Prosocial and Coercive Configurations of Resource Control in Early Adolescence: A Case for the Well-Adapted Machiavellian.

Studied self- and other-reported characteristics of 1,700 fifth through tenth graders varying in their use of coercive (aggression) and prosocial (cooperative) strategies of resource control. Found that children using both control strategies, labeled Machiavellians, possessed positive and negative characteristics and were socially central, liked by peers, socially skilled, and well adjusted. Explored the utility of an evolutionary perspective to resource control and social competence as a model of aggression. (Author/KB)