Emphatic Values and Self-efficacy

of Z Generation

Fasti Rola

, Debby A. Daulay

and Ade Rahmawati Siregar

Department of Educational Psychology, Universitas Sumatera Utara, Jl. Dr. Mansyur No.7, Medan, Indonesia

Department of Developmental Psychology,Universitas Sumatera Utara, Jl. Dr. Mansyur No.7, Medan, Indonesia

Keywords: Empathic Values, Self Efficacy, Z Generation

Abstrack: Currently, generation Z is facing quite lots of personal and interpersonal problems. This newest

internet generation was believed as less sensitive to social environment and tend to be more

self-oriented. Therefore, they had lack of communication and interaction skills, particularly the

ability to understand the social circumstances and others’ feelings or emotional state. The ability

is referred to empathy. On the other hand, youths must also have self-belief so that he/she is

able to assess their social environment when they are building social interactions. This self-

belief is also called self-efficacy. The research aimed to explore the generation Z’s empathetic

values and self-efficacy, by using descriptive statistics. The population of the research is

generation Z who are mostly teenager in the Indonesia context. To select participants, random

sampling was conducted. The data were collected using empathic scale (Rogers, 1985) and self-

efficacy scale (Bandura, 2017) revised and developed by the researcher. The results indicated

that Generation Z had relatively low empathetic values. Oppositely, the self-efficacy was high

1 INTRODUCTION

Z Generation is a generation who was born in the

range of 1995 to 2010. The generation encounter the

technological complexity who demonstrate some

characteristics such as having a high ability to access

information to get more opportunities and open to

develop himself (Wikipedia, 2018). The generation

are tech literate or internet generation youth. They

prefer to interact with the computer and communicate

with the online system. The condition led them tends

to have less interpersonal contact with friends

(Saragih, 2012). Changes in technology in most cases

will certainly lead to positive and negative values. In

the positive sides, this generation try to master

various things related to most recent technology.

While the negative side is the generation becomes

more individual when solving their problem.

Teenagers become less skilled in fostering

interactions, communicating verbally and finding it

difficult to distinguish between virtual reality and real

world (Anonim, 2018). Miryam (dalam Febriani,

2017) claims that in the current digital age Z-

teenagers want their existence to be recognized,

always connected with social media, become more

ignorant and anti-social, and have less interaction

skills. It will also let them to have less empathic.

Empathy is the ability to feel what others feel.

According to Watson, et al (dalam Setyawan,

2010) empathy is the ability to recognize and

understand the emotions, thoughts, and traits of

others. Langfeld (dalam Setyawan, 2010) also

describes empathy as an ability to be in a state of

feelings of others. Empathy would help to create and

maintain relationships in the social environment.

Every person has the potential to demonstrate

empathy, as well as teenagers. Teenagers are also

expected to develop their caring and sensitivities to

the problems challenged by people around them

(Santrock, 2004). On the other hand, someone who

believes in his/her ability will be able to achieve the

goals he/she has set. This belief is called as self-

efficacy. Bandura (1997) defines self-efficacy as a

person's belief in his/her ability to organize and

implement actions to achieve established goals and go

all-out to assess ability levels and strenghts across

activities and contexts. Teens who have high self-

efficacy tend to be more active and more spirited to

achieve their personal goals. On the contrary,

adolescents with low self-efficacy will be easily

discouraged and have doubts about their ability to

complete tasks (Widanarti & Indati, 2002).

Rola, F., Daulay, D. and Siregar, A.

Emphatic Values and Self-efﬁcacy of Z Generation.

DOI: 10.5220/0010079714211424

In Proceedings of the International Conference of Science, Technology, Engineering, Environmental and Ramiﬁcation Researches (ICOSTEERR 2018) - Research in Industry 4.0, pages

1421-1424

ISBN: 978-989-758-449-7

1421

1.1 Empathy

Eisenberg & Miller (1987). defines empathy as part

of a feeling that originates from concerns about the

emotional state of others. Empathy includes the

ability to feel the similar feelings for different

emotions of others. Eisenberg & Fabes (1987) argues

that empathy is the ability to feel other feelings, and

these feelings led an empathetic person as

experiencing the conditions experienced by others.

Rogers (1985) states that in understanding others,

a person needs the ability to understand him/herself

(self-empathy). It is important to show acceptance of

others, listen attentively and accurately, and be able

to perceive from others’ perspective.) Here is the

explanation of the dimensions of empathy according

to Rogers (1985);

a) Self empathy

Self-empathy is the ability to be able to

understand with him/herself.

b) Acceptance others

Acceptance others are positively unconditional

acceptance without judging others, but to accept the

whole person as they are, both positive and negative,

and acknowledge that everything they do is a

provision of their own.

c) Accurate listening

Accurate listening is the ability to listen carefully

to what other is saying and can accurately reflect the

feelings and thoughts of the others.

d) Perspective taking

Perspective taking means the ability to come in

the world of others and explore the feelings, thoughts

and words of others.

