TY - JOUR
T1 - Machiavellian tendencies increase following damage to the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex
AU - Cohen-Zimerman, Shira
AU - Chau, Aileen
AU - Krueger, Frank
AU - Gordon, Barry
AU - Grafman, Jordan
N1 - Funding Information:
We are grateful to all of the Vietnam veterans and caregivers for their participation in the study. We thank The National Naval Medical Center and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke for providing their facilities and supporting this research. We thank Raymont, S. Bonifant, B. Cheon, C. Ngo, A. Greathouse, K. Reding, G. Tasick, S. Bonifant, M. Tierney, L. Glass, L. Yozawitz, C. Noury, V. Tsen, and A. Leopold for testing participants and organizing the study. The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Department of the Navy, the Department of Defense, or the U.S. Government. JG, AC, and BG were supported by the Therapeutic Cognitive Neuroscience Fund (Johns Hopkins University and BG). JG was also supported by the Julius Frankel Foundation and the Smart Family Foundation of New York .
Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2017/12
Y1 - 2017/12
N2 - Machiavellianism – a personality trait that is characterized by a tendency to distrust, deceive and exploit others – has been the focus of growing attention in psychological research. Neuroimaging studies of Machiavellianism highlight the influence of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) on Machiavellianism tendencies. However, knowledge regarding the causal role of the left and right dlPFC on Machiavellianism is still obscure. Here, we measured general Machiavellian tendencies, as well as two subscales (i.e., Machiavellian Views and Machiavellian Tactics) in a large sample of brain-injured patients (N = 129) and non-brain-injured control participants (N = 37) to determine whether Machiavellianism tendencies can be altered by brain damage. We analyzed Machiavellianism tendencies as a function of lesion location, with patients separated into four groups based on dlPFC damage: left dlPFC damage, right dlPFC damage, non-dlPFC damage, and healthy controls. We found that left dlPFC damage increased Machiavellianism in general, and Machiavellian perspective (views) in particular, but did not modulate behavior (tactics). Critically, left dlPFC damage predicted higher levels of Machiavellianism after controlling for general and emotional intelligence, linguistic abilities, empathy and psychopathology. These findings establish a causal role of the left dlPFC in modulating Machiavellian views, and indicate that one can hold Machiavellian views without necessarily endorsing Machiavellian tactics.
AB - Machiavellianism – a personality trait that is characterized by a tendency to distrust, deceive and exploit others – has been the focus of growing attention in psychological research. Neuroimaging studies of Machiavellianism highlight the influence of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) on Machiavellianism tendencies. However, knowledge regarding the causal role of the left and right dlPFC on Machiavellianism is still obscure. Here, we measured general Machiavellian tendencies, as well as two subscales (i.e., Machiavellian Views and Machiavellian Tactics) in a large sample of brain-injured patients (N = 129) and non-brain-injured control participants (N = 37) to determine whether Machiavellianism tendencies can be altered by brain damage. We analyzed Machiavellianism tendencies as a function of lesion location, with patients separated into four groups based on dlPFC damage: left dlPFC damage, right dlPFC damage, non-dlPFC damage, and healthy controls. We found that left dlPFC damage increased Machiavellianism in general, and Machiavellian perspective (views) in particular, but did not modulate behavior (tactics). Critically, left dlPFC damage predicted higher levels of Machiavellianism after controlling for general and emotional intelligence, linguistic abilities, empathy and psychopathology. These findings establish a causal role of the left dlPFC in modulating Machiavellian views, and indicate that one can hold Machiavellian views without necessarily endorsing Machiavellian tactics.
KW - Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex
KW - Lesion study
KW - Machiavellianism
KW - Traumatic brain injury
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U2 - 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2017.11.007
DO - 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2017.11.007
M3 - Article
C2 - 29126929
AN - SCOPUS:85033563547
SN - 0028-3932
VL - 107
SP - 68
EP - 75
JO - Neuropsychologia
JF - Neuropsychologia
ER -