Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
- Institution
- Publication Year
- Publication
- Publication Type
Articles 1 - 16 of 16
Full-Text Articles in Entire DC Network
Moral Disengagement And Psychopathy: A Quantitative Correlational Study On Attachment To God And Empathy, Kimberly Essler
Moral Disengagement And Psychopathy: A Quantitative Correlational Study On Attachment To God And Empathy, Kimberly Essler
Doctoral Dissertations and Projects
Moral disengagement and lack of empathy are rising concerns in the United States. Those who are morally disengaged or display limited empathy are often associated with anti-social personality disorder or psychopathy. Studies consistently show trauma and early childhood attachment are predictors for the development of behaviors associated with psychopathy. Current literature has demonstrated semi-effective therapeutic treatment and pharmacotherapy for comorbid disorders and symptoms such as anxiety. However, research fails to adequately address the prevention and treatment of lack of empathy – a major factor in the perilous behaviors of psychopathy. Psychopathy includes structural and functional brain abnormalities in the cortical …
Moral Disengagement Mechanisms Predict Cyber Aggression Among Emerging Adults, Taylor R. Nocera, Eric R. Dahlen, Alison Poor, Jacqueline Strowd, Amanda Dortch, Erica C. Van Overloop
Moral Disengagement Mechanisms Predict Cyber Aggression Among Emerging Adults, Taylor R. Nocera, Eric R. Dahlen, Alison Poor, Jacqueline Strowd, Amanda Dortch, Erica C. Van Overloop
Faculty Publications
The Internet has given rise to many new communication tools (e.g., social media, text messaging), which, while beneficial in many respects, have become a means for aggressing against others. As evidence of the adverse correlates of cyber aggression mounts, improved understanding of the mechanisms that facilitate electronic aggression is needed. Moral disengagement (i.e., cognitive processes through which individuals disengage from their moral values) has been shown to predict cyber aggression when assessed as a unitary construct. The present study investigated the eight moral disengagement mechanisms measured by the Moral Disengagement Measure (Detert et al., 2008) and their relationships to four …
Aung San Suu Kyi’S Defensive Denial Of The Rohingya Massacre: A Rhetorical Analysis Of Denial And Positive-Image Construction, Idhamsyah Eka Putra, Hema Preya Selvanathan, Ali Mashuri, Cristina Jayme Montiel
Aung San Suu Kyi’S Defensive Denial Of The Rohingya Massacre: A Rhetorical Analysis Of Denial And Positive-Image Construction, Idhamsyah Eka Putra, Hema Preya Selvanathan, Ali Mashuri, Cristina Jayme Montiel
Psychology Department Faculty Publications
In December 2019, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) accused the Myanmar government of genocide against Rohingya Muslims. Represented by Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar authorities denied such accusations. To understand how a political leader can deny ingroup wrongdoings, we unpacked Suu Kyi’s ICJ speech and analyzed her defensive rhetorical style through critical narrative analysis. We aimed to identify and describe the denial strategies Suu Kyi used as well as how she maintained a positive ingroup image to support her position. Our findings showed that Suu Kyi engaged in interpretative denial of genocide by arguing that …
Right-Wing Authoritarianism, Moral Disengagement, And Victimization: The Demeaning Socio-Cognitive Attitudes Of Bullies, Megan E. Donnelly
Right-Wing Authoritarianism, Moral Disengagement, And Victimization: The Demeaning Socio-Cognitive Attitudes Of Bullies, Megan E. Donnelly
Theses and Dissertations
Objective: To examine the socio-cognitive attitudes of Right-wing authoritarianism and moral disengagement as they relate to bullying victimization and perpetration within the high school context. Method: Ninth grade students (N = 212; 50% male) at a public Midwest high school completed self-report measures during study hall assessing their levels of Right-wing authoritarianism, moral disengagement, and the frequency with which they were involved (i.e., as perpetrators and victims) in bullying both online and in person within the last month. The current study utilized a moderated mediation model to examine the effects of Right-wing authoritarian and morally disengaged attitudes on the school-based …
Moral Disengagement And Generalized Social Trust As Mediators And Moderators Of Rule-Respecting Behaviors During The Covid-19 Outbreak, Guido Alessandri, Lorenzo Filosa, Marie S. Tisak, Elisabetta Crocetti, Giuseppe Crea, Lorenzo Avanzi
Moral Disengagement And Generalized Social Trust As Mediators And Moderators Of Rule-Respecting Behaviors During The Covid-19 Outbreak, Guido Alessandri, Lorenzo Filosa, Marie S. Tisak, Elisabetta Crocetti, Giuseppe Crea, Lorenzo Avanzi
Psychology Faculty Publications
In this study, we tested a theoretical model with moral disengagement, a mediator, and generalized social trust (GST), a mediator and a moderator of the relationship between personality traits and rule-respecting behaviors (i.e., social distancing and stay-at-home), during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak in Italy. The data were collected on 1520 participants (61% males). General results are threefold: (1) moral disengagement mediated the relationship between emotional stability, narcissism, psychopathy, and social distancing; (2) among components of GST, trust in Government mediated the relationship between psychopathy and social distancing; trust in known others mediated the relationship between emotional stability, agreeableness, …
