Paul D. Knight’s research while affiliated with University of Texas at Austin and other places

On the basis of previous theory and research, it was predicted that socially anxious individuals would utilize verbal response modes that would allow them to adopt a passive interaction style and/or to convey positive yet “sate” images of themselves during dyadic encounters. A group of 30 male and 30 female subjects completed self-report measures of social anxiety and self-presentational concern, and each interacted with another same-sex subject for 5 minutes. Verbal response analyses of the conversations revealed that, as expected, social insecurity was associated with increased use of Questions, Acknowledgments, and Confirmations, but with decreased use of utterances that expressed objective information (Edifications). In addition, social anxiety was associated with a “familiar” interpersonal style among women, and unexpected sex differences were obtained on some measures.

Although Machiavellian individuals (Machs) have been characterized as lacking a concern for conventional standards of morality, it is clear from previous research that high Machs are not consistently more amoral or immoral than low Machs. A study was conducted to explore the ethical orientations of persons who score low versus high in Machiavellianism. The Mach V Scale and the Ethics Position Questionnaire were completed by 119 subjects. Results showed that Machiavellian subjects endorsed ethical positions that were more relativistic and less idealistic than subjects who scored low in Machiavellianism.