Machiavelli influences spread into many different topics, among them, psychology. The term Machiavellism, accordingly to wikipedia.com is " a term that some social and personality psychologists use to describe a person's tendency to deceive and manipulate others for personal gain." A test of 20 questions named MACH-IV was eventually produced to categorize your Machiavellism.
The test:
http://www.salon.com/books/it/1999/09/13/machtest
Works Cited
En.wikipedia.org. "Machiavellianism." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, 1992. Web. 12 May 2010.
I took the survey. I found nothing miraculous with the ideas or survey of a 16th century Italian political philosopher. My score was "high mach." It constitutes a distinct type: charming, confident and glib, but also arrogant, calculating and cynical, prone to manipulate and exploit. I do not agree that the survey is 100% accurate. I agree that I possess the following qualities: confident, glib, calculating, and prone. However, I am not arrogant. No matter what I can't look at people down. I can't say "I am better than you." I believe no individual is bad. It is their actions that make them look bad. For example, our professor is a good dude. Why? because his actions are good. The way he makes the class interesting. Finally manipulating and exploiting are not even in my thoughts. Overall, I am pleased with the results because it contains some of my attributes.
ReplyDeleteI scored a 71, but like Firuz, I don't feel that's an accurate representation of my personality. First, many of the questions were based on opinions of the world, which are very different from actions I would take in a given situation. For example, I have no problem with lying - so long as the lie does not do any major harm. On the same token, however, I believe I have a strong moral compass.
ReplyDeleteI think you need to be calculating, and sometimes a little selfish - that's just the world we live in. That's capitalism. To be a truly good person would essentially be suicide (giving all your money to the poor).
I do what I can to survive under the capitalist system - right now that means deceiving the federal government, deceiving New York State, and some other more incriminating things I won't right about here. I also share food with friends and roommates when they're hungry - and I also take very good care of those I love whenever they need help, even when there's nothing "in it" for me. Further, I am loyal to those who are loyal to me - and that is a philosophy I never break, even when it would be advantageous for me to do so. It's a decidedly un-Machiavellian trait.
Sounds great guys. In my case it was a little different, up to the point that it felt strange. I punched a few buttons here and there, the whole process went fine, then all of the sudden the whole thing just went wild and played some matrix codes and the following message came up:
ReplyDelete"Emiliano your score is Great Student. Your english professor should give you an A for all your efforts and your passion for the class. Even though you work 50 hours a week and take 3 classes, you seem to always come up with the work on time and enjoy very much the whole class and the sharing of ideas with fellow students. This semester is over and you will miss this class very much, but in a near future you will have the chance to keep sharing ideas and reading more similar work thanks to this class and first of all Dr. Sorin; who guided you through the path of Divina Comedia and some other epics. Great thing is that while working at it, you learned a great deal and came to see the light of the Paradiso. Therefore, the Greek Gods, Gilgamesh's soul, Machiavelli's spirit and all the chapters characters in the readings of this semester think that you deserve an A++".
Humn, could this score possibly be a "high mach"?