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Polish Study Shows Machiavellianism, Psychopathy Are Separate Daily States

6/4/2026

24 5 Full Breakdown

Summary

Story summary

Polish researchers demonstrated that Machiavellianism and psychopathy are distinct daily states rather than a single trait.
They tracked 317 Polish adults with a smartphone app that delivered nightly surveys for 30 days.
Baseline scores overlapped by more than 70 % and day-to-day overlap fell to about 16 %.
More Machiavellian behavior on a day predicted higher psychopathic behavior the next day, but the reverse was not observed.

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Story summary

Polish researchers demonstrated that Machiavellianism and psychopathy are distinct daily states rather than a single trait.
They tracked 317 Polish adults with a smartphone app that delivered nightly surveys for 30 days.
Baseline scores overlapped by more than 70 % and day-to-day overlap fell to about 16 %.
More Machiavellian behavior on a day predicted higher psychopathic behavior the next day, but the reverse was not observed.