Machiavellianism in patients and their children.

The role of the family in the development of Machiavellianism was examined in this study. High- and low-Machiavellian sixth graders played a bluffing game. Their parents completed Machiavellian belief measures. The Machiavellianism of fathers and mothers was positively related to their children's success at deceiving others but not at seeing through others' attempts at deception. In addition, fathers' Machiavellianism was positively related to their children's Machiavellian beliefs. These data support a modeling hypothesis for the development of Machiavellianism. Unexpectedly, the children's own behaviors and beliefs were unrelated. This pattern of results suggests that a child's manipulative behaviors and beliefs are learned separately and only become consistent over time.