Description: I am sure that you have at least heard the name Machiavelli (Niccolò Machiavelli 1469 – 1527) and I suspect you have some thoughts about what it means when someone is referred to as Machiavellian. Machiavelli’s book, The Prince, is typically seen as text or guide to navigating the treachery, deception and crime associated with royal court life and politics. His advice was about how to survive and NOT about how to be nice. I mention this to provide some context for the following: Within the personality psychology research domain Machiavellianism is discussed and researched as a trait or traits and a lot of research looks at the concept in relation to politics and other social behaviors. Now, given all this I was drawn to the title of the research article that is discussed in the article linked below. Th research looks at the relationship between scores on two Machiavellianism personality dimensions and the tendence to produce and the tenancy to be susceptible to bullshit in social interactions. How could that NOT be interesting! So, think for a moment about how the use of and reactions to bullshit might be influenced by place on Machiavellianism scales and then give the article linked below and its discussion of this research a read.
Source: Machiavellianism is associated with bullshitting according to new psychology research, Eric W. Dolan, PsyPost.
Date: Feb 3, 2022

Image by akenemonkey from Pixabay
Article Link: https://www.psypost.org/2022/10/machiavellianism-is-associated-with-bullshitting-according-to-new-psychology-research-64013
So, did the suggested relationships between Machiavellian approach and manipulative bullshit and Machiavellian avoidance and evasive bullshitting make sense to you? How about the results related to pseudo-profound bullshit and scientific bullshit? I have to say I was drawn into the detailed analyses of the different types of bullshit examined in the research discussed in the article. Perhaps this sort of research might contribute to a more productive understanding of our current complex and distressing political realities!
Questions for Discussion:
- What does Machiavellianism involve as a personality trait or traits?
- How is bullshit defined by the researchers whose work was discussed in the article?
- In what ways might this research or future research like it be applied in useful ways to our current social and political realities?
References (Read Further):
Littrell, S., Risko, E. F., & Fugelsang, J. A. (2021). ‘You can’t bullshit a bullshitter’(or can you?): Bullshitting frequency predicts receptivity to various types of misleading information. British journal of social psychology, 60(4), 1484-1505. Link
Littrell, S. (2021). The psychology of bullshitting: Measurement, correlates, and outcomes of the propensity to mislead others. Link
Turpin, M. H., Kara-Yakoubian, M., Walker, A. C., Walker, H. E., Fugelsang, J. A., & Stolz, J. A. (2021). Bullshit ability as an honest signal of intelligence. Evolutionary Psychology, 19(2), 14747049211000317. Link
Blötner, C., & Bergold, S. (2022). It is double pleasure to deceive the deceiver: Machiavellianism is associated with producing but not necessarily with falling for bullshit. British Journal of Social Psychology. Link
Littrell, S., Risko, E. F., & Fugelsang, J. A. (2019). The Bullshitting Frequency Scale: Development and psychometric properties. Link
Spicer, A. (2020). Playing the bullshit game: How empty and misleading communication takes over organizations. Organization Theory, 1(2), 2631787720929704. Link
Wilson, D. S., Near, D., & Miller, R. R. (1996). Machiavellianism: a synthesis of the evolutionary and psychological literatures. Psychological bulletin, 119(2), 285. Link
Rauthmann, J. F., & Will, T. (2011). Proposing a multidimensional Machiavellianism conceptualization. Social Behavior and Personality: an international journal, 39(3), 391-403. Link
Kessler, S. R., Bandelli, A. C., Spector, P. E., Borman, W. C., Nelson, C. E., & Penney, L. M. (2010). Re‐examining Machiavelli: A three‐dimensional model of Machiavellianism in the workplace. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 40(8), 1868-1896. Link