Cleonice Camino

Endorsement of the New Ecological Paradigm A Comparison of Two Brazilian Samples and One Norwegian Sample

Results from 240 students (120 each from Brazil and Norway) on the 15-item revised New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) show higher endorsement of the ecological paradigm from the Brazilians; suggestions are that this relates to cultural variables rather than to technological development variables. There is no consistent relationship between scores on the NEP and scores from tests of justice based and care based morality, gender roles, or cultural orientation. Alphas, inter-item correlations, and factor analysis show much variation between the samples, but the relative ranking of items show very high agreement.

Adaptação e validação interna de duas escalas de empatia para uso no Brasil

O objetivo deste estudo foi adaptar e validar duas escalas de empatia para uso no Brasil. A Escala Multidimensional de Reatividade Interpessoal de Davis (EMRI) e uma medida de empatia (reatividade interpessoal) composta por tres subescalas com sete itens cada, que avaliam componentes afetivo (CE), cognitivo (CG) e comportamental (CC). A Escala de Empatia para Criancas e Adolescentes de Bryant (EECA) e uma medida com 22 itens. Foram testados 320 adolescentes de 14 a 16 anos, de nivel socio-economico alto e baixo, estudantes da segunda etapa do Ensino Fundamental (setima serie) e do Ensino Medio (primeira e segunda series), de ambos os sexos, em escolas publicas e privadas de Joao Pessoa/PB e Porto Alegre/RS. Os escores de consistencia interna de ambas as escalas (EMRI, alpha= 0,75; EECA, alpha= 0,74) e das tres subescalas da EMRI (CA, alpha= 0,67; CG, alpha= 0,63; CP, alpha= 0,54) foram considerados satisfatorios e permitem recomendar a utilizacao das versoes traduzidas para o Portugues por pesquisadores no Brasil. Foi calculada a validade convergente entre as escalas, obtendo correlacao da EECA com os componentes afetivo, cognitivo e comportamental da EMRI.

Justiça distributiva e empatia em adolescentes do Nordeste Brasileiro

The main aim of this research was to investigate whether empathy influenced the distributive reasoning of adolescents. A sample of 120 teenagers, controlled by sex and type of school (public or private), took part in the investigation. Distributive justice was evaluated through a dilemma in which the participants had to decide the fairest way to share money among six workers who had worked together but were different terms of productivity, necessity and place of birth. Empathy was measured with IRI (Davis). The results show that role-taking, personal distress, sex and type of school influenced the amounts of money distributed. These results are discussed in the context of Hoffmans theory and empirical research on morality and distributive justice.

Revisão de aspectos conceituais, teóricos e metodológicos da empatia

Empathy was object of study of diverse fields of knowledge as aesthetic, philosophy, sociology and psychology. In relation to the last one, empathy has been discussed and investigated mainly for researchers of clinical, social and developmental areas. The main objective of the present work is to present a review of the literature on empathy, focusing the theoretical, conceptual and methodological aspects proper to the field of studies of empathy. Questions related to the polysemy of the term empathy are used, and discussion concerning the dimensionality of this construct and some theoretical and methodological problems will be raised and discussed. Empirical studies and some research strategies used on the empathy field will be presented. Eventually, we will present some considerations regarding the necessity of resolution of the aforementioned problems, the need of more research on empathy in Brazil and the future perspectives of research.Empathy was object of study of diverse fields of knowledge as aesthetic, philosophy, sociology and psychology. In relation to the last one, empathy has been discussed and investigated mainly for researchers of clinical, social and developmental areas. The main objective of the present work is to present a review of the literature on empathy, focusing the theoretical, conceptual and methodological aspects proper to the field of studies of empathy. Questions related to the polysemy of the term empathy are used, and discussion concerning the dimensionality of this construct and some theoretical and methodological problems will be raised and discussed. Empirical studies and some research strategies used on the empathy field will be presented. Eventually, we will present some considerations regarding the necessity of resolution of the aforementioned problems, the need of more research on empathy in Brazil and the future perspectives of research.

Note on a Cross-cultural Test of Gilligan's Ethic of Care.

One hundred and twenty students from both Brazil and Norway were tested with Skoes Ethic of Care Interview (ECI), which is a test of Gilligans hypothesized gender‐related ethic of care. Subjects were also tested with Bems Sex Role Inventory and Triandiss Test of Cultural Orientations. The ECI was shown to be related neither to gender nor to sex‐role concepts, and lower ECI scores from the Brazilian sample could be related to their higher collectivism scores on Triandiss test. The results suggest that Gilligans ethic of care, as tested by the ECI, is not gender‐related and may be culture specific.