1.2 Self-efficacy

Bandura (Santrock, 2004) defines self-efficacy as the

belief that a person can control situations and produce

positive results. Bandura (1997) also explained that

self-efficacy as the ability to organize and implement

actions to achieve goals and attempt to assess levels

and strengths across activities and contexts. There are

three dimensions of self-efficacy, namely:

a. Level

Level refers to the degree of difficulty of the task

at hand. Acceptance and confidence of a person to a

task vary. The perception of task difficulty will be

different person by person.

b. Generality

Generality refers to the extent to which individuals

are confident of their abilities in a variety of task

situations, ranging from doing a typical activity or a

situation that has never been done to a series of

difficult or varied tasks or situations.

c. Strength

Strength is a solid belief about a person's

capability. It relates to personal resilience and

persistence in doing their responsibilities.

1.3 Generation Z

Generation Z is a generation who was born in the

range of 1995 to 2010. They come after Generation

Y, and in transition with fast-growing technology.

Some of them are descendants of Generation X and

Y. Generation Z is also called iGeneration, net

generation, or internet generation. The generation has

similarities with Generation Y, but the Z genres can

apply all activities at a time such as tweets using the

phone, browsing with PC, and listening to music

using the headset. Whatever they do mostly related to

the virtual world. Since childhood they are familiar

with technology and familiar with advanced gadgets

that indirectly affect his personality (Wikipedia,

2018).

2 METHOD

This study is a descriptive study designed to explore

the empathy values and self-efficacy of Z generation.

According to Azwar (2012) descriptive research is a

method that describes the systematic and accurate

facts, and it is not intended to test the hypothesis,

make predictions and implications. Descriptive

method aims to describe a phenomenon that occurs,

without intending to take generalization (Hadi, 2000).

The respondents of this study were 1071 Z generation

adolescents in Medan City – Indonesia, selected by

using random sampling.

3 RESULTS

Table 1 shows that empathy values of teenagers of Z

Generation is relatively low as a mean value smaller

than the median value (2.60 < 2.62). While the

teenagers have relatively high efficacy as reflected by

mean value greater than the median (2.90 > 2.88).

Table 1: Descriptive statistics of Z Generation empathy and

self-efficacy

ath

Self-Efficac

N Valid

Missing

1071

Mean 2.60 2.90

Median 2.62 2.88

Mode 2.54 2.71

Std. Deviation 0.35 0.34

Range 2.46 3.50

ICOSTEERR 2018 - International Conference of Science, Technology, Engineering, Environmental and Ramiﬁcation Researches

1422

Minimu

1.31 1.79

Maximu

3.77 5.29

4 DISCUSSIONS

Hurlock (2010) defines that empathy is one’s ability

to understand about the feelings and emotions of

others and the ability to see him/herself in another

people’s perspective. The development of empathy

can be influenced by numerous factors such as family

and community environment. Probably, the low

empathy of the teenager of Z generation is due to a

change of the pattern of family and community

relationships (Hartaty, 1997). An example of a

changing family pattern is the lack of helping

behavior, while the changing pattern of community

relations is reflected by a low level of mutual care.

Nowadays, people tend to be busy and focuses only

with their respective interests. Therefore, the ability

to caring social relationship is getting worst (Yusuf &

Listiara, 2012). In addition, Miryam (dalam Febriani,

2017) adds that in the current digital age, generation

Z teenagers have always connected to gadgets and

used social media to acknowledge their existence. It

is one of the negative impact of frequent use of this

technology, it is worried to lead people becomes less

sensitive and as the consequence, the empathy values

also become less improved. Similarly, the research

conducted by Riangraini and Wahyuningrum

(Riangraini & Wahyuningrum, 2015) also found that

adolescents tend to be less enthusiastic to give help to

their friends or fellow when asked for help in the form

of social support such as care or even time

Meanwhile, the self-efficacy of Z generation

adolescent tends to be high. Self-efficacy plays a key

role in the daily life of adolescents. Woolfolk (2004)

explains that self-efficacy is a person’s judgment of

him/herself or the level of belief about how great

his/her ability to perform a particular task to achieve

a certain goal. Nowadays, the fast-growing

technology plays an important role in bridging the

achievement of these goals. Teenagers are now ready

to participate in various tasks, work harder, have

persistence when faced with difficulties (assisted by

technology), survive challenges and get better results

(Saraswati & Ratnaningsih, 2016). The trend to

personal achievement becomes higher. Achievements

accomplished focused on efforts to complete the task

optimally. In addition, Z Generation is very

independent and has the confidence that he can do

anything by him/herself. Z Generation believes that if

you want to do it right then do it yourself (Silman &

Stilman, 2017).

