Academic literature on the topic 'Altruism. Personality'

Measures of traits of Goldberg's five factor model were correlated with value domain scores from the Rokeach Value Survey for a sample of 65 undergraduate students. Specific values were significantly related to scores on Openness (Conformity, Self-direction, Maturity, Altruism), Conscientiousness (Security, Achievement, Maturity, Altruism), Agreeableness (Achievement, Altruism), and Neuroticism (Conformity). The results underscore the commonalities between traits and values and raise questions about their respective conceptualizations.

This research tested the hypothesis that risky altruism is a significant predictor of criminal victimization. Two hundred sixty-eight respondents filled out a questionnaire measuring their experiences as crime victims, several personality variables, and their degree of altruism. Using factor analysis, a general altruism scale was subdivided into risky and safe altruism. Risky altruism correlated .31 with victimization, compared to .09 for safe altruism. This basic finding was true for both personal and property crime, and the pattern held for four different subgroups: a student sample and citizens from high-, moderate-, and low-crime areas. Separate measures of recent victimization and victimization directly related to helping someone (altruistic victimization) also showed significant relationships with risky altruism. Risky and safe altruism had different patterns of relationships with personality variables, with risky altruism being less related to prosocial personality, agreeableness, and conscientiousness, and more related to extraversion and sensation seeking.

From the perspective of the interaction of person and situation, we examined the effects of proactive personality on inrole performance investment and extrarole behavior of employees, and how these effects are amplified by situational conditions. Specifically, we investigated the effects of proactive personality on employees’ work engagement and altruism, and the moderating effect of team-level autonomy on these effects. Data were collected from 464 nurses and their supervisors in 75 teams at 4 hospitals in Shandong, China. Results suggest that proactive personality is positively related to work engagement and altruism of employees. The positive relationship between proactive personality and work engagement is stronger with a higher level of team autonomy, whereas the positive relationship between proactive personality and altruism is not significantly moderated by degree of team autonomy. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

The presence of others has long been known to have an effect on people’s decisions to engage in more helping behavior, but relatively few studies have examined the interaction between the observation of the helping act and various personality traits of the altruist person. In the present study, subjects were asked to volunteer by offering a less and a more costly charity service in public and under anonymous conditions. We found that prosocial personality traits showed relative independence of situational factors. Scores on the scale of Machiavellianism, in contrast, proved to be strongly dependent on the presence of others, but not on the cost of the offered charity act. Those obtaining high scores on this scale (high-Mach persons) disguised their selfishness and pretended altruism in the presence of others, but realized their self-interest when others were not observing their behavior. This responsiveness to the strategic distinction between the presence and absence of others is discussed in terms of reputation-gaining and competitive altruism.

Background and Objectives: Altruism is a form of prosocial behavior with the goal of increasing the fitness of another individual as a recipient while reducing the fitness of the actor. Although there are many studies on its heterogeneity, only a few behavioral genetic studies have been conducted to examine different recipient types: family members favored by kin selection, the dynamic network of friends and acquaintances as direct reciprocity, and strangers as indirect reciprocity. Materials and Methods: This study investigated the genetic and environmental structure of altruism with reference to recipient types measured by the self-report altruism scale distinguished by the recipient (the SRAS-DR) and examine the relationship to personality dimensions measured by the NEO-FFI with a sample of 461 adult Japanese twin pairs. Results: The present study shows that there is a single common factor of altruism: additive genetic effects explain 51% of altruism without a shared environmental contribution. The genetic contribution of this single common factor is explained by the genetic factors of neuroticism (N), extraversion (E), openness to experience (O), and conscientiousness (C), as well as a common genetic factor specific to altruism. Only altruism toward strangers is affected by shared environmental factors. Conclusions: Different types of altruistic personality are constructed by specific combinational profiles of general personality traits such as the Big Five as well as a genetic factor specific to altruism in each specific way.

Prior research found that user personality significantly affects technology acceptance perceptions and decisions. Yet, evidence on the moderating influence of user gender on the relationship between personality and technology acceptance is barely existent despite theoretical consideration. Considering this research gap, the present study reports the results of a survey in which we examined the relationships between personality and technology acceptance from a gender perspective. This study draws upon a sample of N = 686 participants (n = 209 men, n = 477 women) and applied the HEXACO Personality Inventory—Revised along with established technology acceptance measures. The major result of this study is that we do not find significant influence of user gender on the relationship between personality and technology acceptance, except for one aspect of personality, namely altruism. We found a negative association between altruism and intention to use the smartphone in men, but a positive association in women. Consistent with this finding, we also found the same association pattern for altruism and predicted usage: a negative one in men and a positive one in women. Implications for research and practice are discussed, along with limitations of the present study and possible avenues for future research.

