Processes Associated with Integrative Social Competence

A total of 218 high school students were asked to report their predicted behavioral choices and anticipated emotional responses to nine situations involving a conflict between a socially responsible and a socially irresponsible course of action. Results showed that the males in the sample made fewer responsible choices than did the female participants, although the mean number of situations in which such choices were made dropped markedly for both sexes when the respondentks were assured that nothing bad would happen if they behaved irresponsibly. As hypothesized, socially responsible choices were closely associated with the anticipated emotions of guilt, pride, empathy, and fear, and not with anticipating strong self-interest emotions or worry about peer approval. These results suggest that integrative social competence, as exemplified by the culturally valued outcome of social responsibility, may be largely a function of motivational and contextual processes that are rather far removed from the literature's traditional emphasis on social understanding and social inferencing capabilities.