THE PSYCHOMETRIC FEATURES OF THE QUIET EGO SCALE AND THE CONSTRUCT VALIDITY OF THE QUIET EGO

Abstract

The concept of quiet ego is conceived as a personal identity that transcends selfishness without ignoring personal interest at the same time. It is measured through a scale consisting of 14 items. The limited scope of research on this concept in psychological literature, as well as the absence of research for the Macedonian population, is the main motive for this research. This research aims to examine the psychometric properties of the Quiet Ego Scale and the validity of the construct of Quiet Ego (Quiet Ego Scale, Waymet, Bauer & Slaskia, 2014). Two studies were conducted for the purposes of the study. The first study is a correlational one, in which, in addition to the Quiet Ego Measurement Scale, instruments for measuring of narcissism (Narcissism Measurement Inventory, Raskin & Terry, 1988) and of empathy (Toronto Empathy Questionnaire, Spreng et al, 2009) are been set. In this study the analysis of the main components also take part. The results have shown that the Quiet Ego Scale has satisfactory internal homogeneity and a factor structure that confirms the theoretical solution of the construct, as well as a significant correlation with concepts similar and contrary to the researched concept. Using an experimental design, in the second study the levels of narcissism and empathy were manipulated (increased narcissism vs. reduced narcissism and increased empathy versus reduced empathy), in order to investigate the impact of different levels of narcissism and empathy on the level of quiet ego. The results of the second study confirmed the relationship between quiet ego, narcissism and empathy and justification for using the construct of the quiet ego.