Machiavellianism and Self-Disclosure

Summary

Three separate experiments (total n = 109 male university students) eliciting actual, intentional, and simulated data tested the hypothesis that Ss characterized as Machiavellian would adopt a pattern of self-disclosure calculated to increase the probability of personal success, while non-Machiavellians would not. Ss self-disclosed or indicated topics on which they would disclose to a bogus other who was described as either a future (a) partner or (b) opponent. Results indicated that High Machiavellians disclosed or agreed to disclose significantly more information in cooperative as compared to competitive conditions in all three experiments. However, Low Machiavellians disclosed more under competition than cooperation in the actual disclosure experiment, while yielding no reliable differences between conditions in the intentional and simulation experiments.