A Multilevel Examination Of Unethical Pro-Organizational Behavior Decision-Making: The Role Of Citizenship Pressure, Moral Disengagement, And Moral Intensity, William Bryant
Dissertations
Unethical pro-organizational behaviors (UPB) are unethical behaviors that are intended to benefit the organization or its members. Research on this type of behavior typically involves assessing attitudinal and dispositional predictors of UPB but has largely failed to understand the process through which UPB occurs. One potential elicitation process could be through a perceived obligation that an employee has to help their organization, or citizenship pressure. By adapting Rest’s four stage model of ethical decision-making and social exchange theory, the current study aimed to identify how organizational identification might increase perceptions of citizenship pressure, and how citizenship pressure might influence elements …
Assessing The Effects Of Psychopathy, Sadism, Aggression, And Boredom Proneness On Cyber Aggression Perpetration In Emerging Adults: Is Moral Disengagement To Blame?, Taylor Nocera
Dissertations
Prior research indicates that a number of dark personality traits (e.g., psychopathy and sadism) positively predict the perpetration of cyber aggression among emerging adults (e.g., Goodboy & Martin, 2015; Craker & March, 2016; Nocera & Dahlen, 2018); however, few studies have utilized psychometrically sound measures of cyber aggression developed for use with this population. Additionally, some traits that are theoretically relevant to cyber aggression (Koban, Stein, Eckhardt, & Ohler, 2018; Slonje & Smith, 2008; Varjas, Talley, Meyers, Parris, & Cutts, 2010) and have been useful predictors of other forms of aggression have received insufficient attention in the cyber aggression literature …
Elements Of Moral Functioning In Sport And School, Christopher Funk
Elements Of Moral Functioning In Sport And School, Christopher Funk
Dissertations
Moral functioning is complex and implicates numerous cognitive and affective processes. Drawing upon Rest’s four-component model of moral functioning and more recent dual-process accounts of cognition, the current study examined a model of moral functioning in both sport and school contexts. Specifically, drawing upon the empirical record, a model of moral functioning was proposed and tested wherein moral identity influenced the adoption of specific contesting orientations, which, in turn, influenced prosocial and antisocial behaviors, both directly and indirectly via moral foundations and moral disengagement. Fit of the model was moderately strong in both contexts, though significant contextual differences emerged, both …
Be Careful What You Say: The Relationship Between Prosecutorial Language In Closing Statements And Sentencing Outcomes In Real Capital Cases, Megan J. Parker
Be Careful What You Say: The Relationship Between Prosecutorial Language In Closing Statements And Sentencing Outcomes In Real Capital Cases, Megan J. Parker
Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019
Moral disengagement refers to how individuals rationalize the decisions they make, especially if they may be immoral or difficult. Individuals can be primed to engage in moral disengagement through the use of specific language. The current study analyzed language strategies used in closing statements of real capital murder cases to investigate which are correlated with a death penalty sentence. Because jurors are responsible for sentencing another individual to death, they may have some difficulty making such a decision. The current study found that future dangerousness and empathetic language were significantly correlated to jurors sentencing the death to the death penalty. …
Psychological Factors That Underlie Hazing Perceptions: A Mixed Methods Study, Jenna Strawhun
Psychological Factors That Underlie Hazing Perceptions: A Mixed Methods Study, Jenna Strawhun
College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research
The quantitative phase of this mixed-methods study examined psychological predictors, including previous bullying involvement, moral disengagement, the need to belong, and their influence on students’ perceptions of hypothetical hazing behaviors. The following qualitative phase was used to explain and contextualize Phase I results through an understanding of the psychological processes related to participants’ constructed meanings of their experiences as perpetrators, witnesses, and/or victims of bullying and hazing. Study participants for Phase I and Phase II included undergraduate students enrolled in psychology courses who participated in the study for research credit. Phase II participants also received a $25.00 gift card as …
Should I Stand By Or Stand Up? Differences In Bullying Bystander Decision Making, Lyndsay Masters
Should I Stand By Or Stand Up? Differences In Bullying Bystander Decision Making, Lyndsay Masters
Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository
Over 80% of students have been a bystander to bullying at school. Bystanders who witness bullying may choose to “stand up” against the bully and support the victim personally, encourage intervention from peers or adults, join in with the bullying or “stand by” passively without involvement. These decisions may be influenced by a variety of personal, social and environmental factors. This study proposes that bullying bystanders differ across specific factors according to their decision to intervene or not intervene. Archived data from a culturally-representative sample of 482 middle-school students were used and analyzed from a person-oriented approach. Data represented the …
