Sens et bien en question : de l'ouverture d'esprit dans les domaines existentiel, idéologique et moral
(2011)
Files
_tabledesmatièresetintroduction.pdf
Open Access - Adobe PDF
- 138.51 KB
chapitreI-Laquêteexistentielle.pdf
Open Access - Adobe PDF
- 204.86 KB
chapitreII-Quêteexistentielleetamour.pdf
Open Access - Adobe PDF
- 492.75 KB
chapitreIII-Ladéontologieabstraite.pdf
Open Access - Adobe PDF
- 167.03 KB
chapitreIV-Déontologieabstraiteetidéologie.pdf
Restricted Access - Adobe PDF
- 90.77 KB
Details
- Authors
- Supervisors
- Saroglou, Vassilis
- Abstract
- (en) Open-mindedness, often considered as a virtue or a sign of maturity, is studied here by means of cognitive and affective variables in the existential, moral and ideological domains. In existential matters, we define open-mindedness as a search for meaning with a connotation of doubt. It refers thus to an existential quest that reflects the questioning and the readiness to change one's worldview and the meaning attributed to one's life. Our studies by questionnaires showed that cognitively, existential quest is opposed to dogmatism and reflects the consideration of arguments opposed to one's opinion. On the affective dimension, being existentially open needs a tolerance to uncertainty and is linked to negative emotions. Existential quest is also associated to empathy and to anxiety in love relationships. In the moral domain, we considered open-mindedness as the readiness to break rules and principles to avoid pain to someone in particular. Through answers to moral dilemmas, we conceived this open-mindedness as the opposite of an abstract deontology that puts general rules over individual well-being. Our empirical studies show that this openness is positively linked to a tolerance to uncertainty (low need for closure). Moral open-mindedness is related to giving importance to care whereas abstract deontology is linked to valuing obedience and conformism. We also observed that people referring to an abstract deontology behave blamelessly by following the rules but are not prosocial. Finally, open-mindedness in the moral domain is linked to negative emotions, as existential quest to which it is positively related. In ideological matters, authoritarianism is a closed-mindedness associated to aggressiveness. We showed that authoritarianism is negatively related to open-mindedness in existential and moral matters. Beside, closed-mindedness and ideological content interact. We observed that when primed with religious ideas, authoritarian people follow an abstract deontology. For authoritarians, religious contents refer to a set of rules rather than an invitation to care. Two other studies showed that God is emotionally portrayed anthropomorphically but superior to humans. The representation of God can as a consequence be one of the poles of a hierarchy on which man distinguishes honest beings from bad ones. In sum, open-mindedness expresses itself cognitively by the consideration of elements opposed to one's opinion, affectively by the consideration of the feelings of others but also by personal negative emotions, and ideologically, it interacts with contents such as religious ideas.
- Affiliations
Citations
Van Pachterbeke, M. (2011). Sens et bien en question : de l’ouverture d’esprit dans les domaines existentiel, idéologique et moral. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/156796