5 CONCLUSIONS

This study concluded that the empathy of Z

generation tend to be low. While the self-efficacy of

Z generation is tend to be high.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The research was funded by Universitas Sumatera

Utara throught Talenta Program 2018. We would also

like to thank the participation of research institutes to

become our research reviewer. The authors would

like to thank all the high schools students who

participated in the study and all the college students

as research assistants.

REFERENCES

Anonim. (2018). Generasi Z. diakses pada tanggal 23

Januari 2018. https://id.wikipedia.org/wiki /Generasi_Z

Azwar, S (2011). Penyusunan Skala Psikologi, Jakarta :

Pustaka Pelajar. Reliabilitas dan Validitas (ed. 3),

Yogyakarta : Pustaka Pelajar.

Bandura, A. 1997. Self Efficacy The Exercise of Control.

New York : W.H. Freeman and Company

Eisenbergh,N & Fabes. (1989). The roots of prosocial

behavior in children. New York: Cambrige University

Press.

Eisenberg, N & Miller, P,A. (1987). The relation empathy

to procosial and related behavior. Psychological

Bulletin.101:91-119.

Febriani, Ririn Nur. (2017). Kenali Karakter Remaja

Generasi Z. Diakses pada tanggal 23 Januari 2018

dalam www.pikiranrakyat.com

Hadi, S (2000). Metodologi Research (jilid 1), Yogyakarta

: Penerbit Andi Yogyakarta

Hartaty, N. (1997). Perilaku dan Motif Prososial Anak

Berbakat Intelektual Umum. Thesis. Jakarta: Fakultas

Psikologi Universitas Indonesia

Hurlock. E. B. 2010. Psikologi Perkembangan : Suatu

Pendekatan Sepanjang Rentang Kehidupan.

(Terjemahan Istiwidayanti & Soejarwo), Edisi Kelima,

Jakarta : Erlangga.

Riangraini, Okky Ruth & Wahyuningrum, Enjang (2015).

Hubungan Antara Empati dan Perilaku Proposal Pada

Remaja Di SMPN 5 Boyolali. Tugas Akhir.

Rogers, C.R. (1985). A Way of Being. New York : Mariner

Books.

Santrock, J.W, (2004). Psikologi Pendidikan. Kencana

Prenada Media Group ; Jakarta

Saragih, John Fredy Bobby.(2012). Fenomena Bermain

Generasi Z dan Hubungannya Dengan Eksistensi

Ruang Bermain Terbuka Di Lingkungan Perumahan

Sederhana. ComTech Vol 3. No.1. Juni 2012.8-14.

Saraswati, Apsari & Ratnaningsih Ika Zenita (2016).

Emphatic Values and Self-efﬁcacy of Z Generation

1423

Hubungan antara Efikasi Diri Akademik dengan

Kematangan Karir pada Siswa Kelas XI SMKN 11

Semarang. Diakses tanggal 12 Juli 2018.

https://ejournal3.undip.ac.id

/index.php/empati/article/view/15364

Setyawan, Imam. (2010). Peran Kemampuan Empati Pada

Efikasi Diri Mahasiswa Peserta Kuliah Kerja Nyata

PPM Posdaya. Proceeding Konferensi Nasional II

Ikatan Psikologi Klinis-Himpsi h296-300, ISBN : 978-

979-21-2845-1

Silman, David & Stilman Jonah.(2017). Generasi Z,

Memahai Karakter, Generasi Baru yang Akan

Mengubah Dunia Kerja. Jakarta. PT. Gramedia Pustaka

Utama.

Widanarti, Nike & Indati Aisah. Hubungan antara

Dukungan Sosial Keluarga dengan Self Efficacy pada

Remaja di SMU Negeri 9 Yogyakarta. Jurnal Psikologi.

2002. No.2 112-123. ISSN 0215-8884

Wikipedia. Generasi Z. Diakses tanggal 8 Mei 2018.

https://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generasi_

Woolfolk, A. (2004). Educational Pychology 10 th ed.

USA: PearsonYusuf, Z & Listiara, A (2012). The

Difference between prosocial tendency regular classes

and special classes SMAN I dan SMA 3 Semarang.

Jurnal Psikologi I(1).120-138

ICOSTEERR 2018 - International Conference of Science, Technology, Engineering, Environmental and Ramiﬁcation Researches

1424