machiavellian
adj.
of or pertaining to Machiavelli; of or pertaining to the political methods recommended by Machiavelli; scheming, deceptive, manipulative
n.
one who adheres to the principles developed by Machiavelli (particularly in regards to political manipulation and deception)
Machiavellianism
This article is about the psychology term. For the political philosophy, see
Niccolò Machiavelli. Machiavellianism is primarily the term some social and personality
psychologists use to describe a person's tendency to deceive and manipulate others for personal gain. The concept is named after Renaissance diplomat and writer
Niccolò Machiavelli, who wrote
Il Principe (The Prince). (Machiavellianism can also refer to the doctrine
Machiavelli established, although that is not the subject of this article.) In the 1960s Richard Christie and Florence L. Geis developed a test for measuring a person's level of Machiavellianism. This eventually became the MACH-IV test, a twenty-statement personality survey that is now the standard self-assessment tool of Machiavellianism. People scoring above 60 out of 100 on the MACH-IV are considered high Machs; that is, they endorsed statements such as, "Never tell anyone the real reason you did something unless it is useful to do so," (No. 1) but not ones like, "Most people are basically good and kind" (No. 4). People scoring below 60 out of 100 on the MACH-IV are considered low Machs; they tend to believe, "There is no excuse for lying to someone else," (No. 7) and, "Most people who get ahead in the world lead clean, moral lives" (No. 11). In a series of studies undertaken by Christie and Geis and Geis's graduate assistant David Berger, the notion of machiavellianism was experimentally verified.
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Machiavellian
Adjective
1. of or relating to Machiavelli or the principles of conduct he recommended; "Machiavellian thinking"
(pertainym) Machiavelli, Niccolo Machiavelli
Machiavellian
Synonyms and related words:
Artful Dodger, Byzantine, Casanova, Don Juan, Machiavel, Machiavelli, Machiavellianist, Machiavellic, actor, acute, ambidextrous, arch, artful, astute, bamboozler, befuddler, beguiler, behind-the-scenes operator, cagey, calculating, canny, charmer, clever, coconspirator, collusive, connivent, conniver, conniving, conspirator, conspirer, conspiring, contriving, counterfeiter, counterplotter, crafty, crooked, cunning, cute, deceitful, deceiver, deep, deep-laid, deluder, designing, diplomat, diplomatic, diplomatist, dishonest, dissembler, dissimulator, dodger, double, double-dealer, double-dealing, double-faced, double-minded, double-tongued, doublehearted, duper, duplicitous, eminence grise, enchanter, entrancer, exploiter, faithless, faker, FALSE, false-principled, falsehearted, feline, finagler, fooler, forger, foxy, gamesman, gay deceiver, gray eminence, guileful, hoaxer, hypnotizer, influence peddler, ingenious, insidious, intrigant, intriguer, intriguing, inventive, jilt, jilter, joker, jokester, kidder, kingmaker, knowing, leg-puller, logroller, machinator, maneuverer, mesmerizer, misleader, operator, opportunist, pawky, perfidious, plagiarist, plagiarizer, playactor, plotter, plotting, politic, political realist, politician, pork-barrel politician, power broker, practical joker, ragger, ready, resourceful, role-player, schemer, scheming, seducer, serpentine, sharp, shifty, shrewd, slick, slippery, sly, smooth, snaky, sneaky, sophistical, spoofer, stealthy, stratagemical, strategic, strategist, subtile, subtle, supple, tactical, tease, teaser, treacherous, trickish, tricksy, tricky, two-faced, up to, vulpine, wary, wheeler-dealer, wily, wire-puller
Source: Moby Thesaurus, which is part of the
Moby Project created by Grady Ward. In 1996 Grady Ward placed this thesaurus in the public domain.
machiavellian