Machiavellianism and Altruism: Effect of Relatedness of Target Person on Machiavellian and Helping Attitudes

Four studies were conducted to investigate evolutionary predictions about the effect of relatedness of target persons on interpersonal attitudes. The first study ( N = 65 students) showed that Machiavellianism was lower in relation to family members than to people in general. The second study ( N = 86), in which a new Helping Attitudes questionnaire was used and validated, indicated that helpfulness was greater for family members than towards people in general or strangers. In the third study ( N = 72 women) social attitudes were just as favorable to close friends as to family members. In the fourth study ( N = 100 women) helpfulness was strongly predicted by relatedness of social targets but Machiavellianism was not. Results are discussed in terms of kin-selection theory in the context of an evolutionary past in which people interacted in small, closely related groups.