Defense Date
11-8-2023
Graduation Date
Fall 12-15-2023
Availability
Immediate Access
Submission Type
dissertation
Degree Name
PhD
Department
Clinical Psychology
School
McAnulty College and Graduate School of Liberal Arts
Committee Chair
Alexander Kranjec
Committee Member
Melissa Kalarchian
Committee Member
James Schreiber
Keywords
cynicism, cynical attitudes, functional cynicism, trait cynicism, psychological construct, mixed methods, attitudes scale, psychometrics, psychological assessment
Abstract
Trait cynicism, or “cynical hostility” as measured by the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory’s Cook-Medley Scale, is defined and studied as characteristics associated with psychopathology, interpersonal conflict, and negative health outcomes including heart disease and cognitive decline. Likewise, “organizational cynicism” is operationalized in industrial/organizational psychology for the purpose of describing and identifying an undesirable employee type in the workplace. This research proposes an alternative assessment. It reconnects cynicism with its roots in ancient philosophy by asking if cynical attitudes, despite their negative valence ascribed in the modern literature and conventional opinion, may serve a practical purpose. This study of Functional Cynicism uses exploratory sequential mixed methods to first gather the definitions and experiences of cynical attitudes from a purposive sample of individuals who identified a familiarity with the topic (n = 13). Qualitative data were translated into quantifiable components in order to build the Attitudes About Cynicism Scale. After administration to a representative sample (n = 308), evaluation of the scale’s functionality was evaluated using descriptive and inferential statistical methods of validity and reliability. Further, the dimensionality of the latent constructs was interpreted using Exploratory Factor Analysis. Findings in this study demonstrated that a majority of the participants in this representative population sample identified their cynicism as practical. These findings present evidence that Functional Cynicism is both a qualitatively meaningful and externally valid construct. Given the absence of empirical studies on cynicism’s adaptive potential, this research provides a rationale for future inquiries in the areas of personality and clinical subfields about the functional role cynical attitudes.
Language
English
Recommended Citation
Fried, M. (2023). Functional Cynicism (Doctoral dissertation, Duquesne University). Retrieved from https://dsc.duq.edu/etd/2202
Included in
Clinical Psychology Commons, Industrial and Organizational Psychology Commons, Personality and Social Contexts Commons