Láng & Lenard (2015) investigated the relationship between Machiavellianism and the children psychology maltreatment and they explored different sociological theories. They explained Machiavellianism to be a personality trait that makes individuals be deceitful, unemotional, and materialistic and have a selfish stance. The two researchers stated that the self-reported memory of childhood maltreatment led to people developing the Machiavellianism world view. They explored the relationship between social learning, Life History theory, effects of trauma and Machiavellianism. In social learning theory, they explained that behaviors that the children took were complementary to their parents. Children from Machiavellianism parents tended to be submissive while those who were from non-Machiavellianism were amoral, cynical and manipulative. According to Life History theory, it posited that children developed their personality traits as a result of their interactions with the environment. From that view, children were responsive of their parents’ care. Therefore, harsh, insensitive and inconsistent parenting resulted in children developing Machiavellianism such as being exploitative, impulsive and selfish. Apart from the above-mentioned assumptions, trauma literature also suggests a promising link between childhood adversities and Machiavellianism. For example, fearful and dismissing attachment led to the children developing amoral and antisocial behavior (Láng & Lenard, 2015).

Although it is difficult to explain the exact cause of Machiavellianism in adults, I think that how parents treat their children when young is what contributes to the amoral and antisocial behavior. For example, if the parents detach their love and care from their children, they are likely to be antisocial, and probably, amoral. The exploitative and harsh character that they develop may their way of trying to compensate the love and care they missed from their parents.

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