Social aggression -- the use of covert forms of aggression such as betrayal, gossip, and rumor-spreading -- has only recently been the focus of research and is not yet well understood. This study hypothesizes that the tactics of socially aggressive children are consistent with the social manipulations of Machiavelli. Niccolo Machiaveli wrote extensively on the coercive techniques he used to gain power, achieve his goals, and defend his country (e.g. Machiavelli, 1513/1968). Christie and Geis (1970), inspired by Machiaveli, began researching a form of social manipulation that they term Machiavellianism. While the similarities in characteristics of Machiavellian and socially aggressive children seem to indicate that they may share behavioral strategies and social goals, there is no research to date that compares these children. Additionally, since little research has examined the goals of social aggression in relational conflict situations this study used a quantitative measure of social goals in order to better understand the purpose of a child's behavior. / text

The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of hostile attribution style (HAS) on the processes linking job stressors and CWB. Self and peer data were collected via online questionnaires from employed participants recruited from undergraduate classes and non-student employees. Using data from 147 dyads of employees and coworkers, the effects of HAS on three areas were examined: the influence of HAS on the appraisal of psychosocial (incivility, interactional justice, and interpersonal conflict) and nonsocial (organizational constraints and workload) stressors; HAS as a moderator of the link between stressors and CWB; and HAS as mediator of the link between CWB and the individual difference variables of negative affectivity (NA), trait anger, and Machiavellianism. Regarding appraisals, HAS was more strongly related to psychosocial stressors than to workload (nonsocial stressor). However, results regarding the comparisons of the HAS-psychosocial stressor correlations with the HAS-organizational constraints (nonsocial stressor) correlations were mixed. Moreover, contrary to what was hypothesized, correlations of HAS with interpersonal constraints and job context constraints were not significantly different in magnitude. HAS was shown to moderate the relationship between CWB and the stressors of interpersonal conflict and organizational constraints. Individuals high on HAS engaged in more CWB when stressors were high, whereas individuals low on HAS engaged in low levels of CWB overall. HAS partially mediated the relationship between NA and CWB, in addition to the relationship between trait anger and CWB. It fully mediated the relationship between Machiavellianism and CWB. The influence of Machiavellianism on the occupational stress process also was explored. It was expected that high Machiavellians would appraise and respond to stressors in a negative fashion. However, contrary to what was expected, Machiavellianism was positively associated with informational justice and negatively related to incivility and CWB. Furthermore, it was negatively associated with NA and HAS. An alternative explanation for the results regarding Machiavellianism was presented. Although all hypotheses regarding the effects of HAS were partially supported, results of this study were generally demonstrative of the merits of including attributional processes (i.e., hostile attribution style) in CWB research within the occupational stress framework.

Relational aggression encompasses behaviour meant to hurt others by destroying their friendships and reputation (Crick & Grotpeter, 1995). As peer relationships take on greater importance in early adolescence, relational aggression becomes more accepted and prevalent, yet perceived as equally or more harmful to its targets than physical aggression. The present study explored whether reactive and proactive subtypes of relational aggression were associated with an inability to empathize with others, regulate emotional states, and hold attitudes that it is acceptable to manipulate and harm others. Empathy, emotion regulation, and Machiavellianism’s roles in predicting reactive and proactive relational aggression was examined using Crick and Dodge’s (1994) reformulated Social Information-Processing Theory’s framework. Reactive relational aggression was expected to be associated with low empathy and high emotion dysreglation. Proactive relational aggression was expected to be predicted by high empathy, low emotion dysregulation, and high Machiavellianism. Low empathy was expected to predict overt aggression indices. One hundred and thirty-three children (73 females, 60 males, Mage = 12.84 years) in grades 6 through 8 from five schools in a public Ontario schoolboard were recruited. Caregivers completed a measure of their child’s emotions and behaviours (The Emotion Regulation Checklist; Shields & Cicchetti, 1995). Participating students completed four self-report measures assessing relational and overt aggression (Children’s Social Behaviour Scale – Self-Report; Crick & Grotpeter, 1995), proactive and reactive subtypes of aggression (Little, Jones, Henrich, & Hawley, 2003), empathy (Interpersonal Reactivity Index; Davis, 1980), and Machiavellianism (Kiddie Mach Scale; Christie & Geis, 1970) during one 60 minute session. Empathy, Machiavellianism, and emotion dysregulation scores were associated with total, reactive, and proactive relational aggression scores. When contrasting subtypes of aggression were controlled, however, these emotional and cognitive variables did not predict total and reactive relational aggression. There was a non-significant trend for higher levels of empathy to predict proactive relational aggression. Low empathy significantly predicted total and reactive overt aggression indices. Machiavellianism predicted reactive and proactive overt aggression. Emotion regulation was not a significant predictor in analyses. Results provide support for the role of Machiavellianism and empathy in relational aggression, particularly proactive or goal-oriented instances.

