Machiavellianism Shares Genetic Variance with Affective but Not Cognitive Empathy

Empathy and Machiavellianism are commonly presented as opposing poles of a prosocial-antisocial spectrum, yet the genetic and environmental sources of their negative phenotypic association remain unknown. Using data from a population-based twin cohort ( N = 583 individuals; 97 MZ and 156 DZ complete pairs), we examined the genetic and environmental architecture of affective empathy, cognitive empathy, social skills, and Machiavellianism. Univariate AE models provided the best fit for all four traits, with moderate heritabilities (a² = 0.29–0.34) and no detectable shared environmental contribution. A multivariate Cholesky decomposition indicated that the genetic and environmental association between empathy and Machiavellianism was specific to the affective component (rᵍ = -0.30, 95% CI [-0.89, -0.05]; rᵉ = -0.38, 95% CI [-0.56, -0.17]), with cognitive empathy and social skills showing no reliable genetic or environmental association with Machiavellianism. Approximately 80% of Machiavellianism’s genetic variance was trait-specific. A common pathway model imposing a single shared liability dimension fit poorly, inconsistent with characterizing Machiavellianism as a sub-construct of empathy. Overall, Machiavellianism was genetically linked to lower emotional concern for others, with no evidence of a shared genetic basis with the ability to understand others’ thoughts and feelings.