS scales – except for Punishment – were to be found in the range between never (0) and rarely (1). According to these descriptive statistics (for details see Table 2), our sample consisted of individuals relatively unaffected of childhood adversities. Further studies should test our hypothesis with a highrisk sample using prospective, longitudinal methodology.
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A. Láng, K. Lénárd / Personality and Individual Differences 77 (2015) 81–85 Smetana, J. G., Toth, S. L., Cicchetti, D., Bruce, J., Kane, P., & Daddis, C. (1999). Maltreated and non-maltreated preschoolers’ conceptions of hypothetical and actual moral transgressions. Developmental Psychology, 35, 269–281. Stern, M. M., & Stern, L. B. (2013). Repetition and trauma: Toward a teleonomic theory of psychoanalysis. London: Routledge. Talwar, V., & Lee, K. (2011). A punitive environment fosters children’s dishonesty: A natural experiment. Child Development, 82, 1751–1758. Thoits, P. A. (2011). Mechanisms linking social ties and support to physical and mental health. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 52, 145–161.
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Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Personality and Individual Differences journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/paid
The relation between memories of childhood psychological maltreatment and Machiavellianism András Láng ⇑, Kata Lénárd Institute of Psychology, University of Pécs, H-7624 Pécs, Ifjúság str. 6, Hungary
a r t i c l e
i n f o
Article history: Received 11 October 2014 Received in revised form 26 December 2014 Accepted 27 December 2014
Keywords: Machiavellianism Childhood psychological maltreatment Life-History Theory Moral development Alexithymia
a b s t r a c t Machiavellianism is a hot topic in several branches of psychology. Using Life-History Theory several studies identified Machiavellianism as a fast life strategy. According to this idea, Machiavellianism should be related to childhood adversities. Using a sample of adults we investigated the relationship between Machiavellianism and self-reported memories of childhood psychological maltreatment. Participants (247 individuals, 141 female, 32.38 ± 5.43 years of age on average) completed the Mach-IV Scale and the Childhood Abuse and Trauma Scale. Results showed a relationship between neglect and Machiavellianism in general, Machiavellian tactics, and Machiavellian world view. There was also a marginally significant link between punishment and Machiavellian tactics. Results are discussed from a moral developmental perspective and through the alexithymia hypothesis of Machiavellianism. Ó 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction Machiavellianism – a personality trait or attitude that is characterized by a deceitful, materialistic, unemotional, and selfish stance (Christie & Geis, 1970) – has been the focus of intense research since the 1970s. Social, organizational, personality, clinical and evolutionary psychological studies on the topic have been written countlessly. At the same time, developmental researchers have paid far less attention to the emergence of Machiavellianism. At this time, there are two main paradigms that try to explain how certain individuals attain Machiavellian attitudes or personality traits. The first is based on Bandura’s (1977) social learning theory, and the other is based on Life-History Theory (Kaplan & Gangestad, 2005) and Belsky’s evolutionary theory of socialization (Del Giudice & Belsky, 2011). Based on these theories, we investigated whether self-reported memories of childhood psychological maltreatment could be linked to Machiavellianism in adulthood. 1.1. Machiavellianism and social learning In studying the relationship between Machiavellian attitudes in parents and in their offspring, two competing hypotheses have been articulated. According to the complementarity hypothesis (Christie & Geis, 1970), children take on roles in parent–child interaction that are complementary to their parents’. Thus, children of ⇑ Corresponding author. Tel.: +36 30 2686322. E-mail address: [email protected] (A. Láng). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2014.12.054 0191-8869/Ó 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Machiavellian parents would behave in a moral and submissive way, whereas children of non-Machiavellian parents would become manipulative, amoral, and cynical. In a study, Braginsky (1970) found partial support for this hypothesis. The modeling or identification hypothesis (Kraut & Price, 1976) suggests that children would behave in a way similar to their parents. This process is suggested to be mediated by vicarious learning. Thus, children of Machiavellian parents would become Machiavellian individuals themselves as well. Several studies have supported this hypothesis (Kraut & Price, 1976; Ojha, 2007; Rai & Gupta, 1989). The seeming contradiction of the above described two hypotheses can be solved if age is taken into consideration. Children – and adults of course – beyond the oedipal age and with the ability of identification show levels of Machiavellianism similar to their parents’ (Pilch, 2008). In our view, social learning or modeling is not the only possible mediating process between parental Machiavellianism and Machiavellianism in offspring. Being egocentric, having a cynical view of human nature (Christie & Geis, 1970), and lacking empathy and emotional intelligence (Ali, Amorim, & Chamorro-Premuzic, 2009), Machiavellian individuals can be fairly poor and insensitive parents with parenting habits that might even contain elements of neglect and/or abuse. This speculation is evidenced by studies that found significant relationship between Machiavellianism, perceived family disengagement and chaos (Láng & Birkás, 2014) and recalled parental rejection (Kraut & Price, 1976; Ojha, 2007; Ryumshina, 2013). In the next section, to follow this line of reasoning, Machiavellianism is presented as a life history strategy formed by early environmental effects.