Consistency and Inconsistency in Adolescents’ Moral Reasoning:

Authors in the cognitive developmental tradition (e.g. Damon & Hart, 1988; Snyder & Feldman, 1984; Turiel, 1983) have created models to explain transition between stages of development. This study introduces consistency and inconsistency of moral reasoning as patterns of moral thinking and presents implications for moral education. Consistency and inconsistency are determined by the level of “stage mixture” scored on the Defining Issues Test. A 2 × 2 quasi-experimental design was created. Participants were 52, 15-year-old male high school students. Moral judgement was the dependent variable. Consistency, inconsistency, and the experimental procedures were independent variables. Results showed a significant interaction between levels of consistency and educational methods (P < .014), a developmental progression for the condition inconsistent experimental (P < .004), and a predicted pattern of change for the condition consistent experimental (P < .001). The authors concluded that consistency and inconsistency of moral reasoning require different assumptions for the promotion of moral development.

Orientação social, papel sexual e julgamento moral: uma comparação entre duas amostras brasileiras e uma norueguesa

Thirty female and 30 male university students each from Joao Pessoa and Porto Alegre were compared to a comparable Norwegian sample of 60 female and 60 male students. Except for a suggestion of differences in women’s cultural orientation, comparisons on Gibbs’ test of justice morality, the ECI test for ethic of care, Bem’s sex role inventory, and Triandis’ test for cultural orientations showed that all differences were between the Norwegian sample and the Brazilian samples as a unit. Brazilians showed a differentiation of sex roles, which was not shown in Norwegians, and higher scores on the collectivism cultural orientation. Norwegians showed higher scores ECI, which might be because of a culture bias in the test. No difference was shown for individualism cultural orientation, and on Gibbs’ test. Men scored higher on the total individualism measure, and women on vertical collectivism. JP women scored as more hedonistic and individual than the PA women, who scores as more traditional than the JP women.

O perdão interpessoal em relação a variáveis psicossociais e demográficas

The Enright Forgiveness Inventory - EFI (Portuguese version) was used to verify relationships between forgiveness and degree of injury to the agents of hurt and also the degree of affect, behavior and judgment from victims towards their offenders. It was also checked whether culture, gender, age and religion affect the act of forgiving. Two hundred Brazilians and 394 Americans participated in the study. Findings were similar for both cultures. Forgiveness was negatively related to the degree of injury. People forgive family and friends at a higher degree than they forgive strangers or co-workers. Positive judgments received significantly higher scores than positive affect. No significant effect was found for forgiveness regarding gender, age or religion. Future studies should verify whether genuine forgiveness shows positive affect for offenders at a same degree as positive judgments or affect remains always lower than judgment for forgiving.

Justiça distributiva em crianças de 5 a 10 anos de idade

The main aim of this research was to investigate the types of principles of distributive justice. A sample of 120 children, whose ages ranged from 5 to 10 years, of both sexes, took part in the investigation. Their conceptions about distributive justice were evaluated through a dilemma constituted by four stories, in which two children had to decide whether or not to give more toy blocks to another child that arrived late at school. The results showed that (a) a tendency to absolute equality characterizes children of 5 to 6 years old; (b) the use of equity judgments increase with age; (c) the judgments that considered the importance of cooperation and mutual respect were present even in children 5 to 6 years old. Finally, these results are discussed in the context of research on child moral development and distributive justice.

Julgamento moral sobre pena de morte e redução da maioridade penal

The aim of this study was to investigate the moral judgments of students of high school and degrees on the death penalty and the reduction of criminal majority. Thus, it was used to support the theoretical and empirical typology of moral development of Lawrence Kohlberg. The study included 200 students who responded, beyond a list that requested information from some of their bio-demographic data, questions related to death penalty and reduction of criminal majority. In general, participants opined in favor of the death penalty and the reduction of criminal majority, and in defense of their views, used mainly typical arguments hierarchically lower stages of the Kohlbergs typology there, however, some differences between the responses according to level of schooling. These results were discussed taking into consideration the Kohlbergs theory and empirical studies dealing with the issues of death penalty and reduction of criminal majority.