Why be good? the development of enlightened self-interest in moral personality
department or school: Arts, Faculty of
department or school: Psychology, Department of
data provider: DSpace
degree campus: UBCV
creator: Frimer, Jeremy Abraham
issued: 2011-09-29T17:01:20Z
issued: 2011
related degree: Doctor of Philosophy - PhD
degree grantor: University of British Columbia
description: What motivates people to devote their lives to promoting the greater good? This dissertation advances the reconciliation model, which explains moral motivation within a developmental framework by positing that, for the mature, the relationship between self-promoting (agentic) and other-promoting (communal) motives transforms from one of mutual competition to one of synergy. That is, the model proposes that moral exemplars, in particular, integrate agency and communion in their psychological functioning. Most people, on the other hand, do not become highly virtuous partly because they developmentally stagnate, failing to integrate these motives. The majority of leaders and other successful people also fail to integrate the two, and instead continue to develop agentic motives while attenuating communal motives, resulting in unmitigated agency. Three studies test claims concerning the endpoints of development. Relying on a young-adult sample of student club leaders, Study 1 pinpoints the specific values that usually compete within the moral domain. Study 2 finds evidence of integrated agency and communion in the personalities of recipients of a national award for decades of contribution to the greater good (in contrast to a demographically matched comparison group). Study 3 explores the motives of a “moral dream team” compared to those of a similarly influential set of heroes, icons, leaders, and revolutionaries. The findings are that exemplars treat agency as a means to an end of communion while, for most influential people, agency merely begets more agency. Agency, communion, and the relationship between them hold considerable promise in explaining moral motivation, its development, and the processes that support lives of extraordinary moral commitment.
aggregated CHO: https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/37673
note: WHY BE GOOD? THE DEVELOPMENT OF ENLIGHTENED SELF-INTEREST IN MORAL PERSONALITY by JEREMY A. FRIMER B.A.Sc., The University of British Columbia, 2002 M.A., The University of British Columbia, 2006 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES (Psychology) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) September 2011 © Jeremy A. Frimer, 2011 ii Abstract What motivates people to devote their lives to promoting the greater good? This dissertation advances the reconciliation model, which explains moral motivation within a developmental framework by positing that, for the mature, the relationship between self-promoting (agentic) and other-promoting (communal) motives transforms from one of mutual competition to one of synergy. That is, the model proposes that moral exemplars, in particular, integrate agency and communion in their psychological functioning. Most people, on the other hand, do not become highly virtuous partly because they developmentally stagnate, failing to integrate these motives. The majority of leaders and other successful people also fail to integrate the two, and instead continue to develop agentic motives while attenuating communal motives, resulting in unmitigated agency. Three studies test claims concerning the endpoints of development. Relying on a young-adult sample of student club leaders, Study 1 pinpoints the specific values that usually compete within the moral domain. Study 2 finds evidence of integrated agency and communion in the personalities of recipients of a national award for decades of contribution to the greater good (in contrast to a demographically matched comparison group). 6WXG\H[SORUHVWKHPRWLYHVRID³PRUDOGUHDPWHDP´FRPSDUHGWR those of a similarly influential set of heroes, icons, leaders, and revolutionaries. The findings are that exemplars treat agency as a means to an end of communion while, for most influential people, agency merely beget…
has type: Thesis/Dissertation
date issued: 2011-11
is shown at: 10.14288/1.0072243
language: eng
degree discipline: Psychology
provider: Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
publisher: University of British Columbia
rights: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
rights URI: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
scholar level: Graduate
type: Text
identifier URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/37673