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1.2. Machiavellianism and Life-History Theory Life-History Theory (LHT) is a mid-level evolutionary theory about resource allocation (Kaplan & Gangestad, 2005). According to LHT, personality traits are results of trade-offs in face of environmental challenges encountered in childhood (Brumbach, Figueredo, & Ellis, 2009). According to Belsky’s (Del Giudice & Belsky, 2011) evolutionary theory of socialization, infants’ attachment styles are adaptive responses to parental care. Parental care is not only the most proximate environment of the infant, but parenting also mediates information about environmental conditions in general. Unpredictable conditions (e.g., poverty, low SES, marital stress) – mediated by harsh, insensitive, inconsistent parenting – produce fast life history strategies. These strategies – early maturation and more offspring with less investment, i.e., investing in the self – are adaptive under circumstances with high mortality risk, because at least some offspring might survive (Ellis, Figueredo, Brumbach, & Schlomer, 2009). According to Belsky (Del Giudice & Belsky, 2011) fast life history strategies are not only reflected by insecure attachment styles, early physical maturation, and reproductive strategies fostering short-term relationships, but also by personality characteristics. Although results are inconsistent, several studies (Jonason, Koenig, & Tost, 2010; Jonason & Tost, 2010; McDonald, Donnellan, & Navarrete, 2012) identified Machiavellian characteristics such as impulsivity, exploitativeness, selfishness, inability to delay gratification, and unrestricted sociosexuality as parts of this fast life strategy.
1.3. Machiavellianism and the effects of trauma Besides the above presented assumptions on the relationship between childhood psychological maltreatment and Machiavellianism, trauma literature also contains elements that might be promising in linking Machiavellianism to childhood adversities. After traumatic events victims’ representations of the world, self, and others become very similar to those of Machiavellian individuals. According to Janoff-Bulman (2010), three basic assumptions are shattered in victims of trauma: (i) the belief of invulnerability; (ii) perception of the world as meaningful; and (iii) the positive representation of self and others. Dismissing and fearful attachment (Jonason, Lyons, & Bethell, 2014), or the amoral, antisocial, and exploitative behavior (Christie & Geis, 1970; Furnham, Richards, & Paulhus, 2013) of Machiavellian individuals reflect their vulnerability or their defenses against it (for details see Discussion in Láng & Birkás, 2014). Their cynical view of human nature, their sensitivity (Christie & Geis, 1970), low self-esteem (Andreou, 2000), and low satisfaction with life (Ali & ChamorroPremuzic, 2010) also indicate that Machiavellian individuals have negative representations of the world and people dwelling in it – including themselves. Additionally, Herman (1997) also mentions loss of control over the world, others, and emotion regulation as a significant consequence of trauma. Machiavellian strategies might represent an attempt to regain this lost control in manipulating others (Christie & Geis, 1970).
2. Aims of the study, hypothesis Given the above mentioned links between harsh, insensitive, Machiavellian parenting and Machiavellianism in offspring, and the similarities between the shattered assumption of trauma survivors and the representations of Machiavellian individuals, we formulated the following general hypothesis. Adults with more pronounced Machiavellian attitudes will report having more memories of childhood neglect and abuse. Without formulating a
particular hypothesis, we also investigated which forms of neglect and abuse are related to the different aspects of Machiavellianism. 3. Method 3.1. Sample and procedure After giving their informed consent, 247 participants (141 female) completed the scales. Their average age was 32.38 years (SD = 5.43). More than half of the participants (52%) graduated from a university, and everyone had at least 8 years of formal education. Participants were recruited from the convenience sample of research assistants. Scales and demographic questions were completed in private. 3.2. Measures 3.2.1. Mach-IV Scale (Christie & Geis, 1970) This 20-item self-report scale measures Machiavellian attitudes. The scale consists of three subscales: (i) Tactics subscale measures the willingness to deceive and exploit others for personal gain; (ii) Views subscale measures identification with a cynical world view; and (iii) Moral subscale measures ignorance of morality. Internal reliabilities for total score, Tactics, and Views subscales were acceptable (.55 < Cronbach a < .81). Cronbach a for Moral subscale proved to be insufficient (.22), so this subscale was left out of further analyses. 3.2.2. Child Abuse and Trauma Scale (CATS; Sanders & Becker-Lausen, 1995) CATS is a 38-item self-report measure of recollections of childhood psychological maltreatment. CATS has three subscales: (i) Neglect/Negative Home Atmosphere subscale refers to psychological maltreatment in the most general form including loneliness and neglect; (ii) Punishment subscale refers to rigid and unreasonable home codes and punishment; and (iii) Sexual Abuse subscale refers to direct and indirect forms of sexual mistreatment. Participants rated the frequency of adverse events from 0 (never) to 4 (always). Cronbach as ranged between .54 and .90 for CATS total score and the three subscales. 3.3. Statistical analyses For statistical analyses, we used SPSS 17.0 for Windows. Besides descriptive statistics, we used ANOVAs to test gender differences on the measured variables. Pearson’s correlations and multiple linear regressions were used to reveal relationships between aspects of Machiavellianism and different forms of childhood adversities. 4. Results ANOVAs revealed gender differences on several measured variables (Table 1). Men reported higher levels of Machiavellianism in general and more frequent use of Machiavellian interpersonal tactics. Women reported more frequent memories of psychological maltreatment in general and neglect. To test the relationships between aspects of Machiavellianism and different forms of childhood psychological maltreatment, we used Pearson’s correlations in the first step (Table 2). General Machiavellianism and Machiavellian interpersonal tactics were positively correlated to all measured facets of childhood psychological maltreatment, though in the case of punishment and sexual abuse the correlation should be regarded as unimportant. Cynical world view correlated significantly with CATS total score and neglect.