Exploring The Role Of Identification And Moral Disengagement In The Enjoyment Of An Antihero Television Series, Sophie Janicke, Arthur A. Raney
Exploring The Role Of Identification And Moral Disengagement In The Enjoyment Of An Antihero Television Series, Sophie Janicke, Arthur A. Raney
Communication Faculty Articles and Research
Affective disposition theory explains well the process of enjoying hero narratives but not the appeal of narratives featuring antiheroes. Recent antihero studies suggest that character identification and moral disengagement might be important factors in the enjoyment of such fare. The current study builds on this work. A sample of 101 self-identified fans and nonfans of the television series 24 viewed a condensed version of Season 1, providing evaluation of various protagonist perceptions, moral judgments, and emotional responses to the narrative, as well as overall enjoyment. As expected, fans reported greater liking of the protagonist and greater enjoyment. But more importantly, …
The Effect Of Social Problem Solving Skills In The Relationship Between Traumatic Stress And Moral Disengagement Among Inner-City African American High School Students, Kendell L. Coker, Uduakobong N. Ikpe, Jeannie S. Brooks, Brian Page, Mark B. Sobell
The Effect Of Social Problem Solving Skills In The Relationship Between Traumatic Stress And Moral Disengagement Among Inner-City African American High School Students, Kendell L. Coker, Uduakobong N. Ikpe, Jeannie S. Brooks, Brian Page, Mark B. Sobell
Psychology Faculty Publications
This study examined the relationship between traumatic stress, social problem solving, and moral disengagement among African American inner-city high school students. Participants consisted of 45 (25 males and 20 females) African American students enrolled in grades 10 through 12. Mediation was assessed by testing for the indirect effect using the confidence interval derived from 10,000 bootstrapped resamples. The results revealed that social problem-solving skills have an indirect effect on the relationship between traumatic stress and moral disengagement. The findings suggest that African American youth that are negatively impacted by trauma evidence deficits in their social problem solving skills and are …
Stretching The Moral Gray Zone: Positive Affect, Moral Disengagement And Dishonesty, Lynne C. Vincent, Kyle J. Emich, Jack A. Goncalo
Stretching The Moral Gray Zone: Positive Affect, Moral Disengagement And Dishonesty, Lynne C. Vincent, Kyle J. Emich, Jack A. Goncalo
Jack Goncalo
We propose that positive affect promotes dishonest behavior by providing the cognitive flexibility necessary to reframe and to rationalize dishonest acts. This hypothesis was tested in two studies. The results of Study 1 showed that individuals experiencing positive affect morally disengage to a greater extent than individuals experiencing neutral affect. Study 2 built upon this finding by demonstrating that the ability to morally disengage can lead individuals who experience positive affect to behave dishonestly. Specifically, the results of Study 2 show that people experiencing positive affect are more likely to steal than individuals who experience neutral affect, particularly when self-awareness …
Disengaging From Moral Disengagement: Scant Experimental Evidence For A Popular Theory, Lydia Elisabeth Eckstein Jackson
Disengaging From Moral Disengagement: Scant Experimental Evidence For A Popular Theory, Lydia Elisabeth Eckstein Jackson
Doctoral Dissertations
Moral disengagement theory (Bandura, 1999) is a popular theory widely used to explain how people are able to commit atrocities without incurring self-condemnation. Assuming the internalization of moral standards in socialization, the theory suggests that a sufficient enticement may motivate people to disengage their moral standards so as to violate them without negative consequences for self-perception. Thereby moral disengagement theory is proposed to be distinct from cognitive dissonance theory (Festinger, 1954) in that disengagement is assumed to happen as an antecedent to injurious behavior. This temporal assumption has been all but ignored by extant research and presents a gap in …
Can An Ethical Person Be An Ethical Prosecutor? A Social Cognitive Approach To Systemic Reform, Lawton P. Cummings
Can An Ethical Person Be An Ethical Prosecutor? A Social Cognitive Approach To Systemic Reform, Lawton P. Cummings
Faculty Scholarship
This Article argues that certain key structural factors within the prosecutorial system in the United States lead to prosecutorial misconduct by systematically encouraging 'moral disengagement' in prosecutors. 'Moral disengagement' refers to the social cognition theory developed by Albert Bandura and others, which identifies the mechanisms that operate to disengage an individual’s moral self-sanctions that would otherwise inhibit the individual from engaging in injurious conduct. Empirical studies have shown that a person’s level of moral disengagement, as a dispositional trait, is an accurate predictor of the person’s level of aggression and anti-social behavior, and that an individual’s level of moral disengagement …