Machiavellianism, Competition and Self-Disclosure in Friendship
Author(s): Gayle Brewer, Loren Abell, Minna Lyons
Abstract: Friendships present Machiavellian men and women with a number of opportunities for emotional manipulation. The current study investigated the influence of Machiavellianism and friendship competition on self-disclosure within same-sex friendship dyads. Male (N = 65) and female (N = 171) participants aged 16 – 61 years (M = 21.58, SD = 6.01) completed a questionnaire containing preliminary demographic questions, Mach IV (Christie & Geis, 1970), Self-disclosure Scale (Wheeless, 1978), and an amended Interpersonal Competition Index (Singleton & Vacca, 2007). The analyses revealed that Machiavellianism and friendship competition predicted the honesty - accuracy of self-disclosure but not the amount or positiveness - negativeness of information disclosed. Machiavellianism and competition predicted intent to self-disclose and depth of information disclosed amongst women only.
Keywords: Machiavellianism; Friendship; Competition; Self-disclosure; Interpersonal relations; Information theory
Pages: 1-7
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