Multiple Facets of Compassion: The Impact of Social Dominance Orientation and Economic Systems Justification

Abstract

Business students appear predisposed to select disciplines consistent with pre-existing worldviews. These disciplines (e.g., economics) then further reinforce the worldviews which may not always be adaptive. For example, high levels of Social Dominance Orientation (SDO) is a trait often found in business school students (Sidanius et al., Political Psychol 12(4):691-721, 1991). SDO is a competitive and hierarchical worldview and belief-system that ascribes people to higher or lower social rankings. While research suggests that high levels of SDO may be linked to lower levels of empathy, research has not established the potential relationship between another related adaptive trait in the workplace, compassion. Compassion facilitates workplace performance by lowering levels of litigation, easing stress, and facilitating cooperation. Accordingly, the following study aimed to examine the relationship between SDO and compassion while hypothesizing Economic Systems Justification (ESJ) would mediate this relationship. Because of the importance of compassion in the workplace, the prevalence of SDO in the business academic community (Sidanius et al. 1991) and the topicality of ESJ, we conducted our study with business school students. Results confirmed all but one hypothesis.

The Evolution of Prosocial and Antisocial Competitive Behavior and the Emergence of Prosocial and Antisocial Leadership Styles

“…Although we can identify many variations in the way humans compete for social attention, status and leadership roles, it is not always clear exactly what they are competing for (Cheng et al, 2014). While some forms of competitive striving are linked to desires for dominance, control over others, and a sense of superiority (Martin et al, 2014) and to some degree greed (Van Kleef et al, 2008), many forms of competitive behavior and leadership styles are related to the fears of inferiority and the avoidance of being marginalized, subordinated, and rejected, basically to social threat. Indeed, there is a difference in competitive behavior designed to exert control over others versus avoiding others exerting control over the self or being marginalized.…”

Styles of Leadership, Fears of Compassion, and Competing to Avoid Inferiority

“…While there may be differences in the nature of competitiveness between the antisocial and prosocial styles, it is unclear as to the focus of that competitiveness. Some forms of competitive striving are linked to the desire for dominance, control over others and a sense of superiority (Martin et al, 2014) and issues of greed (Van Kleef et al, 2008). Some leadership styles may also be related to the fears of inferiority and the avoidance of being marginalized, subordinated and rejected.…”

Why was Tao Lujia so willing and swift to greenlight the Red Flag Canal Project in 1960? New insights via a lens of compassion practice

“…For anyone who practices compassion (i.e., a compassion practitioner or giver), a compassion practice is necessarily a bipartite mental-behavioral process of thinking and acting: reaching the dual mental state through meditation or contemplation; and fulfilling the desire to help through actions that aim at assuaging the suffering of the other individual or group (i.e., the compassion recipient) (Barad 2007 , p. 13, pp. 22–24; Forester 2020 , p. 2; Martin et al 2015 , p. 239; The Dalai Lama 1999 , pp. 123–124, 2020 ; Wong 2009 , pp.…”

“…xxvii–xxix; Dahl and Davidson 2019 , p. 61; Halifax 2011 , p. 146; Jimenez 2009 , pp. 209–210; Martin et al 2015 , p. 240; Neff 2003 , p. 85, p. 96; Seppala et al 2013 , p. 422, pp. 428–429; Shonin et al 2015 , p. 1162; The Dalai Lama 1999 , p. 127, 2009 , pp.…”