The Consequentialist Scale: Translation and empirical investigation in a Greek sample

George Kosteletos; Ioanna Zioga; Evangelos D Protopapadakis; Andrie G Panayiotou; Konstantinos Kontoangelos; Charalabos Papageorgiou

doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e18386

The Consequentialist Scale: Translation and empirical investigation in a Greek sample

Heliyon. 2023 Jul 17;9(7):e18386. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e18386. eCollection 2023 Jul.

Authors

George Kosteletos^{1

2

3}, Ioanna Zioga^{1

4}, Evangelos D Protopapadakis^{2

3}, Andrie G Panayiotou⁵, Konstantinos Kontoangelos^{1

6}, Charalabos Papageorgiou¹

Affiliations

¹ University Mental Health, Neurosciences and Precision Medicine Research Institute "COSTAS STEFANIS" (UMHRI), Athens, Greece.
² Applied Philosophy Research Laboratory, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece.
³ Open University of Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus.
⁴ Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
⁵ Cyprus International Institute for Environmental and Public Health, School of Health Sciences, Cyprus University of Technology, Limassol, Cyprus.
⁶ First Department of Psychiatry, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens Medical School, Eginition Hospital, Athens, Greece.

Abstract

The Consequentialist Scale (Robinson, 2012) [89] assesses the endorsement of consequentialist and deontological moral beliefs. This study empirically investigated the application of the Greek translation of the Consequentialist Scale in a sample of native Greek speakers. Specifically, 415 native Greek speakers completed the questionnaire. To uncover the underlying structure of the 10 items in the Consequentialist Scale, an Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) was conducted. The results revealed a three-factor solution, where the deontology factor exhibited the same structure as the original work by Robinson (2012) [89], while the original consequentialism factor split into two separate factors. Significant Pearson's r correlations were observed between age and responses to the Consequentialist Scale. Separate EFAs were conducted for two age groups based on a medial split: younger (36 years old or less) and older (more than 36 years old). Interestingly, the younger group exhibited a two-factor solution with the same structure as the original work, while the older group showed a three-factor solution. A hierarchical k-means cluster analysis revealed that the cluster of participants who scored higher in deontology compared to consequentialism primarily consisted of older participants, whereas the two other clusters comprised of younger participants exhibited the reverse pattern. Neither gender nor previous experience with philosophy significantly affected scores on the Consequentialist Scale. Overall, our study provides evidence that the Consequentialist Scale is suitable for use in the Greek population.

Keywords: Age effect; Consequentialism; Deontology; Exploratory factor analysis; Moral ideologies; The consequentialist scale.