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Personality and Social Contexts

Empathy

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Full-Text Articles in Psychology

The Light Triad Scale: Developing And Validating A Preliminary Measure Of Prosocial Orientation, Laura K.D. Johnson Aug 2018

The Light Triad Scale: Developing And Validating A Preliminary Measure Of Prosocial Orientation, Laura K.D. Johnson

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Most research on prosocial behaviour focuses on situational factors rather than individual differences. Empathy, compassion, and altruism are three constructs related to prosocial behaviour that also overlap theoretically. However, prosocial traits are rarely studied together, and measures of prosocial orientation are lacking. To address this gap, the Light Triad Scale (Light-3) was developed to assess individual differences in prosocial orientation. Three subscales with 12 items each, assessing empathy, compassion, and altruism, were created using existing measures of each construct. Items were selected according to theory and literature. The Light-3 was then administered to a sample of undergraduate psychology students at …


The Heart Of Ideology: Bringing Compassion Into The Political Sphere, Vanessa M. Sinclair Jun 2017

The Heart Of Ideology: Bringing Compassion Into The Political Sphere, Vanessa M. Sinclair

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Individual differences are pivotal in predicting sociopolitical views, which in turn guide behaviours like voting decisions, career choices, or engagement in activism. Compassion, a trait related to empathy and prosocial behaviour, has shown promise in predicting reduced hostile, anti-egalitarian attitudes. Certain kinds of political beliefs can be termed hierarchy-legitimizing in that they perpetuate or enhance existing societal hierarchies, such as economic inequality or racial discrimination. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between compassion for others and hierarchy-legitimizing viewpoints, as mediated by the characteristic of Social Dominance Orientation (SDO). A sample of 590 undergraduate students completed measures …