O presente estudo se propõe analisar os traços de personalidade do Dark Triad na decisão de manipular resultados para maximização de ganhos pessoais e empresariais. Para a discussão teórica considerou-se o Dark Triad, composto por traços não patológicos do Narcisismo, da Psicopatia e do Maquiavelismo e também a investigação do uso oportunístico da informação contábil-financeira quanto à decisão de manipular resultados, fundamentada pela Teoria dos Altos Escalões. Adotou-se a abordagem metodológica teórico-empírica. Os dados foram coletados usando um questionário survey divido em quatro partes: perfil demográfico, instrumento de medição de personalidade - Short Dark Triad (SD3), uma Simulação Empresarial com assertivas decisórias com enfoque em manobras financeiras e um jogo no formato Loteria. Três estudos foram realizados para adaptar o SD3 para uso no Brasil e testar três hipóteses formuladas. O Estudo 1 utilizou uma amostra de 30 alunos de Ciências Contábeis; o Estudo 2 utilizou uma amostra de 131 estudantes de MBA na área de Gestão Financeira. Ambos os estudos foram conduzidos como um teste preliminar para ajustar o questionário para o Estudo 3. Os dados para o estudo 3 foram coletadas de 263 gestores, os quais possuíam mais de seis meses de experiência. Técnicas de estatística descritiva, correlação análise, teste de hipóteses e regressão logística permitiram evidenciar, no Estudo 3, uma correlação significativa entre os três traços de personalidade. O Maquiavelismo e a Psicopatia apresentaram o maior valor correlacional. Existe uma relação positiva entre os altos traços de Maquiavelismo e Psicopatia e a decisão de manipular resultados. Em relação aos níveis, os traços moderados e altos do Maquiavelismo apresentaram maior aproximação. Já os traços da Psicopatia baixo e moderado demonstraram maior aproximação, permitindo a inferência de que o traço moderado apresenta menor tendência de os gestores decidirem pela manipulação de resultados. O Narcisismo não revelou diferenças entre médias, não sendo possível analisar os seus níveis. O estudo confirmou a relação positiva entre a interação dos três tipos de personalidade que compõem o Dark Triad e a decisão de manipular resultados. Os resultados levam à defesa da tese proposta de que a disposição de manipular resultados para a maximização de ganhos pessoais e empresariais está associada à interação de Maquiavelismo, Narcisismo e Psicopatia e aos níveis (baixo, moderado e alto) de pelo menos um desses traços que compõem o Dark Triad. Assim, este estudo contribui teórica, prática e metodologicamente para a área contábil, sobretudo para o campo da contabilidade comportamental, por discutir uma temática psicológica inovadora no contexto nacional; oferecer às empresas insights para o reconhecimento dos aspectos positivos e negativos em gestores dotados desses traços, no sentido de acompanhar mais de perto suas ações, para se tentar evitar prejuízos organizacionais; desperta para a análise de fatores comportamentais como potenciais influenciadores da tomada de decisão de manipular resultados; além de apresenta à sociedade brasileira a possibilidade de conhecimento, reconhecimento e convivência com indivíduos que exteriorizam esses traços de personalidade. / This study seeks to analyze the Dark Triad personality traits in the decision to manipulate earnings in order to maximize personal and business earnings. For the theoretical discussion, it was considered the Dark Triad of personality, composed by non-pathological traits of Narcissism, psychopathy and Machiavellianism and also, the opportunistic use of the financial-accounting information, regarding the decision to manipulate earnings, grounded on the Upper Echelon Theory. A theoretical and empirical methodology was employed. Data were collected using survey questionnaire divided into four parts: demographic profile, personality measurement tool - Short Dark Triad (SD3), a Business Simulation with assertive decision-making with a focus on financial maneuvers and a game in the Lottery format. In order to adapt the SD3 for use in Brazil and to test three formulated hypotheses, three studies were carried out. The Study 1 used a sample of 30 accountancy students; Study 2 used a sample of 131 MBA students in the area of Financial Management. Both studies were conducted as a preliminary test to adjust the questionnaire to Study 3. Data for Study 3 were collected from 263 managers, which have had more than six months of experience. Descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, hypotheses tests and logistical regression evidenced a significant correlation among the three personality traits. The highest correlation was found between Machiavellianism and psychopathy. There was a significant positive relationship between high incidence of Machiavellianism and psychopathy traits and the decision to manipulate earnings. Regarding the levels, the high and moderate traits of Machiavellianism showed greater approximation. On the other hand, moderate and low traits of Psychopathy showed greater approximation, allowing for the inference that the moderate trait indicates a smaller tendency of managers deciding to manipulate the earnings. Narcissism did not reveal differences between the averages, which made it impossible to analyze its levels. The study confirmed the positive relationship between the interaction of the three Dark Triad personality traits and the decision to manipulate earnings. Therefore, the results confirm the proposed thesis that the decision to manipulate earnings to maximize personal and business earnings is associated with the interaction of Machiavellianism, Narcissism and psychopathy and the levels (low, moderate and high) of, at least, one of these Dark Triad traits. This study contributes theoretically, practically and methodologically to the field of Behavioral accounting. It discussed an innovative psychological theme in the national environment. The knowledge of the attributes of these personality traits may offer businesses insights to recognize the benefits and drawbacks of living with these types of managers and following more closely their actions, especially, to avoid organizational damage. Recognizing these traits in the others and in one\'s self may promote a more pleasant coexistence, by learning to deal with exteriorized behavior without the purpose of making these individual characteristics public out of respect for the involved ethical questions.

