Social Perception as a Function of Machiavellianism

Abstract

Using a hypothetical situation describing a stimulus person who succeeds or fails to win a desired promotion through merit or influence, we tested the hypotheses that greater ethical sensitivity in their evaluation of the stimulus person would be displayed by low compared with high Machiavellians and by female compared with male subjects. The experiment employed a 2 × 2 × 2× 2 (Subject's Machiavellanism × Subject's Sex × Stimulus Person's Merit vs. Influence × Stimulus Person's Success vs. Failure) factorial design, with 10 subjects per cell. The dependent measures were ratings of the stimulus person on intelligence, morality, and likability. The stimulus person with merit was rated more favorably on all three dimensions than the person with influence. Female subjects showed a greater ethical sensitivity in their evaluations compared with male subjects. The expectation that low would show greater ethical sensitivity than high Machiavellians was supported only in the case of female subjects; a somewhat opposite finding was obtained in the case of male subjects.