Moral Disengagement and Generalized Social Trust as Mediators and Moderators of Rule-Respecting Behaviors During the COVID-19 Outbreak

In this study, we tested a theoretical model with moral disengagement, a mediator, and generalized social trust (GST), a mediator and a moderator of the relationship between personality traits and rule-respecting behaviors (i.e., social distancing and stay-at-home), during the coronavirus disease 20...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Guido Alessandri, Lorenzo Filosa, Marie S. Tisak, Elisabetta Crocetti, Giuseppe Crea, Lorenzo Avanzi
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2020-08-01
Series:Frontiers in Psychology
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.02102/full
id doaj-48f652a64402408d8b1d406ed0ab5705
record_format Article
spelling doaj-48f652a64402408d8b1d406ed0ab57052020-11-25T03:52:04ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782020-08-011110.3389/fpsyg.2020.02102566127Moral Disengagement and Generalized Social Trust as Mediators and Moderators of Rule-Respecting Behaviors During the COVID-19 OutbreakGuido Alessandri0Lorenzo Filosa1Marie S. Tisak2Elisabetta Crocetti3Giuseppe Crea4Lorenzo Avanzi5Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, ItalyDepartment of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, ItalyDepartment of Psychology, Bowling Green State University, Bowling, OH, United StatesDepartment of Psychology, Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna, Bologna, ItalyDepartment of Psychology, Salesian Pontifical University, Rome, ItalyDepartment of Psychology and Cognitive Science, University of Trento, Trento, ItalyIn this study, we tested a theoretical model with moral disengagement, a mediator, and generalized social trust (GST), a mediator and a moderator of the relationship between personality traits and rule-respecting behaviors (i.e., social distancing and stay-at-home), during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak in Italy. The data were collected on 1520 participants (61% males). General results are threefold: (1) moral disengagement mediated the relationship between emotional stability, narcissism, psychopathy, and social distancing; (2) among components of GST, trust in Government mediated the relationship between psychopathy and social distancing; trust in known others mediated the relationship between emotional stability, agreeableness, and Machiavellianism with total number of exits; trust in unknown others mediated the relationship of emotional stability, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and psychopathy with average daily number of exits; (3) GST moderated the indirect effect of personality traits on rule-respecting behaviors through moral disengagement. The theoretical and practical importance of these results is discussed.https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.02102/fullmoral disengagementbig fivedark triadCOVID-19 outbreakrule-respecting behaviorssocial distance
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Guido Alessandri
Lorenzo Filosa
Marie S. Tisak
Elisabetta Crocetti
Giuseppe Crea
Lorenzo Avanzi
spellingShingle Guido Alessandri
Lorenzo Filosa
Marie S. Tisak
Elisabetta Crocetti
Giuseppe Crea
Lorenzo Avanzi
Moral Disengagement and Generalized Social Trust as Mediators and Moderators of Rule-Respecting Behaviors During the COVID-19 Outbreak
Frontiers in Psychology
moral disengagement
big five
dark triad
COVID-19 outbreak
rule-respecting behaviors
social distance
author_facet Guido Alessandri
Lorenzo Filosa
Marie S. Tisak
Elisabetta Crocetti
Giuseppe Crea
Lorenzo Avanzi
author_sort Guido Alessandri
title Moral Disengagement and Generalized Social Trust as Mediators and Moderators of Rule-Respecting Behaviors During the COVID-19 Outbreak
title_short Moral Disengagement and Generalized Social Trust as Mediators and Moderators of Rule-Respecting Behaviors During the COVID-19 Outbreak
title_full Moral Disengagement and Generalized Social Trust as Mediators and Moderators of Rule-Respecting Behaviors During the COVID-19 Outbreak
title_fullStr Moral Disengagement and Generalized Social Trust as Mediators and Moderators of Rule-Respecting Behaviors During the COVID-19 Outbreak
title_full_unstemmed Moral Disengagement and Generalized Social Trust as Mediators and Moderators of Rule-Respecting Behaviors During the COVID-19 Outbreak
title_sort moral disengagement and generalized social trust as mediators and moderators of rule-respecting behaviors during the covid-19 outbreak
publisher Frontiers Media S.A.
series Frontiers in Psychology
issn 1664-1078
publishDate 2020-08-01
description In this study, we tested a theoretical model with moral disengagement, a mediator, and generalized social trust (GST), a mediator and a moderator of the relationship between personality traits and rule-respecting behaviors (i.e., social distancing and stay-at-home), during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak in Italy. The data were collected on 1520 participants (61% males). General results are threefold: (1) moral disengagement mediated the relationship between emotional stability, narcissism, psychopathy, and social distancing; (2) among components of GST, trust in Government mediated the relationship between psychopathy and social distancing; trust in known others mediated the relationship between emotional stability, agreeableness, and Machiavellianism with total number of exits; trust in unknown others mediated the relationship of emotional stability, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and psychopathy with average daily number of exits; (3) GST moderated the indirect effect of personality traits on rule-respecting behaviors through moral disengagement. The theoretical and practical importance of these results is discussed.
topic moral disengagement
big five
dark triad
COVID-19 outbreak
rule-respecting behaviors
social distance
url https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.02102/full
work_keys_str_mv AT guidoalessandri moraldisengagementandgeneralizedsocialtrustasmediatorsandmoderatorsofrulerespectingbehaviorsduringthecovid19outbreak
AT lorenzofilosa moraldisengagementandgeneralizedsocialtrustasmediatorsandmoderatorsofrulerespectingbehaviorsduringthecovid19outbreak
AT mariestisak moraldisengagementandgeneralizedsocialtrustasmediatorsandmoderatorsofrulerespectingbehaviorsduringthecovid19outbreak
AT elisabettacrocetti moraldisengagementandgeneralizedsocialtrustasmediatorsandmoderatorsofrulerespectingbehaviorsduringthecovid19outbreak
AT giuseppecrea moraldisengagementandgeneralizedsocialtrustasmediatorsandmoderatorsofrulerespectingbehaviorsduringthecovid19outbreak
AT lorenzoavanzi moraldisengagementandgeneralizedsocialtrustasmediatorsandmoderatorsofrulerespectingbehaviorsduringthecovid19outbreak
_version_ 1724484505430917120