The Mediating Role of Selfishness in the Relationship between Empathy and Narcissism

Year 2020, Volume: 48, 37 - 60, 07.01.2020

Hasan Yılmaz

https://doi.org/10.9779/pauefd.526742

Cited By: 3

Abstract

Empathy is the skill of taking a complex psychological perspective which combines observation, memory, knowledge, and reasoning to have insights on the thoughts and feelings of others. How an individual can see the negative outcomes of his/her actions are largely related to his/her empathic skill levels. Selfishness is the search for personal interest at the expense of another individual's suffering beyond protecting and looking out for personal interests. The most important indicators of narcissistic personality can be summed up as a grandiose self, believing to be entitled, exploitation in interpersonal relations, using people to achieve one's goals, and reluctance to accept or share the feelings and needs of others. This research aimed to test the mediating role of selfishness in the relationship between empathy and narcissistic personality. Empathy was taken as the independent latent variable, selfishness as the mediator variable and narcissism as the dependent latent variable in the research. As the instruments, the Toronto Empathy Scale, Narcissistic Personality Inventory and Selfishness Scale were applied to 465 young adults (310 women and 155 men) in the research. The structural equation modeling was used in the data analysis. It was observed in the research that there were moderate negative significant relationships between empathy and narcissism (γ = -0.35) and between empathy and selfishness (γ = -0.59) and a moderate positive significant relationship between selfishness and narcissism (γ = 0.53). The testing of the mediator variable model showed that selfishness had a fully mediating role in the relationship between empathy and narcissism.

Keywords

Empathy, Narcissism, Selfishness, Mediator role

Empati ile Narsizim Arasındaki İlişkide Bencilliğin Aracı Rolü

Abstract

Empati,
başkalarının düşüncelerine ve duygularına ilişkin içgörüler elde etmek
amacıyla; gözlem, hafıza, bilgi ve akıl yürütmenin birleştirildiği karmaşık bir
psikolojik perspektif alma becerisidir. Kişinin yaptığı eylemlerin olumsuz
sonuçlarını görebilmesi de büyük ölçüde empati becerisinin düzeyi ile
ilgilidir. Bencillik; kişisel çıkarlarını korumak ve gözetmek ötesinde, bir
başkasının zarar görmesi adına kişisel çıkar arayışıdır. Narsist kişiliğin en
önemli göstergeleri ise kendisinin önemine dair büyüklenmeci bir duygu, hak
sahibi olduğuna inanma kişilerarası ilişkilerde sömürücülük, amaçlarına ulaşmak
için insanları kullanma ve diğerlerinin duyguları ve gereksinimlerini
kabullenme veya paylaşmada gönülsüzlük olarak özetlenebilir. Araştırmanın amacı
empati ile narsist kişilik arasındaki ilişkide bencilliğin aracı rolünü
sınamaktır. Araştırmada, empati bağımsız gizil değişken, bencillik aracı
değişken ve narsizm bağımlı gizil değişken olarak yer almaktadır. Veri toplama
aracı olarak Toronto Empati Ölçeği, Narsisistik Kişilik Envanteri ve Bencillik
Ölçeğinin kullanıldığı araştırma, 310 kadın, 155 erkek, 465 genç yetişkin
üzerinde yapılmıştır. Verilerin analizinde yapısal eşitlik modellenmesi yöntemi
kullanılmıştır. Araştırmanın sonunda Empati ile narsizm arasında orta düzeyde,
negatif yönlü ve anlamlı (γ= -0,35); empati ile bencillik arasında orta
düzeyde, negatif yönlü ve anlamlı (γ= -0,59) ve bencillik ile narsizm arasında
ise orta düzeyde, pozitif yönlü ve anlamlı bir ilişki bulunmuştur (γ= 0,53).
Aracı değişken modelinin sınanması sonunda da empati ile narsizm arasındaki
ilişkide bencilliğin tam aracı role sahip olduğu saptanmıştır.

Keywords

Empati, Bencillik, Narsizm, Aracı Rol

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