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A. Láng, K. Lénárd / Personality and Individual Differences 77 (2015) 81–85 Table 1 Gender differences on the measured variables; results of ANOVAs. Men (n = 106)
Mach-IV total score Mach-IV tactics subscale Mach-IV views subscale CATS total score CATS neglect subscale CATS punishment subscale CATS sexual abuse subscale
Women (n = 141)
M
SD
M
SD
95.92 34.42 33.64 .53 .55 1.28 0.016
15.91 9.89 6.31 .35 .52 .57 .12
91.10 31.04 32.33 .67 .80 1.32 0.026
14.74 9.03 6.05 .46 .66 .66 .13
F
p
6.058 7.812 2.757 6.339 10.882 .228 .429
<.05 <.01 =.098 <.05 <.005 =.634 .513
Note: df = 1 in each case.
Table 2 Results of Pearson’s correlation and descriptives (M ± SD in diagonal cells) for Mach-IV and CATS.
Mach-IV total score Mach-IV tactics Mach-IV views CATS total score CATS neglect CATS punishment CATS sexual abuse * **
Mach-IV total score
Mach-IV tactics
Mach-IV views
CATS total score
CATS neglect
CATS punishment
CATS sexual abuse
93.17 ± 15.41 .924** .811** .241** .245** .155* .146*
32.49 ± 9.54 .571** .205** .185** .177** .148*
32.89 ± 6.18 .163* .166** .110 .060
.61 ± .42 .933** .622** .335**
.69 ± .62 .373** .294**
1.30 ± .62 .090
.02 ± .12
p < .05. p < .01.
Table 3 Results of multiple linear regressions for Mach-IV and CATS. Significant predictors are highlighted in bold, marginally significant predictors are highlighted in italics. Mach-IV total score
Mach-IV tactics subscale
Mach-IV views subscale
b
t
p
b
t
p
b
t
p
Age Gender (female) Level of education CATS neglect CATS punishment CATS sexual abuse
.095 .210 .048 .234 .060 .077
1.492 3.334 .747 3.354 .910 1.201
.137 .001 .456 .001 .364 .231
.100 .223 .014 .149 .118 .102
1.572 3.512 .210 2.123 1.779 1.592
.117 .001 .834 .035 .077 .113
.064 .123 .148 .169 .031 .002
.984 1.902 2.243 2.345 .452 .032
.326 .058 .026 .020 .652 .974
R square
.118
.108
Given the gender differences on several measured variables, in the second step, we used multiple linear regressions to control for the effects of age, gender, and level of education (Table 3). Results showed that neglect remained the only significant predictor of Machiavellianism, Machiavellian tactics, and Machiavellian world view. In predicting Machiavellian tactics, self-reported frequency of childhood punishment also emerged to be a marginally significant predictor. According to these results, adults with memories of more frequent episodes of neglect and corporal punishment reported more pronounced Machiavellian attitudes.
