Machiavellianism is a concept that refers to a distinction between strategies used to achieve certain ends and morality. The famous phrase “the end justifies the means” captures well the essence of this idea .

However, Machiavellianism need not be seen only as the political doctrine it originally was: this concept can also be used to explore people’s patterns of behavior and ultimately recognize certain characteristics that define Machiavellian people.

The Machiavellian personality in 8 features

There is no single criterion on which we can classify the different personality types: on the one hand we have the 8 personality types according to Carl Jung and the Myers-Briggs Indicator, which are so ambiguous in their categories and concepts that they are not useful, and on the other hand we have personality tests with greater scientific support such as the 16pf.

But beyond these personality tests that can be applied to anyone, it is possible to detect some trends and generalities that define very specific personality types. In this case we will see what the characteristics of Machiavellian people are .

1. Reification of people

Machiavellian people can be because they tend to be less empathetic than normal to other people. That is, they have certain features of sociopathy, although these do not have to be very extreme.

Because they do not connect emotionally with others, they can interact with others as if everyone who is not themselves were a resource to be squeezed at some point. This creates a division between subject (oneself) and object (others).

2. Ease of detecting others’ weaknesses

Machiavellian people are skilled at detecting the weaknesses of one’s personality and exploiting them to their advantage . For example, someone who values his or her public image extremely will probably be used by a Machiavellian person to ascend socially by befriending him or her, and at the same time will find key moments to force the other person to behave in a certain way in order to maintain his or her good social image without making it look like blackmail.

3. The trend towards manipulation strategies

This point is derived from the previous one. As Machiavellian people have little empathy and devote much of their attention to detecting the weaknesses of others, they are constantly devising ways to manipulate others for their own benefit . In other words, they do something similar to what an engineer who programs a robot would do: create the conditions for the other to move towards a goal that one has imposed on him or her.

4. Impulse control

Unlike what happens in cases of sociopathy, one of the features of the psychopathic tendency of Machiavellian people consists in an almost total control over what is done constantly . A good part of their actions respond to a plan, which constitutes this strategy separated from morality.

This feature is also associated with high intelligence.

5. They have ambitious goals

Machiavellian people can spend a lot of time and effort figuring out how to take advantage of what others are doing, and that is why they set themselves ambitious goals, with a lot of value for themselves. After all, no one plans to achieve something simple that can easily be bought in the next store .

6. Focus on the long term

Related to the previous section, it refers to the fact that the goals of this type of person are located in a distant place in time . This is the price that has to be paid for setting important goals that can be achieved only by making a series of complex actions take place.

Moreover, this characteristic distinguishes Machiavellian people from impulsive people who are used to giving in to their desires at the expense of the well-being of others.

7. Lack of remorse

When Machiavellian people do something that harms others, they do not feel bad about it, because it is considered a consequence of the plan of actions that has been developed . That is, they do not even have to think about it, and usually ignore that facet of reality that they have helped to build directly. In the end, the little consideration for the welfare of others is almost a habit, something to which one is accustomed.

8. Constantly develop plans

Since Machiavellian people are predisposed to cause discomfort in others without suffering for it, it can be said that they have a range of options and decisions that in the rest of the people are constrained by the morality that guides their actions. That is why they exploit this characteristic of theirs by scheming and doing what others avoid doing so as not to fall into a cognitive dissonance that would undermine their self-esteem.