Investigações sobre desengajamento moral

Abstract

Moral disengagement (DM) is a psychosocial process that deactivates the internal moral standard of inhuman conduct, silencing self-condemnation. Thus, three studies were conducted to analyze DM by perspectives different. Specifically, the objectives were: to analyze the current state of the art of researches on DM (Study 1); to obtain a translated and adapted version for Brazil of the main measure of DM, the Multifaceted Scale of Mechanisms of Moral Disengagement - MSMMD, seeking evidence of validity and reliability estimates (Study 2); and to investigate the relationships between DM and demographic and educational variables (Study 3). Study 1 revealed that this phenomenon has been related to a fairly large number of transgressive behaviors that vary in severity, that DM manifests itself in several contexts and in different phases of the life course, that predominate correlational studies and that are scarce the studies on DM in Brazil, as well as that there is a lack of measures with evidence of validity and reliability for this context. Study 2 denoted that the Brazilian version of MSMMD appears to be multidimensional, with the theoretical model - four sets of mechanisms that group eight mechanisms and give rise to a total - the most adequate internal structure for the measure. The scale presents good internal consistency for the total of items, however, most of the factors and components presented Cronbach's Alphas lower than expected. Evidence of validity for MSMMD was also found based on the relationship with other variables, more precisely empathy, prossocial behavior and infractional acts. Although not exempt from limitations, the Brazilian version of MSMMD can be considered a useful resource for Brazilian research on DM. In addition, it is recommended that further studies on MSMMD psychometric properties be performed. Study 3 identified that boys, students with lower age and with less number of years studied, students of public institutions with a history of school failure showed higher DM. Religion was not associated with DM in general, but the Moral Justification and Euphemistic Language mechanisms were less used by participants who have and are practicing religion. Moral Justification was the mechanism most used by students and Advantageous Comparison less used. Despite the limitations, the three researches that compose this dissertation open, albeit modestly, ways for future researches on DM in the Brazilian context.