Can You Improve Machiavellianism? Latest Research Explains

Machiavellianism improvement research has become one of the most compelling areas in modern personality psychology — and for good reason. For a long time, many people assumed that manipulative personality traits were simply fixed, unchangeable parts of who someone is. But a growing body of research suggests that is not the whole story. Studies indicate that with the right support, self-awareness, and consistent effort, individuals who score high on Machiavellian traits can meaningfully shift their patterns of thinking and relating to others.

This article draws on the research paper Understanding Machiavellianism: Traits, Psychological Perspectives, and Implications for Psychotherapy to explore what Machiavellianism actually is, why manipulative behaviors develop in the first place, and — most importantly — what science tells us about the realistic prospects for change. Whether you recognize these traits in yourself or someone close to you, understanding the psychology behind them is the essential first step.

Once again, personality researcher and author of Villain Encyclopedia, Tokiwa (@etokiwa999), will provide the explanation.
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What Is Machiavellianism? Understanding the Core Personality Traits

Machiavellianism is a personality trait characterized by a strategic, manipulative approach to dealing with other people. The term originates from Niccolò Machiavelli, the 16th-century Italian political philosopher whose writings described how rulers could maintain power through cunning and calculated deception. In modern psychology, however, the term refers not to a political philosophy but to a measurable pattern of personality traits that researchers can study and assess.

People who score high on Machiavellianism tend to view interpersonal relationships primarily as tools — resources to be used rather than connections to be valued. Research suggests that their core motivations center on personal gain, and they are generally willing to use dishonesty or manipulation to achieve their goals. Crucially, this does not necessarily mean they are incapable of understanding other people’s feelings. Rather, as we will explore below, they tend to understand emotions intellectually without being moved by them emotionally.

The 3 most consistently identified characteristics of Machiavellianism in psychological literature are:

• A tendency to deceive and manipulate others for personal benefit — prioritizing self-interest over honesty or fairness
• Low concern for conventional morality — a flexible or cynical attitude toward rules, ethics, and social norms
• A cynical worldview about human nature — a deep-seated belief that most people act purely out of selfish motives

It is also important to understand where Machiavellianism fits within the broader landscape of personality research. It is 1 of the 3 so-called dark triad traits — alongside narcissism and psychopathy. All 3 tend to be associated with behaviors that cause harm to others, but each has distinct psychological roots and expressions. Machiavellianism in particular tends to be more calculated and strategic than impulsive, which distinguishes it somewhat from psychopathy. Understanding these distinctions matters enormously for anyone thinking about personality change research, because the pathways to improvement may differ between the 3 traits.

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The Psychological Roots of Manipulative Personality Behavior

Research suggests that Machiavellian behaviors are rarely random — they typically grow out of a deeply held cynical worldview that develops, in many cases, from early life experiences. At the core of this worldview is a conviction that other people are fundamentally untrustworthy and self-serving. Psychologists sometimes call this an “exploitative cynicism” — the belief that because everyone else is looking out for themselves, the only rational response is to do the same, and to do it more effectively than others.

This belief system tends to generate a predictable set of behaviors:

• Preemptive deception — lying or withholding information to protect one’s position before anyone else can take advantage
• Emotional manipulation — using other people’s feelings as leverage to achieve desired outcomes
• Instrumental friendship — maintaining relationships primarily because of what the other person can provide, rather than for genuine connection

Where does this cynical worldview come from? Studies indicate that disrupted early attachment relationships play a significant role. Children who grow up in environments characterized by emotional neglect, inconsistent parenting, verbal hostility, or a lack of emotional warmth tend to develop a defensive stance toward other people. When trust is repeatedly broken in childhood, learning to trust others as an adult becomes a much steeper climb. This early emotional environment appears to lay the groundwork for the avoidant, suspicious orientation that research associates with high Machiavellianism.

This is a critically important point for machiavellianism improvement research: because these traits are rooted in learned beliefs and emotional defenses rather than fixed neurological wiring, they carry genuine potential for change. The defensive worldview that once served a protective function can, with appropriate support, be gradually examined, challenged, and revised.

The Empathy Gap: Why Cognitive and Emotional Empathy Are So Different

One of the most important — and frequently misunderstood — findings in research on dark triad traits is that Machiavellian individuals are not necessarily poor at reading other people. In fact, studies suggest they can be quite skilled at it. The critical distinction lies in what they do with that understanding.

