The integration of agency and communion in moral personality

Evidence of enlightened self-interest

Dados Bibliográficos

ID6203604
AutoresJeremy A Frimer (0000-0003-4811-0199, University of British Columbia), Lawrence J Walker (0000-0001-7789-6130, University of British Columbia), William L Dunlop (0000-0003-3989-8156, University of British Columbia), Brenda H Lee (0000-0001-6168-0554, University of British Columbia), Amanda Riches (University of British Columbia)
Ano2011
Volume101
Fascículo1
Páginas149-163
Data de publicação2011-01-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoJournal of Personality and Social Psychology (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0022-3514 • E-ISSN: 1939-1315
EditoraAmerican Psychological Association (APA) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1037/a0023780
PMID21574724
OpenAlexW2003377395
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas63
Referências citadas16

Agency and communion are fundamental human motives, often conceptualized as being in tension. This study examines the notion that moral exemplars overcome this tension and adaptively integrate these 2 motives within their personality. Participants were 25 moral exemplars-recipients of a national award for extraordinary volunteerism-and 25 demographically matched comparison participants. Each participant responded to a life review interview and provided a list of personal strivings, which were coded for themes of agency and communion; interviews were also coded for the relationship between agency and communion. Results consistently indicated that exemplars not only had both more agency and communion than did comparison participants but were also more likely to integrate these themes within their personality. Consistent with our claim that enlightened self-interest is driving this phenomenon, this effect was evident only when agency and communion were conceptualized in terms of promoting interests (of the self and others, respectively) and not in terms of psychological distance (from others) and only when the interaction was observed with a person approach and not with the traditional variable approach. After providing a conceptual replication of these results using different measures elicited in different contexts and relying on different coding procedures, we addressed and dismissed various alternative explanations, including chance co-occurrence and generalized complexity. These results provide the first reliable evidence of the integration of motives of agency and communion in moral personality

Agency (philosophy) · Epistemology · Moral agency · Personality · Cultural Differences and Values · Psychology · Psychology of Moral and Emotional Judgment · Social and Intergroup Psychology · Social Psychology