Abstract:

Looking after one’s personal interests is not selfishness. Selfishness is the quest of personal interests at the expense of another person. Selfishness is so complex that it cannot be explained by a single approach and it is a characteristics that is related with biological qualities, personality, cognitive and emotional processes, socialization experience, culture and social contexts. The objective of this study is to meet the need for a device that measures selfishness in social sciences. The Turkish adaptation of the selfishness scale (The Selfishness Questionnaire: Egocentric, Adaptive, and Pathological Forms of Selfishness) developed by Raine and Uh was conducted to realize this objective. The adaptation work included 465 university students and 308 voluntary teachers participated to test the concurrent validity of the scale. Exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis were done in the adaptation work to reveal the construct validity. Correlation and regression techniques were used for the criteria validity. After the analyses, 6 items were removed from the scale, three-dimensional construct was proven and it was seen that all factors were within acceptable limits. The factor relations of the scale were calculated to be between .71 and .76. The fit indices of the scale also indicate a good model. In addition, negative relations were found between the adapted selfishness scale and empathy while there were positive relations with narcism. The adapted selfishness scale is a measurement tool that can be reliably used by psychologists, psychological counsellor, educators and researchers.

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