Psychologists distinguish between 2 fundamentally different types of empathy:

• Cognitive empathy — the ability to understand what another person is thinking or feeling from an intellectual perspective; a kind of perspective-taking that does not require emotional involvement
• Affective (emotional) empathy — the capacity to actually feel what another person is experiencing; to be emotionally moved by their joy, pain, or distress

Research consistently indicates that individuals high in Machiavellianism tend to score relatively well on measures of cognitive empathy while scoring significantly lower on affective empathy. In practical terms, this means they can accurately identify that someone is upset, frightened, or hopeful — but they do not feel a corresponding emotional pull to respond with care or compassion. Instead, that understanding is more likely to be filed away as strategically useful information.

This gap between knowing and feeling is what enables many of the behaviors associated with a manipulative personality. Because affective empathy tends to act as a brake on harmful behavior — generating guilt, regret, or discomfort when we hurt someone — its absence makes it easier to pursue self-interested goals at others’ expense. Developing emotional empathy is therefore one of the most promising targets in empathy development work aimed at reducing Machiavellian behavior patterns.

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Alexithymia and Low Emotionality: The Inner Emotional Landscape of Machiavellianism

Research suggests that high Machiavellianism is frequently associated with a psychological condition known as alexithymia — a difficulty identifying, describing, and processing one’s own emotions. Alexithymia is not a rare or extreme condition; it exists on a spectrum, and many people experience mild versions of it without ever having a name for it. But in individuals with strong Machiavellian traits, it tends to be more pronounced and more consequential.

The typical signs of alexithymia include:

• Difficulty distinguishing between different emotional states — for example, struggling to tell the difference between anxiety and anger, or sadness and fatigue
• A preference for concrete, action-oriented thinking over reflection on feelings or inner experiences
• Limited emotional vocabulary — finding it hard to find words to describe what one is feeling, even when strong emotions are present

This inner emotional bluntness has important consequences. When a person cannot clearly sense or articulate their own emotional states, they are also poorly positioned to recognize or respond meaningfully to the emotional states of others. The link between emotional self-awareness and empathy development is well-established in psychological research: you generally cannot give to others what you have never learned to recognize in yourself.

Alongside alexithymia, research on dark triad traits consistently highlights low emotionality as a key characteristic. Emotionality, in personality psychology, refers to the strength and frequency of emotional reactions — how readily a person feels anxiety, sadness, attachment, or concern for others. People who score low on emotionality tend to appear calm and self-contained, but this surface composure often masks a reduced capacity for the kind of emotional resonance that genuine relationships require. Building emotional intelligence — the ability to recognize, understand, and manage emotions in both oneself and others — is widely considered a cornerstone of any meaningful approach to improving Machiavellian personality tendencies.

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Relationship Patterns: Avoidant Attachment and the Difficulty of Trust

A consistent finding in personality change research is that individuals high in Machiavellianism tend to exhibit what attachment theorists call an avoidant attachment style — a deeply ingrained tendency to keep emotional distance from others and to resist depending on or trusting anyone fully. This pattern typically traces back to early relational experiences in which closeness felt unsafe, unpredictable, or ultimately disappointing.

In practice, avoidant attachment in adulthood tends to look like this:

• Engaging with others primarily on a transactional basis — investing in relationships when there is a clear benefit, withdrawing when there is not
• Avoiding emotional disclosure — keeping conversations at a surface level and deflecting when topics become personal or vulnerable
• Interpreting others’ kindness with suspicion — automatically wondering what someone “really wants” when they offer help or affection

This suspicious stance toward others is self-reinforcing. When you expect people to betray you, you tend to relate to them in ways that eventually produce exactly that outcome — pushing people away, forming shallow bonds, or using people before they can use you. The predicted betrayal becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, which in turn confirms the original cynical worldview.

For narcissism and machiavellianism research, this pattern is particularly significant because it directly affects the therapeutic process. Trust is the foundation of almost all effective psychological treatment. When a person reflexively mistrusts even the professional trying to help them, the very mechanism meant to produce change becomes difficult to access. This does not make improvement impossible — but it does mean that building a safe, consistent therapeutic relationship is especially important and may need to happen slowly, over an extended period of time.

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Machiavellianism Improvement Research: What the Evidence Says About Change

The most encouraging finding to emerge from machiavellianism improvement research in recent years is that personality traits — even those associated with the dark triad — are not fixed for life. Decades of longitudinal personality research suggest that traits shift naturally across the lifespan, often in a prosocial direction (toward greater warmth, conscientiousness, and agreeableness) as people mature. While Machiavellian traits tend to be more resistant to change than some other personality dimensions, they are not immovable.

