Relationship between political positioning, empathy and adherence to the principle of autonomy
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Abstract
The Principle of Autonomy refers to the capacity of self-government of the human being and obliges to consider that all people are, as a matter of principle and until proven otherwise, capable of making decisions regarding everything that affects their vital project, being able, therefore, to assume the management of their own health and their own body. This implies the obligation on the part of professionals to respect the personal values of each individual in those decisions that concern their lives. This regulation can be considered an implicit social norm for some people in our culture. The main objective of this research is to analyze whether there is any relationship between empathy and adherence to the ethical principle of autonomy. And to execute an estimated measurement of adherence, the political positioning of the participants will be used.
If ideologies are understood to represent the level of freedoms that people are willing to tolerate in other members of their communities, this variable can be used to estimate adherence to this principle. Therefore, the methodology used consisted of 5 questionnaires: an ad hoc questionnaire for sociodemographic variables, an ad hoc questionnaire for contextual variables on the Covid-19 pandemic, the Spanish adaptation of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI; Davis, 1980, 1983), an ad hoc questionnaire on adherence to the principle of autonomy, and finally the Nolan test. The survey was conducted by a sample of 131 participants. Peer comparisons between groups showed that there were statistically significant differences between sexes in the variables of total empathy and the subscales of Fantasy (FS), Empathic Concern (CE) and Personal Discomfort (PD). On the other hand, in the variable of Adherence, liberals scored significantly above totalitarians and centrist subjects. In total empathy, progressives have scored significantly higher than liberals and centrist subjects. On the empathy subscale known as Fantasy (FS), progressives have scored above liberals and centrists. And last on the Empathic Concern (EC) subscale, progressives have scored above liberals and centrists. From these results it can be concluded that perhaps the most empathetic subjects have projected their own emotions consciously or unconsciously ignoring the true interests of imaginary interlocutors raised in the battery of ad hoc questions used to measure adherence to the principle of autonomy. From this perspective it is considered whether adherence to the principle of autonomy can be considered an even more effective tool than empathy to resolve interpersonal conflicts.
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