“The Devil in Disguise”: A Test of Machiavellianism Instruments (the Mach-IV, the Machiavellian Personality Scale, and the Five Factor Machiavellianism Inventory)

Beata  Grabovac; Bojana M. Dinić

doi:10.19090/pp.v15i3.2391

Authors

Beata Grabovac Department of Social Sciences and Humanities, Hungarian Language Teacher Training Faculty, University of Novi Sad, Serbia https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9963-5668
Bojana M. Dinić Department of Psychology, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Novi Sad, Serbia https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5492-2188

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.19090/pp.v15i3.2391

Keywords:

Machiavellianism, Mach-IV, Machiavellian Personality Scale, Five Factor Machiavellianism Inventory, validity

Abstract

The main aim of this study was to test the convergent, discriminant, and criterion validity of the Serbian adaptations of three Machiavellianism instruments (the Mach-IV, the short version of the Machiavellian Personality Scale – MPS-short, and the Five Factor Machiavellianism Inventory – FFMI) based on their relations with HEXACO traits, distress aspects (anxiety, depression, and stress), and emotion regulation strategies (suppression and reappraisal). The sample included 195 participants (80% were women) from Serbia, aged between 18 and 60 years, and the most of them were students. The results showed that the Mach-IV and the MPS-short are mutually more similar to each other and their main negative correlate is Honesty-Humility, while the FFMI appears to be distant from the other instruments and its main positive correlates are Extraversion and Conscientiousness and a negative one is Emotionality. Furthermore, the Mach-IV and MPS-short showed positive relations with distress aspects and non-adaptive emotion regulation (suppression), while the FFMI showed opposite patterns of relations. Since the FFMI captures the most items and facets, it explained the most variance of distress and regulation strategies, but the Mach-IV and the MPS-short, especially its amorality facet, showed significant incremental contribution in the explanation of anxiety, stress, and suppression. We discuss implications of the use of each of the three instruments.

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