How Machiavellian Are You?
Explore your tendency toward strategic influence, persuasion, and calculated social behavior. Answer 8 questions about how you navigate relationships. Takes 2 minutes!
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About This Test
What It Measures
This test measures Machiavellianism—one component of the Dark Triad personality constellation (alongside narcissism and psychopathy). Named after Niccolò Machiavelli's political treatise, it evaluates strategic, calculating, and manipulative social behavior. The scale assesses core features including viewing relationships through a lens of utility, adapting self-presentation for advantage, thinking several steps ahead in social situations, maintaining alliances for strategic purposes, and prioritizing long-term gain over short-term honesty. Unlike impulsive manipulation, Machiavellianism involves deliberate, planned social strategy.
How It Works
You'll respond to 8 statements about how you navigate relationships, present yourself, think about alliances, and approach social strategy. Your responses create a profile ranging from very low (genuine, unstrategic, authenticity-first) to very high (viewing interactions as games, constant image management, relationships evaluated primarily for utility). The test distinguishes between healthy social awareness and calculated manipulation that prevents genuine connection. High Machiavellianism correlates with career advancement in competitive fields but also with relationship difficulties and distrust.
When to Use This Test
Take this test if you're curious whether your social awareness crosses into manipulation, if others have suggested you're calculating or inauthentic, if you recognize that you view relationships strategically but wonder if it's normal, or if you want to understand where you fall on the Machiavellian spectrum. This is a self-assessment tool based on personality research, not a clinical diagnosis—it reveals patterns in how you approach social interactions and whether strategic thinking has become so dominant that it prevents intimacy.