Emotional intelligence and its relationship to machiavelism: The opposite side of emotional abilities
Abstract
This article seeks to investigate the links between emotional intelligence (EI) and Machiavellianism. Despite EI being generally considered a purely positive personality characteristic, some believe that an individual may misuse his emotional abilities in a Machiavellian manner in order to achieve his own goals.
The research conducted among Czech university students (N = 935) showed that females have a higher level of self-report ability EI (note that on a subscale level, the difference was found only in Emotional Expression and Emotional Regulation of Others), whereas males score higher in all measures of Machiavellianism. Complex relationships between EI and Machiavellianism along with an inconsistency of the trait of Machiavellianism captured by the Machiavellian Personality Scale (MPS) were discovered using the canonical correlation analysis: the Machiavellian Distrust of Others and Amorality were negatively related to Emotional Expression, nevertheless, Desire for Control was positively related to Emotional Expression.
The discussion addresses the question of whether one's desire.