Machiavellian Individuals’ Reciprocation Tend to be Smaller in a Trust Game

Abstract

Machiavellianism is a combination of a behavioral strategy characterized by the tendency to manipulate and exploit others, and a worldview resting upon cynicism and opportunism. The aim of our study was to explore the extent to which highly Machiavellian people tend to trust others and reciprocate favors. To model everyday relationships, we used the so-called Trust Game: a two-person experimental situation in which participants took part with a stranger as a partner. Eighty university students participated in the study, and played for real money. Their inclination to Machiavellian behavior was measured by the Mach IV questionnaire. Our results showed that there was no significant difference in the deposits made by the first players between high and low Machs; as first players, high Machs tended to trust the other player to the same degree than low Mach participants. We also found that high Machs as second players are less likely than low Mach participants to reciprocate the favors of the other player. From the results, it might be inferred that Machiavellians make decisions in cold blood; they do not trust others and reciprocate rather moderately, regardless of the amount of money they have received from the partner.