بررسي نقش همدلي و باورهاي ماكياوليستي در كفايت و عدم‌كفايت اجتماعي دانش‌آموزان نه تا دوازده ساله

A Study of the Relationships between Empathy and Machiavellian Beliefs with social Competence and Social Uncompetence

هدف پژوهش حاضر، بررسي ارتباط و قدرت پيش‌بيني كنندگي متغيرهاي همدلي گرم و باورهاي ماكياوليستي در كفايت و عدم كفايت اجتماعي دانش‌آموزان نه تا دوازده ساله‌ي شهر شيراز بود. به اين منظور، 188 دانش‌آموز پايه‌ي چهارم، پنجم دوره ابتدايي و اول راهنمايي به شيوه‌ي خوشه اي چند مرحله‌اي از مدارس عادي شهر شيراز انتخاب شدند. در اين پژوهش براي سنجش باورهاي ماكياوليستي از مقياس باورهاي ماكياوليستي مخصوص كودكان كريستي و گيس و به منظور ارزيابي همدلي گرم، از شاخص همدلي گرم بريانت استفاده شد. رفتارهاي پرخاشگري ارتباطي و آشكار، انزواطلبي و عدم محبوبيت ميان همسالان كه به عنوان شاخص عدم كفايت و رفتارهاي جامعه پسند و محبوبيت ميان همسالان كه به عنوان شاخص كفايت اجتماعي در نظر گرفته شدند، با شيوه‌ي جامعه سنجي و با استفاده از مقياس گزينش همسالان كريك و گروتپيتر تعيين گرديد. براي تحليل داده‌ها از روش آماري همبستگي پيرسون و تحليل رگرسيون استفاده شد و نتايج زير به دست آمد: الف) بين همدلي گرم و باورهاي ماكياوليستي رابطه‌ي منفي وجود داشت. ب) باورهاي ماكياوليستي با كفايت اجتماعي رابطه منفي و با عدم كفايت اجتماعي رابطه‌ي مثبت داشت. ج) رابطه‌ي همدلي گرم با كفايت اجتماعي مثبت و با عدم كفايت اجتماعي منفي بود. د) باورهاي ماكياوليستي و همدلي گرم از توان لازم براي پيش بيني كفايت و عدم كفايت اجتماعي دانش‌آموزان برخوردار بودند. در پايان بر مبناي يافته‌هاي به دست آمده شيوه‌هاي تربيتي و درماني براي رشد همدلي گرم و كاهش باورهاي ماكياوليستي پيشنهاد شده است.

Introduction Machiavellians are famously described as having the "cool syndrome" and one wonders how they could go on to exploit others if they did have any aspect of hot empathy. There are a number of theories regarding the possible mechanisms by which empathy influences behaviors (e.g. Feshbach 1975, Marshall, Hudson, Jones & Fernandez 1995, Pithers 1999). However, many of these theories have as their fundamental basis the assumption that a greater amount of empathy inhibits antisocial behavior and increases the likelihood of prosocial behavior. This is because the ability to experience or understand another personʹs negative emotions should motivate a person with high empathy to act to alleviate this suffering. This action might be undertaken for altruistic reasons. Also an individual with high empathy would derive rewards in the form of vicarious pleasure from any subsequent positive emotions that resulted from the prosocial behavior. Alternatively, low empathy should increase the likelihood of antisocial behavior. This is because an individual who lacks empathy is essentially free to act without an appreciation of the impact of their behavior on the emotions of others and without experiencing aversive vicarious emotions. Furthermore a lack of empathy would prevent an individual from benefiting from another personʹs positive emotions because of the individualʹs ?limited ability to understand or experience such emotions. Given the intuitive strength of this theory it is not surprising that it was shown that there are relationships between hot empathy, Machiavellian beliefs, social competence and social uncompetence. This paper investigated the relationship between hot empathy and Machiavellian beliefs and the role of the variables in prediction of social competency and social uncompetence of 9 to 12 years students in Shiraz. Research questions 1- Is there a negative relationship between hot empathy and Machiavellian beliefs of students? 2- Is there a negative relationship between Machiavellian beliefs and social competence and positive relationship between Machiavellian beliefs and social uncompetence of students? 3- Is there a negative relationship between hot empathy with social uncompetence and positive relationship with social competence of students? 4- Can hot empathy and Machiavellian beliefs predict social competence and social uncompetence of students? Method Data for this study were obtained from 188 students (108 male, 80 female) 9 to 12 years old from primary schools in Shiraz. Empathy was measured using the Index of empathy (Bryant, 1982). This 22-item scale assesses hot empathy and was designed to measure the degree to which a person shares the emotions of another. Machiavellian beliefs were measured using the Kidde Mach scale (Christi & Geis, 1970). This 20-item scale assesses childrenʹs attitudes towards human nature and trust in interpersonal relationships. A peer nomination instrument (Crick & Grotpeter, 1995) was used to assess social competence and social uncompetence of students. This measure consists of two subscales which assess social competence and social uncompetence of students. For analysis of data, multiple regression and correlation of Pearson methods were applied. Results 1- The relationship between hot empathy and Machiavellian beliefs were negative. 2- Machiavellian beliefs related to the social competency positively and to the social uncompetency negatively 3- Both hot empathy and Machiavellian beliefs could predict social competency and social uncompetency of students. Conclusion Correlation between scores on the Empathy scale and Kidde Mach revealed some relations. As expected, students who displayed insensitivity towards the feelings of others were heightened in Machiavellian beliefs; in contrast, the students who displayed sensitivity to the feelings of others were low in Machiavellian beliefs. This finding is consistent with the study of Pellarini (2001) that found high levels of Machiavellianism were associated with low hot empathy (path=0.43, p < 0.1). McIlwain (2003) said that Machs have the cool syndrome. The developmental findings show that young Machs are low in this vital dimension of hot empathy, empathic concern. Affective coolness is there by age 10 in the form of an absence of the emotionally based, empathic concern dimension of empathy. As children and as adults, they lack empathy. They do not report being vicariously and compassionately aroused by the emotional experience of others. The present investigation explored the role of empathic disposition and Machiavellianism in the studentʹs social competence and social uncompetence. Empathic positions were found to have a significantly positive role in predicting studentʹs social competence and a negative role in predicting studentʹs social uncompetence. These findings suggest that empathy is an important motive for helping; on the other hand, the lack of it tends to an insensivity for the feelings of others and low empathy disposition can tend to be social uncompetence. Machiavellianism is found to have a significantly negative role in predicting studentʹs social competence and a positive role in predicting of studentʹs social uncompetence. Machiavellianism is characterized by a set of attitudes toward the interpersonal world, and by a preparedness to use exploitative tactics. Machs have the cool syndrome (Christie & Geis, 1970). This is not directly assessed by the Mach scales, but is invariably associated with Machʹs real world performance. They betray little spontaneous affect, and thus are good deceivers; they respond little to the emotional situation of others and thus are exceptional at exploitation. They are competent manipulators from an early age. Machs have an articulated worldview, those identified as Machiavellian are willing to use and are adept at using manipulative tactics and give explanations to the deceived others that are plausible, if wide of the full truth. So, childʹs violent and social uncompetence can be changed to social competence and prosocial behavior by promoting hot empathy and decreasing Machiavellian beliefs. Teaching empathy by peers, teachers and parents and changing Machiavellian beliefs by positive interpersonal relationships is suggested as a good intervention for anti-social and social uncompetence programs. Investigating the role of empathy as a mediator for the relationship between Machiavellianism and social uncompetence behavior is suggested for future studies. In addition, studying the causal role of empathy for Machiavellian behavior is the other suggestion for researchers too.