Research identifies several promising pathways for meaningful improvement:

• Emotion-focused therapy — therapeutic approaches specifically designed to help individuals identify, tolerate, and process emotions they have historically avoided or suppressed. This directly targets the alexithymia and low emotionality that underpin much Machiavellian behavior.
• Mentalization-based treatment — a form of psychotherapy that builds the capacity to understand one’s own and others’ mental states more richly and accurately. This approach targets the cognitive-affective gap described above, helping people move from merely recognizing emotions in others to actually feeling moved by them.
• Schema therapy — a longer-term therapeutic approach that works with the deeply held beliefs and emotional patterns formed in early life. For individuals whose Machiavellian tendencies are rooted in childhood experiences of neglect or unpredictability, schema therapy may offer a way to address those roots directly.
• Consistent, boundaried therapeutic relationships — perhaps the single most important ingredient, research suggests, is the experience of a safe, reliable relationship over time. For someone who has learned that trust leads to disappointment, experiencing a relationship that consistently does not confirm that fear can itself be transformative.

Starting this work earlier in life tends to produce more substantial results, though studies indicate that meaningful change is possible in adulthood as well. The key factors appear to be sustained motivation, a willingness to tolerate emotional discomfort, and access to appropriately skilled professional support. Change is rarely rapid — personality patterns built over years do not dissolve overnight — but the direction of travel, for those who commit to the process, can be genuinely positive.

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Practical Steps: Building Empathy and Emotional Awareness Day by Day

While professional therapeutic support is strongly recommended for significant Machiavellian traits, research also points to a number of evidence-informed practices that individuals can begin integrating into daily life. These practices do not replace therapy, but they can meaningfully support the process of change — especially when sustained over time.

1. Practice Emotional Labeling Daily

Set aside a few minutes each day to ask yourself: “What am I feeling right now, and can I name it precisely?” Rather than settling for broad categories like “bad” or “fine,” push toward more specific terms — frustrated, disappointed, apprehensive, relieved. Research on emotional granularity (the ability to make fine-grained distinctions between emotional states) suggests that people who can precisely identify their emotions tend to manage them more effectively and show greater empathy toward others. This practice directly addresses alexithymia by building an emotional vocabulary from the inside out.

2. Deliberately Practice Perspective-Taking With Affective Engagement

Cognitive empathy is already a relative strength for many people with Machiavellian tendencies — the goal is to extend it into affective empathy. When you observe someone experiencing something difficult, don’t just ask “what are they thinking?” — also ask “what must that feel like in their body, in their chest, at this moment?” This deliberate bridging between intellectual understanding and felt sense can, over time, begin to close the empathy gap that characterizes this personality pattern. Fiction reading, documentary watching, and reflective conversation after conflict are all practical contexts in which to practice this.

3. Experiment Cautiously With Vulnerability

One of the most powerful antidotes to an avoidant attachment style is the gradual accumulation of experiences in which being slightly vulnerable did not result in the catastrophic outcome you feared. This does not mean oversharing or removing all protective boundaries at once. Rather, it means practicing small acts of authentic disclosure — sharing a genuine opinion, admitting uncertainty, or expressing appreciation — in low-stakes situations first. Each positive experience chips away incrementally at the conviction that opening up always leads to being hurt or used.

4. Challenge Cynical Automatic Thoughts

When the reflexive thought “they must have an ulterior motive” arises, practice pausing and genuinely asking: “What is the evidence for that? Is there an equally plausible explanation that doesn’t involve deception?” Over time, this cognitive restructuring approach — a core technique in cognitive-behavioral therapy — can begin to loosen the grip of the cynical worldview. It doesn’t require forcing yourself to be naively trusting; it simply means holding your assumptions a little more lightly and giving alternative explanations a fair hearing.

5. Leverage Existing Strengths Constructively

People with Machiavellian tendencies often possess genuine strengths — strategic thinking, perceptiveness about human behavior, self-discipline, and composure under pressure. Research on emotional intelligence suggests that these capacities are not inherently problematic; the question is how they are directed. Learning to use perceptiveness in the service of genuine understanding rather than exploitation, or applying strategic thinking to long-term relationship investment rather than short-term manipulation, can transform a liability into a genuine strength. Recognizing this possibility is itself motivating.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can Machiavellianism actually be improved, or is it a permanent personality trait?

