The current study investigated the influence of Machiavellianism, a personality trait characterized by a manipulative interpersonal style and willingness to exploit others (Christie & Geis, 1970), on three areas of sexual behavior. Men (N = 90) and women (N = 192) aged 18–81 years (M = 25.82, SD = 9.85) completed the Mach IV (Christie & Geis, 1970), YSEX Questionnaire (Meston & Buss, 2007), Sexual Deception Scale (Marelich, Lundquist, Painter, & Mechanic, 2008) and Intentions Towards Infidelity Scale (Jones, Olderbak, & Figueredo, 2011). Those with high levels of Machiavellianism were more likely to engage in sexual behavior for physical reasons, goal attainment and insecurity. In particular, Machiavellian men and women endorsed stress reduction, experience seeking, resources, social status, revenge, utilitarian reasons, boosting self-esteem, duty/pressure, and mate guarding as motivations for sexual behavior. Machiavellianism was also a significant predictor of each form of sexual deception investigated (blatant lying, self-serving and avoiding confrontation) and intentions to engage in infidelity. Sex did not moderate the influence of Machiavellianism on sexual behavior.
Machiavellianism is a personality trait associated with cynicism, distrust and a willingness to exploit others (Christie and Geis, 1970 and Vecchio and Sussman, 1991). Previous research demonstrates that Machiavellianism is associated with a greater number of sexual partners (McHoskey, 2001) and the use of strategies intended to avoid or reduce relationship commitment (Jonason & Buss, 2012). Thus, it is often argued that the Machiavellian interpersonal style facilitates a short-term mating strategy and thus confers an evolutionary advantage (Buss, 2009 and Jonason et al., 2012). However, Machiavellianism influences a range of relationship types, suggesting that Machiavellian men and women are flexible and opportunistic (Fehr et al., 1992 and Furnham et al., 2013), and decisions to engage in short or long-term relationships are dependent on the specific rewards available. The current study extends our understanding of Machiavellianism in the context of sexual behavior, and investigates the relationships between Machiavellianism, motivations for sexual activity, sexual deception and infidelity.