Altruism is loosely defined as a desire to help others as well as acts and behaviors towards that end, particularly when no expectation of personal gain or reward exists (Batson, Fultz, Schoenrade & Paduano, 1987). It seems likely that individuals who choose to pursue acareer in counseling might be doing so out of some altruistic interest; in other words a desire to come to the aid of others in distress. It has been noted as well that some individuals may enter the counseling profession based more on self-interest; for example, as "wounded healers" hoping to work on personal issues (Wheeler, 2002). Some researchers (Shapiro &Gabbard, 1996) hypothesize that overstated altruism may lead to burn-out and fatigue among some counselors whereas those who have limited altruism may have difficulties empathizing with clients. Despite the apparent relevance of altruism to counseling as a profession, very few studies have investigated the level of altruism among those in the field. The primary purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between altruism and personality variables in beginning counseling students. It is currently unclear to what extent altruism is a state (situational) vs. a trait (inherent). Grasping a greater sense of what constitutes altruistic behavior among beginning counseling students may benefit researchers in understanding the potential difficulties Shapiro & Gabbard (1996) suggest; i.e., burn-out, limited empathy or even self-gratification. The population in this study was 87 students entering a Master's degree in Counselor Education at a large, public institution in the Southeastern Unites States. The subjects completed the following assessments at orientation to their program: The Robinson-Heintzelman Inventory (an instrument designed to study altruism vs. self-interest in counselor education students), the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) and the Fundamental Interpersonal Relations Orientation-Behavior (FIRO-B). It was hypothesized that higher scores on altruism would correlate with the intuitive and feeling dimensions of the MBTI and low scores on wanted inclusion, wanted affection and expressed control on the FIRO-B. The hypotheses were not supported in this study; the only finding of statistical significance was the correlation between the thinking dimension of the MBTI and the total score on the RHI. Suggestions for future research are discussed.
Ph.D.
Department of Child, Family and Community Sciences
Education
Counselor Education

