Manipulation and Instability: Exploring Machiavellianism and Borderline Personality Similarities and Differences

• Bruno Bonfá-Araujo ^[1] ; Christian Blötner ^[2] ; András Láng ^[3] ; Julie Aitken Schermer ^[1]
  1. [1] University of Western Ontario

     University of Western Ontario

     Canadá

     
  2. [2] University of Hagen

     University of Hagen

     Kreisfreie Stadt Hagen, Alemania

     
  3. [3] University of Pecs

     University of Pecs

     Hungría

     

  Mostrar afiliaciones +
• Localización: EJIHPE: European Journal of Investigation in Health, Psychology and Education, ISSN 2174-8144, ISSN-e 2254-9625, Vol. 15, Nº. 9, 2025, págs. 185-185
• Idioma: inglés
• DOI: 10.3390/ejihpe15090185
• Enlaces
  • Texto completo
• Resumen

  • Machiavellianism and borderline personality are known for influencing interpersonal dynamics through manipulative behaviors. Machiavellianism is characterized by calculated, egotistic, and callous manipulation, while borderline personality involves emotionally driven impulsive manipulation due to instability and fear of abandonment. In this study, we explored the relationships of the two constructs with respect to broader personality constructs. Adult participants (N = 1011; Mage = 49.08 years, SD = 17.15) completed two measures each for Machiavellianism and borderline personality and a single inventory measuring the Big Five personality traits. Latent Profile Analysis (LPA) was used to investigate subgroups within the data. Machiavellianism was more strongly negatively associated with agreeableness and conscientiousness, while borderline personality traits were more strongly linked to neuroticism (more positively), agreeableness, and conscientiousness (both more negatively). Two distinct latent profiles emerged. Based on these findings, we suggest that Machiavellianism can align with either adaptive or maladaptive functioning, whereas a combination of Machiavellianism and borderline personality traits underscores a tendency towards manipulative behaviors with emotional instability. We suggest that future research build upon our findings by investigating concrete manipulative acts predicted by borderline personality and Machiavellianism.

