The Role of Just World Belief in the Relationship between Empathy and Moral Courage

Öz

This study aimed to examine the relationship between empathy and moral courage and whether the belief in a just world has a moderating role in this relationship. For this purpose, the study was conducted with 270 participants aged between 18 and 37 (Mage = 21.61, SD = 2.43; 70.7% female). Demographic Information Form, Moral Courage Scale, Basic Empathy Scale, Personal Just World Belief, and General Just World Belief scales were used in the study. The data were analyzed using the SPSS Hayes Process Macro plug-in. The analysis showed that empathy was significantly positively related to moral courage. In addition, the moderating roles of personal and general just world beliefs in the relationship between empathy and moral courage were examined with two separate moderating variable analyses. According to the results of the analysis, it was found that personal just world beliefs played a moderating role in the relationship between empathy and moral courage. Accordingly, as the level of personal just world belief increases, the effect of empathy on moral courage decreases. In conclusion, the findings provide a new perspective to understanding the dynamics of moral courage, which is a costly and risky prosocial behavior. In addition, the results also reveal that individuals' just world belief levels should be taken into account to increase the effectiveness of empathy-based intervention programs.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• moral courage
• empathy
• personal just world belief
• general just world belief

Empati ve Ahlaki Cesaret Arasındaki İlişkide Adil Dünya İnancının Rolü

Öz

Bu çalışmada empati ve ahlaki cesaret arasındaki ilişki ve bu ilişkide adil dünya inancının düzenleyici rolünün olup olmadığının incelenmesi amaçlanmıştır. Bu amaçla yaşları 18 ile 37 arasında değişen (Ortyaş = 21.61, SS = 2.43; %70.7’si kadın) 270 kişinin katılımı ile çalışma yürütülmüştür. Çalışmada Demografik Bilgi Formu, Ahlaki Cesaret Ölçeği, Temel Empati Ölçeği, Kişisel Adil Dünya İnancı ve Genel Adil Dünya İnancı ölçekleri kullanılmıştır. Veriler SPSS Hayes Process Makro eklentisi kullanılarak analiz edilmiştir. Analiz sonuçları empatinin ahlaki cesaretle pozitif yönde anlamlı olarak ilişkili olduğunu göstermiştir. Bununla birlikte empati ile ahlaki cesaret arasındaki ilişkide kişisel ve genel adil dünya inançlarının düzenleyici rolleri iki ayrı düzenleyici değişken analizi ile incelenmiştir. Analiz sonuçlarına göre, empati ve ahlaki cesaret arasındaki ilişkide kişisel adil dünya inancının düzenleyici rol üstlendiği tespit edilmiştir. Buna göre kişisel adil dünya inancı düzeyi arttıkça empatinin ahlaki cesaret üzerindeki etkisi azalmaktadır. Genel adil dünya inancının ise düzenleyici rolünün bulunmadığı görülmüştür.Sonuç olarak elde edilen bulgular, maliyetli ve riskli prososyal davranışlardan biri olan ahlaki cesaretin dinamiklerini anlamak için yeni bir perspektif sunmaktadır. Ayrıca sonuçlar empati temelli müdahale programlarının etkisini artırmak için bireylerin adil dünya inancı düzeylerinin dikkate alınması gerektiğini de ortaya koymaktadır.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Ahlaki cesaret
• empati
• kişisel adil dünya inancı
• genel adil dünya inancı

Kaynakça

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