La empatía es un elemento fundamental en la relación profesional entre sanitario y paciente, tanto a la hora de diagnosticar como en la relación de cuidado a lo largo de la enfermedad. Desde hace unos años las investigaciones se han centrado en el estudio de la empatía en la relación entre médico y paciente. Sin embargo, en los planes de estudio de las profesiones sanitarias, como Enfermería, la formación en las relaciones humanas interpersonales y el entrenamiento de éstas no tiene tanta presencia como la transmisión de conocimiento, las nuevas tecnologías, que parecen ser los ejes sobre los que gira la formación. La enseñanza de otras habilidades como son la empatía, la sensibilidad el tacto, no ocupan un lugar principal. Por tanto, es importante realizar investigaciones que permitan a las autoridades académicas, introducir las herramientas docentes necesarias para incentivar cambios que permitan desarrollar habilidades para que los profesionales tengan conductas empáticas y altruistas, que, junto a la calidad técnica, son claves para una relación sanitaria satisfactoria. Si bien, se han realizado investigaciones sobre la empatía en Enfermería, no se han encontrado trabajos sobre la empatía y el altruismo en los estudios de esta disciplina. Nuestro objetivo general es determinar el grado de cambio y de estabilidad de la empatía y el altruismo durante la adultez emergente en estudiantes de enfermería. Como específicos tenemos: 1. Estudiar los cambios en los niveles medios de empatía y altruismo en el período estudiado; 2. Estudiar si estos cambios son diferentes entre las tres disciplinas y, por tanto, si el cambio es diferencial en función de estas disciplinas; y 3. Estudiar si existe un perfil general de personalidad diferenciado para aquellos que muestran puntuaciones elevadas de empatía y altruismo comparados con aquellos que muestran puntuaciones bajas de empatía y altruismo. El diseño para esta investigación es de tipo transversal cuasiexperimental. La muestra original estaba compuesta por 516 estudiantes matriculados en el curso 2014-2015 en la Universitat de Vic – Universitat Central de Catalunya. Sin embargo, y en aras de controlar al máximo el efecto de la edad fuera de la adultez emergente, para asignar la variable curso solo fueron tenidos en cuenta los estudiantes que cumplieron los siguientes criterios: en primer curso, solo los estudiantes con edades entre 17 y 18 años; en segundo curso, solo los estudiantes con edades entre 18 y 19 años; en tercer curso, solo los estudiantes con edades entre 19 y 20 años; y en cuarto curso, solo los estudiantes con edades entre 20 y 21 años. Así, el número de estudiantes por cada grado es el siguiente: 109 estudiantes de los estudios de grado de enfermería, 60 del de Educación Infantil y 27 del de Empresa, distribuidos por estudios y curso según la Tabla número 7. Los instrumentos utilizados en esta investigación son el cuestionario de personalidad HEXACO-PI-R, la adaptación del Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) al español y la escala de altruismo SRA. En cada uno de los cuatro cursos de Enfermería, Educación Infantil y Empresa se ex plicó la finalidad de la investigación y se solicitó el preceptivo consentimiento informado. El cuadernillo con los tres cuestionarios se pasó de forma colectiva en grupos de 50 estudiantes como máximo, siendo recogidos al terminar la prueba. Los resultados han mostrado que los niveles medios de empatía muestran una tendencia creciente desde el primer curso al cuarto, en todas las disciplinas (Enfermería, Educación y Empresa). Por lo que respecta a los niveles de altruismo se incrementan en Enfermería y Educación, mientras que disminuye en Empresa. Estos resultados muestran que hay una relación entre empatía y altruismo. En cuanto a la evolución según el tipo de disciplina, hay una tendencia diferencial en Empresa, en que el altruismo disminuye, frente a Enfermería y Educación que aumenta. En relación con la existencia de un perfil de personalidad empática, destacan los factores Honestidad-Humildad, Cordialidad, Apertura y Emocionalidad en el desarrollo de la empatía. En la parte cognitiva están implicados los factores Honestidad, Cordialidad y Apertura, mientras que en la emocional el factor Emocionalidad aparece implicado de forma significativa en Malestar Personal y en Preocupación Empática junto a Honestidad-Humildad. Estos resultados están en consonancia con trabajos anteriores (Ashton, 2014; Romero, E.; Villar, P. y López-Romero, 2015). Con respecto a los factores implicados en altruismo, los resultados muestran una fuerte relación en Honestidad-Humildad, Cordialidad y Emocionalidad, estarían representados, en la faceta intersticial de altruismo en el HEXACO. Estos hallazgos son consistentes con anteriores investigaciones (Ashton et al., 2014). Finalmente, los resultados de nuestro trabajo, en concordancia con otros estudios (Robins et al., 2001; Specht et al., 2011), muestran los cambios que se producen a lo largo de los estudios universitarios y cómo en la adultez emergente, período estudiado por nuestra tesis, se dan cambios sustanciales en la personalidad, aunque no dramáticos. Estos resultados pueden proporcionar una ayuda para estudiar la introducción de métodos que permitan mejorar los niveles de empatía y altruismo en los estudiantes de Enfermería.
Empathy is a fundamental element in the relationship between health professionals and patients, both at the time of diagnosis and in the relationship of care throughout the illness. For some years now, research has focused on the study of empathy in the doctor-patient relationship. However, in the curricula of health professions such as Nursing, formation and training in interpersonal human relations do not have as much presence as the focus on the transmission of knowledge and on new technologies, which seem to be the axes on which training revolves. The teaching of other skills such as empathy, sensitivity and tact do not have a primary place in the curricula. Therefore, it is important to carry out research that allows academic authorities to introduce necessary teaching tools to encourage changes that allow professionals to develop skills so that they can have empathic and altruistic behaviours, which together with technical quality are key to a satisfactory health relationship. Although research has been done on empathy in Nursing, no work on empathy and altruism has been found in the syllabi of this discipline. Our overall goal is to determine the degree of change and stability of empathy and altruism during emerging adulthood in Nursing students. More specifically, we aim 1: To study the changes in the average levels of empathy and altruism in the period studied. 2: To study if these changes are different between the three disciplines studied (Nursing, Child Education and Business) and therefore if the change is different depending on these disciplines. 3: To study whether there is a different general personality profile for those who show high empathy and altruism scores compared to those who show low empathy and altruism scores. The design for this research is cross-sectional, quasi-experimental. The original sample was made up of 516 students enrolled in the 2014/2015 academic year at the University of Vic - Central University of Catalonia. However, in order to control as much as possible the effect of age outside of emerging adulthood, only students who met the following criteria were considered in assigning the course variable: in the first course only, students aged 17 to 18 were taken into account; in the second course, only students aged 18 to 19; in the third course, only students aged 19 to 20; and in fourth course, only students aged 20 to 21. Thus, the number of students per degree is as follows: 109 students from the Nursing degree, 60 from Child Education and 27 from Business, distributed by degrees and course as can be seen in table number 7. The instruments used in this research are the HEXACO-PI-R personality questionnaire, the adaptation of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) to Spanish and the SRA altruism scale. In each of the four courses of Nursing, Child Education and Business degrees, the purpose of the research was explained, and the compulsory consent was requested. The booklet with the three questionnaires was assigned collectively, being collected as each participant finished the test, in groups of up to 50 students. The results have revealed that the average levels of empathy show an increasing trend from the first to the fourth year, in all disciplines, i.e. Nursing, Child Education and Business. As for the levels of altruism, they increase in Nursing and Child Education, while they decrease in Business. These results show that there is a relationship between empathy and altruism. As for the evolution according to the type of study, there is a differential tendency in the Business degree, in which altruism decreases, as op- posed to Nursing and Child Education, in which it increases. In relation to the existence of an empathetic personality profile, the factors Honesty-Humility, Cordiality, Openness and Emotionality stand out in the development of empathy. In the cognitive part, the factors Honesty, Cordiality and Openness are involved, while in the emotional part, the Emotionality factor is significantly involved in Personal Discomfort and in Empathic Concern, together with Honesty-Humility. These results are in line with previous work (Ashton 2014; Romero, E., Villar, P., López-Romero, 2015). Regarding the factors involved in altruism, the results show a strong relationship in Honesty-Humility, Cordiality and Emotionality, which would be represented in the interstitial facet of altruism in the HEXACO questionnaire. These findings are consistent with previous research (Ashton et al., 2014). Finally, the results of our research show, in accordance with other studies (Robins et al., 2001; Specht et al., 2011), the changes that occur throughout university studies, and how in emerging adulthood, the period studied in our thesis, there are substantial, though not dramatic, changes in personality. These results can provide an aid to study the introduction of methods to improve levels of empathy and altruism in Nursing students.