Research suggests that while Machiavellian traits tend to be relatively stable, they are not permanently fixed. Longitudinal personality studies indicate that traits can shift meaningfully across the lifespan, especially with professional therapeutic support. Approaches targeting emotional awareness, affective empathy, and deeply held cynical beliefs about human nature show genuine promise. Change tends to be gradual rather than dramatic, but studies consistently indicate that sustained effort in the right direction produces real results over time.

What is the most effective therapy for improving Machiavellian personality traits?

No single therapy has been identified as universally superior, but research points to several promising approaches. Emotion-focused therapy directly addresses the difficulty with identifying and processing emotions. Mentalization-based treatment helps bridge the gap between cognitive and affective empathy. Schema therapy works on the early-life beliefs that underpin manipulative patterns. Most importantly, research indicates that the quality and safety of the therapeutic relationship itself — regardless of the specific method — may be one of the most powerful variables in treatment outcomes for this population.

What is the difference between Machiavellianism and narcissism?

Both Machiavellianism and narcissism are part of the dark triad of personality traits, but they differ in important ways. Narcissism tends to be driven by a grandiose self-image and a need for admiration, and the behaviors it generates often arise from entitlement rather than calculation. Machiavellianism, by contrast, is more fundamentally strategic — it is characterized by deliberate planning and a cynical worldview rather than impulsivity or self-aggrandizement. Research suggests the 2 traits frequently co-occur but have distinct psychological roots and somewhat different therapeutic needs.

Does age affect the likelihood of successfully improving Machiavellian traits?

Research on personality change generally suggests that earlier intervention tends to produce more substantial results, partly because younger people’s belief systems and behavioral habits are less entrenched. However, studies also indicate that meaningful personality change remains possible well into adulthood and even later in life. Motivation, access to skilled professional support, and willingness to engage with uncomfortable emotional material appear to be more important predictors of improvement than age alone. Starting the process at any age is significantly better than not starting at all.

How should I interact with someone in my family who displays Machiavellian traits?

Research on relationships with individuals high in dark triad traits consistently emphasizes the importance of clear, consistent personal boundaries. This does not mean cutting off the relationship entirely, but it does mean being clear about what behavior you will and will not accept. Expressing understanding for the underlying emotional vulnerabilities — without excusing harmful actions — tends to be more productive than confrontation or withdrawal. If the person shows any willingness to change, gently encouraging them to seek professional support is often the most helpful thing those around them can do.

What is the connection between Machiavellianism and emotional intelligence?

The relationship between Machiavellianism and emotional intelligence is complex. Research indicates that individuals high in Machiavellianism often score reasonably well on the cognitive components of emotional intelligence — particularly the ability to perceive and analyze emotions in others. However, they tend to score significantly lower on the components involving emotional resonance, genuine concern for others’ wellbeing, and using emotional awareness to build constructive relationships. Studies suggest that deliberately developing these latter capacities is one of the most promising avenues for reducing manipulative personality behaviors over time.

Can someone with Machiavellian traits have healthy long-term relationships?

Research suggests that with genuine effort and, ideally, professional support, individuals with Machiavellian tendencies can develop the capacity for more authentic and lasting relationships. The core requirements are a shift away from purely transactional thinking, a willingness to experience and tolerate emotional vulnerability, and the gradual development of affective empathy. These are not small asks — they involve changing patterns that may have been in place for decades. But studies on personality change indicate that the emotional systems involved in attachment and trust retain plasticity throughout life, meaning genuine connection remains a realistic goal for those who commit to the work.

Summary: What Machiavellianism Improvement Research Tells Us About the Path Forward

The picture that emerges from machiavellianism improvement research is one of genuine complexity but also genuine hope. Machiavellian traits — the tendency toward manipulation, the cynical worldview, the empathy gap, the difficulty with emotions — are not random character flaws. They are understandable psychological adaptations, often rooted in early experiences where trust was unsafe and self-protection was essential. Understanding that origin does not excuse the harm these patterns can cause, but it does make the path to change clearer and more navigable.

Change requires building what was never fully built: emotional self-awareness, affective empathy, and the capacity to trust. It requires tolerating discomfort, challenging deeply held beliefs, and — most likely — the support of a skilled professional over a sustained period. None of that is easy. But research consistently suggests it is possible. If you recognized yourself — or someone you care about — in any part of this article, consider this your invitation to explore where those patterns come from, and what a different way of relating to the world might feel like. Understanding your own personality profile in depth is a powerful first step: discover which traits shape the way you connect with others and where your genuine opportunities for growth lie.