Relational aggression encompasses behaviour meant to hurt others by destroying their friendships and reputation (Crick & Grotpeter, 1995). As peer relationships take on greater importance in early adolescence, relational aggression becomes more accepted and prevalent, yet perceived as equally or more harmful to its targets than physical aggression. The present study explored whether reactive and proactive subtypes of relational aggression were associated with an inability to empathize with others, regulate emotional states, and hold attitudes that it is acceptable to manipulate and harm others. Empathy, emotion regulation, and Machiavellianism’s roles in predicting reactive and proactive relational aggression was examined using Crick and Dodge’s (1994) reformulated Social Information-Processing Theory’s framework. Reactive relational aggression was expected to be associated with low empathy and high emotion dysreglation. Proactive relational aggression was expected to be predicted by high empathy, low emotion dysregulation, and high Machiavellianism. Low empathy was expected to predict overt aggression indices. One hundred and thirty-three children (73 females, 60 males, Mage = 12.84 years) in grades 6 through 8 from five schools in a public Ontario schoolboard were recruited. Caregivers completed a measure of their child’s emotions and behaviours (The Emotion Regulation Checklist; Shields & Cicchetti, 1995). Participating students completed four self-report measures assessing relational and overt aggression (Children’s Social Behaviour Scale – Self-Report; Crick & Grotpeter, 1995), proactive and reactive subtypes of aggression (Little, Jones, Henrich, & Hawley, 2003), empathy (Interpersonal Reactivity Index; Davis, 1980), and Machiavellianism (Kiddie Mach Scale; Christie & Geis, 1970) during one 60 minute session. Empathy, Machiavellianism, and emotion dysregulation scores were associated with total, reactive, and proactive relational aggression scores. When contrasting subtypes of aggression were controlled, however, these emotional and cognitive variables did not predict total and reactive relational aggression. There was a non-significant trend for higher levels of empathy to predict proactive relational aggression. Low empathy significantly predicted total and reactive overt aggression indices. Machiavellianism predicted reactive and proactive overt aggression. Emotion regulation was not a significant predictor in analyses. Results provide support for the role of Machiavellianism and empathy in relational aggression, particularly proactive or goal-oriented instances.