5. Discussion Results partially confirmed our hypothesis. Negative home atmosphere, loneliness, and parental neglect were weakly, but significantly and consistently linked to Machiavellianism in general, Machiavellian interpersonal tactics, and cynical views of human nature. Moreover, punishment also seemed to play a role in the emergence of deceitful and exploitative interpersonal tactics. These results might give further support for the idea that Machiavellian personality traits are possible strategic responses to childhood adversities (McDonald et al., 2012). There might be other links connecting childhood neglect to adult Machiavellian personality traits, interpersonal tactics, and a cynical worldview. Several studies report relationships between
.066
neglect and moral development. In a study by Smetana, Kelly, and Twentyman (1984), neglected children – but not their physically abused or nonmaltreated peers – considered it to be more universally wrong for themselves (but not for others) if resources were distributed in an unfair way. This result might reflect the egocentric stance of Machiavellians, and at the same time this sensitivity for being bumped might also entitle them to exploit others. In investigating children’s emotional reactions to moral transgressions, Smetana et al. (1999) found that in the opinion of neglected children perpetrators would feel less sadness when committing a transgression. With respect to punishment, Rotenberg, Betts, Eisner, and Ribeaud (2012) found that corporal punishment was negatively associated with children’s trustworthiness and negatively predicted changes in children’s trustworthiness in one year’s time. Moreover, Waller et al. (2012) reported that corporal punishment – but not positive parenting – contributed to the development of children’s deceitful-callous behavior. In discussing the relationship between punitive school environment and dishonesty, Talwar and Lee (2011) argue that children may use deceit as a strategy to subvert the unfair and authoritarian discipline. Corporal punishment is also known to prevent moral internalization (Gershoff, 2002). All these features – dishonesty, deceitful-callous behavior, and superficial obedience to social norms – are trademarks of Machiavellian individuals. The other variable that could link neglect to Machiavellianism is alexithymia. Zlotnick, Mattia, and Zimmerman (2001) found that
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both emotional and physical neglect, rather than abuse, resulted in alexithymia in their adult subjects. According to Wastell and Booth (2003) alexithymia leads to Machiavellianism as a nonvolitional strategy, because Machiavellian individuals are unable to read their own and others’ emotions. This lack of the capacity to emotionally connect with others, gives free way to manipulative strategies, because their effects on others (e.g., sadness, pain) and on themselves (e.g., sense of guilt) are not realized. Although previous studies have already identified Machiavellianism as a fast life strategy, they have done so comparing fast life personality traits to Machiavellian characteristics. To our knowledge, our study is the first to reveal relationship between childhood neglect, punishment, and adult Machiavellianism. Our results might have some clinical implications as well. Machiavellian attitude can be considered as an adaptive response to neglectful environment. Though, this once adaptive strategy can have very high costs later (Allen, Fonagy, & Bateman, 2008). While striving for the fulfillment of their unfulfilled needs, neglected individuals are at risk to proactively select neglecting or abusive relationships in their lives (Howe, 2005). In these potentially harmful environments pursuing a Machiavellian strategy might be adaptive, but could have high costs. Deceitful and exploitative behaviors might lead to retaliation or abandonment by the deceived and exploited, thus leading to repetition of trauma (Stern & Stern, 2013). We believe that Machiavellianism is not the only possible response to neglect, but Machiavellian neglected individuals should be paid more attention, because they might be at risk to revictimization. Psychological interventions with neglected individuals might also take Machiavellianism into account as a possible response to neglect. Machiavellian individuals will rely on their deceitful and exploitative strategy to cope with almost every interpersonal relationship, no matter whether they are neglectful or supportive. This might also undermine social support that is an essential element of psychological well-being (Thoits, 2011). To enhance mental health in Machiavellian neglected individuals, psychological interventions with them could follow the aims of the dynamic maturational model of attachment and adaptation (Crittenden, 2005). According to this approach, aims of the intervention should be at least twofold. First, awareness to the self-defeating functioning of this strategy in normal environment should be raised. Second, Machiavellian individuals should be empowered to use flexible strategies to cope with environments different from their neglectful childhood environment. Of course, there are some limitations to our study. In our opinion, measuring traumatic events with a self-report measure might raise the main concern. According to Newberger and DeVos (1988, p. 505), ‘‘the meaning a child makes of experiences influences how the experience affects the child’’. In our opinion, CATS captures traumatic events that are called relational traumas (Schore, 2003; Schuder & Lyons-Ruth, 2004) in trauma literature. Whereas one-shot traumas are easily repressed or cast out of consciousness, relational traumas have a cumulative negative effect. Thus, these adverse experiences become the second nature of the affected person. So, although they are not remembered as trauma, rather as normal way of living, episodes of these cumulative traumas can be recalled. This makes CATS a reasonable choice for the reliable retrospective measure of childhood psychological maltreatment. The normative nature of our sample might represent another limitation. In our study, means for all CATS scales – except for Punishment – were to be found in the range between never (0) and rarely (1). According to these descriptive statistics (for details see Table 2), our sample consisted of individuals relatively unaffected of childhood adversities. Further studies should test our hypothesis with a highrisk sample using prospective, longitudinal methodology.
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