The Jangled Nature of Psychopathy and Machiavellianism: Variable and Person-Centered Approaches

It is unclear whether psychopathy and Machiavellianism can be distinguished. In the present study, in a Brazilian sample (N = 572, M = 40.27; SD = 12.96), we assessed both psychopathy and Machiavellianism traits with several measures of each. We performed variable-centered and person-centered analyses. In the variable-centered approach, we performed Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analysis. For the person-centered approach, we performed Latent Profile Analysis. The former suggested that psychopathy and Machiavellianism are empirically overlapping and cannot be understood as entirely different constructs. The latter revealed three profiles, none reflecting the prototypical features of psychopathy or Machiavellianism. Instead, profiles mixed higher scores in psychopathy and Machiavellianism features. Thus, we provide further evidence that psychopathy and Machiavellianism may suffer from the jangle fallacy.