Professionals in the mental health industry often attach a stigma to Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). It is commonly thought of as a frustrating disorder to treat. As a result many professionals avoid dealing with BPD individuals. In an attempt to promote positive treatment outcomes, the aim of the study is to explore how the introduction of altruistic behaviours would affect the outcome of the overall treatment of individuals with BPD. Snowball sampling procedures were implemented. Data were collected through the use of semi-structured interviews with six mental health professionals and analysed through qualitative data processing and thematic analysis procedures. To the researcher’s knowledge, no research has been conducted specifically exploring the relationship between altruistic behaviour and BPD to date. The following superordinate themes emerged: treatment challenges, treatment context, treatment approach, diagnostic challenges, altruism/prosocial influences, and altruism/prosocial behaviour. It is the researcher’s hope that the findings of this study will increase awareness of this possible avenue in the treatment of BPD, so that the results of this study can then be taken to the next level of exploration in research and in clinical practice.

Performance appraisal ratings provide the basis for numerous employment decisions, including retention, promotion, and salary increases. Thus, understanding the factors affecting the accuracy of these ratings is important to organizations and employees. Leniency, one rater error, is a tendency to assign higher ratings in appraisal than is warranted by actual performance. The proposed study examined how personality factors Agreeableness and Conscientiousness relate to rater leniency. The ability of narrower facets of personality to account for more variance in rater leniency than will the broad factors was also examined. The study used undergraduates' (n = 226) evaluations of instructor performance to test the study's hypotheses. In addition to personality variables, students' social desirability tendency and attitudes toward instructor were predicted to be related to rater leniency. Partial support for the study's hypotheses were found. The Agreeableness factor and three of the corresponding facets (Trust, Altruism and Tender-Mindedness) were positively related to rater leniency as predicted. The hypotheses that the Conscientiousness factor and three of the corresponding facets (Order, Dutifulness, and Deliberation) would be negatively related to rater leniency were not supported. In the current sample the single narrow facet Altruism accounted for more variance in rater leniency than the broad Agreeableness factor. While social desirability did not account for a significant amount of variance in rater leniency, attitude toward instructor was found to have a significant positive relationship accounting for the largest amount of variance in rater leniency.