• Referencias bibliográficas
  • Aldousari, S. S., & Ickes, W. (2021). How is Machiavellianism related to locus of control?: A meta-analytic review. Personality and Individual...
  • Alfieri, M., Leucci, A. C., Bortolotti, B., Gibiino, S., Lia, L., Pelizza, L., & Menchetti, M. (2025). Dissociation and dysfunctional...
  • American Psychiatric Association. (2022). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). text rev. American Psychiatric...
  • Ashton, M. C., Lee, K., & Son, C. (2000). Honesty as the sixth factor of personality: Correlations with Machiavellianism, primary psychopathy,...
  • Blötner, C., Dinić, B. M., Dagnall, N., Plouffe, R., Papageorgiou, K. A., Krstić, P., & Denovan, A. (2025). The Machiavellian approach...
  • Bonfá-Araujo, B., & Schermer, J. A. (2024). Unveiling the fragile façade: A scoping review and meta-analysis of the Vulnerable Dark Triad....
  • Champely, S., Ekstrom, C., Dalgaard, P., Gill, J., Weibelzahl, S., Anandkumar, A., Ford, C., Volcic, R., & De Rosario, H. (2020). pwr:...
  • Christie, R., & Geis, F. L. (1970). Studies in machiavellianism. Academic Press.
  • Collison, K. L., Vize, C. E., Miller, J. D., & Lynam, D. R. (2018). Development and preliminary validation of a five factor model measure...
  • Corral, S., & Calvete, E. (2000). Machiavellianism: Dimensionality of the Mach IV and its relation to self-monitoring in a Spanish sample....
  • DeShong, H. L., Mullins-Sweatt, S. N., Miller, J. D., Widiger, T. A., & Lynam, D. R. (2016). Development of a short form of the five-factor...
  • Distel, M. A., Trull, T. J., Willemsen, G., Vink, J. M., Derom, C. A., Lynskey, M., Martin, N. G., & Boomsma, D. I. (2009). The five-factor...
  • Fehr, B., Samsom, D., & Paulhus, D. L. (1992). The construct of Machiavellianism: Twenty years later. Advances in Personality Assessment,...
  • Fossati, A., Borroni, S., Eisenberg, N., & Maffei, C. (2007). Relations of proactive and reactive dimensions of aggression to overt and...
  • John, O. P., & Srivastava, S. (1999). The Big Five Trait taxonomy: History, measurement, and theoretical perspectives. In L. A. Pervin,...
  • Jonason, P. K., & Webster, G. D. (2012). A protean approach to social influence: Dark Triad personalities and social influence tactics....
  • Jones, D. N., & Figueredo, A. J. (2013). The core of darkness: Uncovering the heart of the Dark Triad. European Journal of Personality,...
  • Jones, D. N., & Mueller, S. M. (2022). Is Machiavellianism dead or dormant? The perils of researching a secretive construct. Journal of...
  • Jones, D. N., & Paulhus, D. L. (2009). Machiavellianism. In M. R. Leary, & R. H. Hoyle (Eds.), Handbook of individual differences...
  • Kassambara, A. (2023). rstatix: Pipe-friendly framework for basic statistical tests (R package version 0.7.2) [Computer software]. Available...
  • Láng, A. (2015). Borderline personality organization predicts Machiavellian interpersonal tactics. Personality and Individual Differences,...
  • Leichsenring, F., Heim, N., Leweke, F., Spitzer, C., Steinert, C., & Kernberg, O. F. (2023). Borderline personality disorder: A review....
  • Links, P. S., Heslegrave, R., & Reekum, R. V. (1999). Impulsivity: Core aspect of borderline personality disorder. Journal of Personality...
  • Miller, J. D., Dir, A., Gentile, B., Wilson, L., Pryor, L. R., & Campbell, W. K. (2010). Searching for a vulnerable dark triad: Comparing...
  • Monaghan, C., Bizumic, B., & Sellbom, M. (2016). The role of Machiavellian views and tactics in psychopathology. Personality and Individual...
  • Monaghan, C., Bizumic, B., & Sellbom, M. (2018). Nomological network of two-dimensional Machiavellianism. Personality and Individual Differences,...
  • Morey, L. C. (1991). Personality assessment inventory. Psychological Assessment Resources.
  • Munson, K. A., Janney, C. A., Goodwin, K., & Nagalla, M. (2022). Cultural representations of borderline personality disorder. Frontiers...
  • Muthén, B. O. (1989). Latent variable modeling in heterogeneous populations. Psychometrika, 54, 557–585.
  • Nasab, A. S., Yusefi, R., & Yagubi, H. (2023). Comparison of personality organization in people with dark and bright personality traits....
  • Nylund, K. L., Asparouhov, T., & Muthén, B. O. (2007). Deciding on the number of classes in latent class analysis and growth mixture modeling:...
  • Nylund-Gibson, K., & Choi, A. Y. (2018). Ten frequently asked questions about latent class analysis. Translational Issues in Psychological...
  • O’Boyle, E. H., Forsyth, D. R., Banks, G. C., & McDaniel, M. A. (2012). A meta-analysis of the Dark Triad and work behavior: A social...
  • Paulhus, D. L., & Williams, K. M. (2002). The dark triad of personality: Narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy. Journal of Research...
  • Rauthmann, J. F., & Will, T. (2011). Proposing a multidimensional Machiavellianism conceptualization. Social Behavior and Personality:...
  • R Core Team. (2020). R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing. Available online: https://www.R-project.org/...
  • Rosenberg, J. M., Beymer, P. N., Anderson, D. J., Van Lissa, C. J., & Schmidt, J. A. (2018). tidyLPA: An R package to easily carry out...
  • Saulsman, L. M., & Page, A. C. (2004). The five-factor model and personality disorder empirical literature: A meta-analytic review. Clinical...
  • Sharp, C., Wright, A. G., Fowler, J. C., Frueh, B. C., Allen, J. G., Oldham, J., & Clark, L. A. (2015). The structure of personality pathology:...
  • Sinha, P., Calfee, C. S., & Delucchi, K. L. (2021). Practitioner’s guide to latent class analysis: Methodological considerations and common...
  • Streit, F., Witt, S. H., Awasthi, S., Foo, J. C., Jungkunz, M., Frank, J., Colodro-Conde, L., Hindley, G., Smeland, O. B., Maslahati, T.,...
  • Trull, T. J., Widiger, T. A., Lynam, D. R., & Costa, P. T. (2003). Borderline personality disorder from the perspective of general personality...
  • Wickham, H. (2016). ggplot2: Elegant graphics for data analysis. Springer.
  • Wickham, H., François, R., Henry, L., & Müller, K. (2023). dplyr: A grammar of data manipulation (R package version 1.1.3) [Computer software]....
  • Wickham, H., & Girlich, M. (2023). tidyr: Tidy messy data (R package version 1.3.0) [Computer software]. Available online: https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=tidyr...
  • Williams, E. J., & Muir, K. (2019). A model of trust manipulation: Exploiting communication mechanisms and authenticity cues to deceive....