Abstract
The topic relates to exploring the relationship between aggression, self-efficacy and moral disengagement strategies so as to understand the matter of psychology in a systematic manner. The factor of self-efficacy is a cognitive factor which mediates the relationship between the judgment of individual related to the thinking, emotions and action for determination of people with the same set of knowledge and skill with the different performances within the same period of time. The further study details about the importance of topic, introduction to the topic, literature related to the relationship between aggression, self-efficacy and use of moral disengagement strategies. The research hypothesis for this study is to test association of higher level of aggression with the utilization of moral disengagement strategies, association of high levels of proactive aggression with maximum utilization of dehumanization in moral disengagement, association of high levels of reactive aggression with the lower emotional self-efficacy. The selected research methodology for the study is quantitative methodology and questionnaire process for completion of study in a successful manner. The findings of the study are detailed below for better clarifications of the study. The discussion and conclusion section caters to the final conclusion of the study in a proper manner.
Introduction
The investigation of the topic holds an important place because the relationship between aggression, self-efficacy and moral disengagement is quite close and need to be explored for betterment of study. The study caters to the literature for understanding the background of study, methodology for conduct of study, results, discussion and conclusion of study which clarifies the proper understanding of research topic of study.
Literature
This section is included to understand the background literature of study and it is considered that the moral disengagement is manifested with power of refraining behavior as well as the gain of proactive power of behaving humanely. The moral disengagement also relates to self-efficacy in terms of self-theory encompassment and other self-regulatory mechanisms within the personal standards linked to the self-sanctions (Merk, 2010). The self regulations and related mechanisms governs the play and psychological maneuvers for selective moral disengagement and inhumane conduct and, therefore, the moral disengagement center on the cognitive restructuring of inhumane conduct and thereby, aggression. The relationship between self-efficacy, aggression and moral disengagement conduct is an advantageous comparison for the disavowal of personal agency sense and displacement o responsibility for the minimization of injurious effects of the actions and other types of dehumanization. There are various inhumanities which operate the network of legitimate enterprises and being run by the people who contributes to the destructive activities and disconnected functions and responsibility diffusion. The mentioned mechanisms for the moral disengagement, requirement of civilized life, personal standards, and social systems upholds the compassionate behavior and renouncement of inhumane actions (Castro, 2010). The disengagement of moral and self-sanctions is problem growing in recent times with the individual as well as collective levels. The relationship between self-efficacy, aggression and moral disengagement is justified with the entitlement of psychological theories. The theories also focus on moral thoughts for neglect of moral conduct and humanity for better justifications within the study. The regulation of human conduct also involves the moral reasoning and complete theory of morality for the linking of moral knowledge as well as actions for further requirement of study. The theory also specifies the mechanisms of people to come and live in accordance with the moral standards (Barbaranelli, 1996). In social cognitive theory, the moral reasoning is to translate the actions with the support of self-regulatory mechanisms rooted within the self-sanctions and exercising of moral agencies. The moral self of individuals are embedded in the broad social cognitive theories for encompassment of self-organization, self reflection and regulative mechanisms (Muris, 2001). The self-referent process relates to the providence of motivational and cognitive regulators for the overall moral conduct within the study.
Research hypotheses
The research hypothesis is a proposed explanation for the phenomenon and a proper scientific hypothesis requires the other hypothesis for testing within the study. The hypothesis is to be made on previous observations that cannot explain the available theories. A working hypothesis is a provisionally accepted hypothesis for the further conduct of the study. The hypothesis is also considered as a formal logic for the denotation of antecedent of proposition and in the same manner, one if hypotheses, another is consequent and there is a possibility of particular situation within the study. The research hypotheses of this study are as follows:
1. The association of higher level of aggression with the utilization of moral disengagement strategies.
2. The association of high levels of proactive aggression with maximum utilization of dehumanization in moral disengagement.
3. The association of high levels of reactive aggression with the lower emotional self-efficacy.
Research methodology
The research methodology section is most important part of study as it deals with the proper selection of methodology for further data analysis and conclusion of the study. There are different criteria’s for selection of research methodology based on the research topic and at the same time, this section also deals with the number of participants, sample study and demographic study of the participants within the study. The introduction and literature section have clarified the purpose of the research topic and the further sections will clarify the discussion and results within the study. The selected research methodology in this study relates to the quantitative methodology and questionnaire process is conducted to complete the research study in a systematic manner. The participants in this study are selected to be 114 undergraduate students (37 male) enrolled in a first-year psychology course and the age of students are 17 to 56 years, average age = 21.32 (SD = 5.95) years. The questionnaire is sectioned in various categories for gaining better responses within the study. The sections are divided into five categories for further clarification of the research topic and the questionnaire caters to the questions related to the research topic. The first section of the questionnaire explores the individual as a person, acting, feeling, observation, strengths, weaknesses, expectations and indifferent qualities of participants so as to judge the participants on the basis of scale of five categories. The scale measures at strongly agree, strongly disagree, agree, disagree, neutral. The second category of the questionnaire explores the expression of opinion of participant familiarity with people, happenings, success, suppressing of thoughts for the participants and other relates questions. The next section caters to the nature and behavior of individuals, honesty, trust, bravery and related considerations within the study. The fourth section caters to the protection of friends, conditional behavior, misbehavior discipline, state of mind etc. The last section of the questionnaire explores the considerations such as emotional attitude, concerned feelings, emergency situations, disagreement considerations, tense situations, emotional senses for better understanding of the study. The further section investigates the results and discussion for concluding the study in a better manner.
Results
The findings are presented below after the investigation of questionnaire and responses of participants and the result also represent the correlation coefficients for the discussion within the study. The appropriate emphasis has to be given to the findings in relevance to the testing of research hypothesis of study. The results are indicated below for clarification of the study.
Total Aggression Proactive Aggression Reactive
Aggression
Total Moral Disengagement .25** .19* .26**
Moral justification .36** .22* .39**
Diffusion of responsibility .03 -.03 .06
Attribution of blame .19* .12 .19*
Dehumanization .18 .20* .17
Total Emotional Self-Efficacy -.25** -.14 -.27**
Discussion
In this section, the interpretations of main findings are provided with the overall support of hypothesis and comparison with the previous findings is also provided for understanding of present results. The previous findings related to the research topic are mainly concerned with the balance of aggression, self-efficacy and moral disengagement and in this study; the research is conducted to explore the relationship between aggression, self-efficacy and moral disengagement. The possible weaknesses of current research relate to the scarcity of time for conduct of long questionnaire process within the study. The demographic information is also gathered at the end of questionnaire process and it relates to the age and gender of participants for general information within the study (Koops, 2010). The implications of the findings relates to the score of aggression in comparison to the moral justification, diffusion of responsibility, attribution of blame, dehumanization and emotional self-efficacy in the context to the relationship of the factors within the study.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it can be considered that the findings have revealed sufficient information for further study and it is explored that there is a strong relationship between the aggression, self-efficacy and moral disengagement which is clarified in the result section of the study. It can also be concluded that a strong relationship between the factors justifies the research topic in a clarified manner. The main limitation of study relates to the time limitation while conducting the research study. The results are observed on the basis of responses of participants within the different sections of the questionnaire for overall results of study.
References
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Behavioral Development, 27, 122-133. doi: 10.1080/01650250244000128.
Muris, P. (2001). A brief questionnaire for measuring self-efficacy in youths, Journal
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Orobio de Castro, B., Merk, W., Koops, W., Veerman, J., & Bosch, J. D. (2010). Emotions
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