Machiavellianism, Adjustment, and Ethics
We examined self-reported relations between Machiavellianism (Christie & Geis, 1970) and measures related to adjustment, well-being, and ethical orientation. We predicted that Machiavellianism would be inversely associated with adjustment, and positively associated with a nihilistic, relativistic, and nonidealistic ethical orientation. With respect to adjustment and well-being our results indicate that Machiavellianism is inversely associated with scores on measures of self-esteem, subjective well-being, and hope but positively associated with powerlessness and nihilism. The results bearing on ethical orientation are consistent with outlined predictions.