In five studies (total N = 1300) we developed and validated a Polish version of the Dirty Dozen measure (DTDD-P) that measures the three traits of the Dark Triad, Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and narcissism. We detail the presence and stability of a bifactor structure of the 12 items and present evidence for good internal consistency and test–retest reliability. We examine the nomological network surrounding the Dark Triad and show that both the Dark Triad total score and the subscales have acceptable validity. We also present evidence on the Dark Triad and moral behavior. Dark Triad predicts utilitarian moral choice (e.g., approval for sacrificing somebody's life for the sake of saving others) and this link is mediated by low empathic concern. In total, our results suggest that the Polish Dirty Dozen—Parszywa Dwunastka—is valid, stable, and useful for the study of lingering puzzles in the literature.

No description available.

The purpose of the present study was to demonstrate behavioral differences between high Machiavellians (MACHS) as described by Christie (1970a) and those exhibiting the aberrant self-promotion pattern proposed by Gustafson and Ritzer (1995). The aberrant self-promoter (ASP) was defined as having a high degree of narcissism, combined with a low need to appear conventionally "nice" along with pronounced antisocial behavior. The Machiavellian was described as one who is capable of manipulating others to obtain some advantage. The situation that was proposed differentiate the two groups is a legislature game which involves bargaining and forming alliances. ASPs and Machiavellians were identified by the same procedures used by Gustafson and Ritzer (1995). In Condition 1, the issues being voted upon were value laden in the sense that they were designed to elicit an affective response. In Condition 2, the issues were value and affect neutral. The experimental subjects were undergraduates enrolled in psychology courses. It was predicted that because Machiavellians are better at separating affect from rational thought than are either ASPs or non-Mach non-ASPs, Machiavellians would perform better than either of the other groups in the value laden issues condition. It was also predicted that participants would rate aberrant self-promoters less favorably than other players on trust, respect, and likability due to the ASPs ineffectiveness in bargaining and forming alliances. Two repeated measures ANOVAs were performed to test the hypotheses. Results supported only the last prediction regarding likability. Reasons for these findings and implications were discussed / Master of Science

This study investigated the relationships between two personality variables, Machiavellianism (i.e., manipulativeness) and locus of control as well as the combined relationships of these two variables with a third, affective variable, job satisfaction. A sample of 225 public school secondary level administrators were given the Mach IV Scale, the Mach V Scale, the Facet-free Job Satisfaction Questionnaire, the Rotter I-E Scale and a bibliographic personal status questionnaire. The literature reveals that high Machs outperform low Machs When three personal and situational conditions occur. Moreover, Mach orientation correlates with external locus of control and low job satisfaction. All three of the predicted relationships were found to be significantly related as hypothesized. / Ed. D.

This study aims to theoretically investigate the concepts of the interpersonal actions 'to motivate' and 'to manipulate' and also to examine possible differences and similarities between the two. The method used is a conceptual review based on the Self-Determination Theory, related to the concept of motivation, and Machiavellianism, related to the concept of manipu-lation. The results show that 'to motivate', according to Self-Determination Theory, concerns influencing the intrinsic or extrinsic motivation, where intrinsic motivation is related to the feeling of self-determination, inner locus of causality, being or feeling competent and exercise activities for the pleasure of it, whilst extrinsic motivation is related to external locus of cau-sality, external pressure and engaging in activities for the purpose of reaching a goal or re-ward. 'To manipulate' is according to Machiavellianism based on the manipulator doing whatever it takes to reach a certain goal and gain something for himself with no regard of what methods being used. The comparative analysis showed that the crucial difference in how an behaviour is interpreted as either, or both, motivating and manipulative is based on who is doing the interpretation, what information she has and which aspects that are focused on.