Chaos May Prevail Without Filial Piety: A Cross-Cultural Study on Filial Piety, the Dark Triad, and Moral Disengagement

Abstract

In traditional Chinese society, filial piety (FP) served as the philosophical foundation of social governance, without which chaos would prevail. It indicates that the function of FP is not limited to family. FP can predict attitudes and behaviors in other social contexts. This study examined the relationship between FP and moral disengagement, and the mediating roles of the dark triad personality, and cultural differences regarding these mechanisms. An online self-report survey was conducted in two different culture groups- university students from China (N = 400, 37% male, Mage = 20.41, SD age = 2.52) and Islamic countries who are studying in China (N = 378, 59.25% male, Mage = 24.29, SD age = 4.77). Correlation analysis showed that authoritarian FP was positively associated with moral disengagement among students from China and Islamic countries, while reciprocal FP only negatively correlated with moral disengagement among Chinese students. Moreover, reciprocal FP directly and negatively affected moral disengagement, and did so indirectly through the mediating role of Machiavellianism. However, authoritarian FP directly and positively influenced moral disengagement, and did so indirectly through the buffering role of narcissism. These two parallel mediating models are not affected by culture. Though FP varies from culture to culture, reciprocal FP and authoritarian FP play critical roles in influencing personality and moral development. Reciprocal FP reduces moral disengagement directly and indirectly by weakening Machiavellianism. The role of authoritarian FP is conflicting. It can strengthen moral disengagement, but may also weaken it by deterring the development of the narcissistic personality. The findings enlighten us to view authoritarian FP dialectically. These two parallel mediating models are not affected by culture, indicating the applicability of DFPM in other societies. Future studies are encouraged to involve participants from more divergent countries and cultural backgrounds.

Psychometric properties of the Propensity to Morally Disengage Scale in Peruvian university students: internal structure and association with the dark triad

“…Regarding the evidence of validity due to its relationship with other variables, positive correlations were found between the Propensity to Morally Disengage Scale and the dark triad dimensions (psychopathy, Machiavellianism, and narcissism) in both the groups of men and women. This is consistent with the current scientific literature that demonstrated the direct association of MD with the personality dark triad in different contexts (Sijtsema et al, 2019;Kapoor et al, 2021;Qiao et al, 2021;Brugués and Caparrós, 2022;Navas et al, 2022a,b;Yanuari, 2022), including the original study of Propensity to Morally Disengage Scale (Moore et al, 2012). Additionally, while it was postulated, based on previous literature, that this association is likely to differ between men and women, the absence of differences would reflect the complexity of the DM construct in that, regardless of whether it is assessed differently for men and women, its association with Dark Triad traits remains significant.…”

“…In addition, the dimensions' characteristics of the dark personality suggest that those personalities with a high level of Machiavellianism and psychopathy are more susceptible to cross the moral boundaries that lead to poor ethical behaviors (Sijtsema et al, 2019); while people with high levels of narcissism can be drawn to transgress moral rules due to the fact that they prioritize their personal interest over the interest of others (Egan et al, 2015). In this context, several studies have proved the positive association of MD and the dark triad components in diverse groups that present perpetrators of violence against women and men in the community (Navas et al, 2022b), organizations, (Yanuari, 2022), penitentiary field (Brugués and Caparrós, 2022), adolescents (Navas et al, 2022a), consumers (Kapoor et al, 2021), and university students (Qiao et al, 2021).…”

“I deserve better grades.” Compliance-gaining perspective of dark triad traits, power distance and academic entitlement in Chinese higher education

“…People with DT traits are emotionless, manipulative, corrupt and prioritize themselves (Qiao et al, 2021). DT traits exhibit negative conducts and characteristics as dishonesty, adverse morality and evading social responsibilities (Furnham et al, 2013).…”

“…Nonetheless, the relations between scholastic cheating (students' attempts to present others' scholastic work as their own) and personality constructs i.e., the Big Five and the DT has recently been investigated in Chinese university students (Zhang et al, 2019). Research similarly, investigated DT in Chinese HEIs (Qiao et al, 2021;Ren et al, 2022). However, none of mentioned studies investigated students' DT traits in relation with their academic entitlement.…”

Constructing Indigenous Psychological Theories From A Global Perspective: Taking Filial Piety Model As An Example

“…Zheng et al (2021) also applied the DFPM to moral psychology, which examined the mediating effects of empathy, moral identity, gratitude, and sense of indebtedness in the relationship between filial piety and prosocial behavior (PB) and the moderating effects between Chinese and Indonesian participants. Qiao et al (2021) examined the relationship between filial piety and moral disengagement, and the mediating roles of the dark triad personality, and cultural differences regarding these mechanisms in Islamic society. All these empirical evidences confirm that the DFPM has its cross-cultural applicability and highlight the universal and culture-specific aspects of filial piety.…”