The current study seeks to link traditional forms of empathy induction with new research that suggests videogames can be used as an experiential method of induction. One hundred-nine college students, sixty-four females and forty-six males, were used in a 2x2x2 design, the independent variables being prosocial/neutral videogame, empathic/neutral instructions, and gender. Dependent variables were both questionnaire responses to a fictional story and an opportunity to be realistically altruistic. Participants played either a prosocial or neutral videogame, received either empathic or neutral reading instructions, and then read a vignette depicting a difficult situation faced by the writer. They then rated their reactions on a 7-point Likert scale before being asked to donate time to a local charity. A marginally significant result of gender was found in that females generally responded more strongly than males, and no other results were significant. These finding were different than previous research.

Geller’s Actively Caring Survey (ACS) was theorized to measure person states deemed necessary to “Actively Care” or act altruistically toward others. Empirical research of the ACS has been limited, and this researcher sought to evaluate its reliability, validity, and factorial consistency. Undergraduate students (n = 1,095) completed the measure online. Hypotheses were partially supported. Unrotated primary component analysis found the ACS to be a unitary measure with 73.3% of the items loading onto the first factor. The ACS showed excellent internal consistency. Convergent and divergent validity with existing measures (i.e., the Big 5 Personality, Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability, Cognitive Failures Questionnaire, Barratt Impulsiveness, and Eysenck Personality Questionnaire Venturesomeness scales) was found in 88.9% of the predicted relationships; the ACS was negatively correlated with social desirability. An abbreviated ACS revision produced similar findings. Future studies should evaluate the measure in nonstudent populations, use clinical and industrial settings, and explore predictive validity.

Constituting a proposal for a book talk associated with the scholarly title Foreign-Born American Patriots: Sixteen Volunteer Leaders of the Revolutionary War, the presenter of this session (and author of the book) will introduce the scholarly work to participants for the purpose of highlighting research based in contribution, rather than interpretation. The author will detail the means by which the investigation of human experience and work product, storylines/patterns, and social cause may provide the context for creative scholarly works. The author will also reveal the unique contribution of Foreign Born American Patriots to historical and Southern Studies discourse, the book serving, up through the date of this proposal, as the only collective work regarding those foreigners who helped the newly formed United States defeat the British Army (many battles fought in the Southern States).

Narcissists are not generally thought of as altruistic individuals. There are certain conditions, however, that may meet the needs of narcissistic individuals and thus elicit altruistic behavior. These conditions include recognition for the act, or adding to narcissists’ already high opinion of themselves through executing the act. Because narcissists also demonstrate impulsivity, it is also possible that a time pressure may induce narcissists as well as impulsive individuals to act altruistically. The aim of this study is to determine in what context, if any, narcissistic and impulsive individuals may display acts of altruism, specifically charitable giving. This study uses a 2 (recognized vs. unrecognized) x 2 (time limited vs. time unlimited) between groups design. Participants will complete a Stop Signal task, a charitable giving task in which recognition and time limit are manipulated, demographic questions, and two measures of narcissism. The expected results are that higher scores on overt narcissism will lead participants to donate in conditions in which they receive recognition for their donation. Higher scores on covert narcissism will lead participants to donate in conditions where they are not recognized. Individuals with higher impulsivity scores as determined by the Stop Signal task will donate in time pressured conditions over time unlimited. And furthermore, impulsivity will act as a mediator between narcissism and charitable giving in time-limited conditions. Finally, implications of these results and future directions for research are discussed.

Constituting a proposal for a book talk associated with the scholarly title Foreign-Born American Patriots: Sixteen Volunteer Leaders of the Revolutionary War, the presenter of this session (and author of the book) will introduce the scholarly work to participants for the purpose of highlighting research based in contribution, rather than interpretation. The author will detail the means by which the investigation of human experience and work product, storylines/patterns, and social cause may provide the context for creative scholarly works. The author will also reveal the unique contribution of Foreign Born American Patriots to historical and Southern Studies discourse, the book serving, up through the date of this proposal, as the only collective work regarding those foreigners who helped the newly formed United States defeat the British Army (many battles fought in the Southern States).

Целью настоящего исследования является выявление взаимосвязей уверенности в себе с социально-психологической направленностью личности, эстетической отзывчивостью красоте и модальностью восприятия. Регрессионный анализ показал, что уверенность является предиктором для переменных социально-психологической направленности - результат, эгоизм, альтруизм и для переменной эстетической отзывчивости - отзывчивости технической красоте. The purpose of this study is to identify the relationships of self-confidence with the personality socio-psychological orientation, aesthetic responsiveness and modality of perception. Regression analysis has shown that confidence is a predictor for the variables of socio-psychological orientation-result, egoism, altruism and for the variable of aesthetic responsiveness-responsiveness to technical beauty.