Machiavellian people’s success results from monitoring their partners

This study is aimed at exploring the decision making processes underlying the Machiavellians’ exploitation of others in a social dilemma situation. Participants (N = 150) took part in a competitive version of public goods game (PGG), and filled out the Mach-IV and TCI test. Our results showed that high Mach people gained a higher amount of money by the end of the game, compared to low Machs. The regression analyses have revealed that Machiavellian persons were more sensitive to the signals of social context and took the behavior of their partners into consideration to a greater extent when making a decision than did non-Machiavellians. We discuss the Machiavellian players’ success in terms of personality and situational factors, and suggest that Machiavellian people may have certain cognitive and social skills that enable them to properly adapt to the challenges of environmental circumstances.

► A comparison of high Mach (HM) and low Mach (LM) individuals in a competitive game.
► Personality characteristics (TCI), game strategy and successfulness explored.
► HM persons gained more profit than LM individuals.
► HM persons were more sensitive to the signals of social context than LMs.
► Social skills underlying the Machiavellians’ success.