What strengthens/weakens the social darwinism? On the role of social experience, personality, personal values and embeddedness in a community Cover Image

Co wzmacnia/osłabia społeczny darwinizm? O roli doświadczeń z ludźmi, osobowości, wartości osobistych i przywiązania do wspólnoty
What strengthens/weakens the social darwinism? On the role of social experience, personality, personal values and embeddedness in a community

Author(s): Piotr Radkiewicz, Krystyna Skarżyńska
Subject(s): Psychology
Published by: Wydawnictwo Naukowe Scholar Sp. z o.o.
Keywords: social darwinism; negative beliefs about social world; experiences with people; personality; personal values; embeddedness in a community

Summary/Abstract: The article presents a multi-layered analysis that seeks to identify psychological sources of social darwinism – the syndrome of negative beliefs about human nature and social world. The article described research that explores potential relationships between different domains of psychological life and the darwin-like beliefs. The authors inquire into psychological factors that lead people to perceive the social world as a jungle. They point to several fields, where one may find important predictors of social darwinism: 1) positive and negative experiences with people, disappointment by significant persons); 2) stable personality traits (agreeableness, openness to experiences, tough-mindedness); 3) personal values (individualism-collectivism, humanism-materialism, conservatism); and 4) various forms of embeddedness in national and civic community (patriotism, nationalism, symbolic and instrumental engagement). The analysis based on three survey research confirmed the hypothesized relationships between darwin-like beliefs and the four mentioned categories of psychological factors.

  • Issue Year: VI/2011
  • Issue No: 16
  • Page Range: 7-23
  • Page Count: 16
  • Language: Polish