The relationship between insecure attachment and Machiavellianism

Recently, there has been a growing interest in studying socially aversive personality traits. Among these, Machiavellianism, characterized by manipulativeness, egoism, and deception, serves as an embodiment of the darker facets of personality. Researchers have focused on Machiavellianism due to its potential to undermine individuals’ engagement in reciprocal social interactions and foster discord in interpersonal relationships. According to previous research, the association between insecure attachment and Machiavellianism has been identified but remains inconsistent. To better understand the relationship between these two variables, this research employed a three-level random-effects meta-analysis to analyze 86 effect sizes from 27 articles. We found that insecure attachment was significantly and positively correlated with Machiavellianism (r = 0.200; 95% CI: 0.171, 0.223; p < .001). In addition, the insecure attachment pattern was found to be a significant moderator, whereby the disorganized and fearful-avoidant attachment patterns were most strongly associated with Machiavellianism. To summarize, this study confirms a positive association between insecure attachment and Machiavellianism. Additionally, it highlights the importance of fostering attachment security, which may help reduce the likelihood of people developing high levels of Machiavellianism.