ABSTRACT
As indicated in the preceding chapter, this stage of our inquiry completes the individual level profile of manipulativeness by conducting a “testing psychology” exploration of Machiavellianism. The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) is a series of statements referring to the individual. Subjects answer true or false to each. The test is classified as an objective as opposed to a projective test. Equally supportable alternative rules of profile interpretation exist in clinical circles. Clinicians variously emphasize absolute values on scales, relative elevations or depressions on scales, subscale conformity with a gross picture, consistency across clusters of scales, behavioral confirmation of profile implications, confirmation by other tests, and so on. The K scale was originally designed as a more subtle test of subject tendencies to control self-representation in the MMPI. The Pr scale was developed to identify anti-semitic bigotry and seems to compare consistently with other known constructs tapping such dimensions.
