Morality as a Psychological Problem

Abstract

Morality is one of those problems which psychological science addresses infrequently and unwillingly. There are various reasons for this. One is that psychologists often perceive the problem as assigned to philosophy, primarily ethics, as one of its divisions. Another is that this problem can hardly lend itself to an empirical study and psychological laboratory preparation. Yet another is that natural scientific psychology, in keeping with the natural science traditions, interprets objectivity of scientific investigation as implying an abstraction from values, which is hardly possible, if such problems as morality are to be studied.Although many traditional objects of psychological investigations, such as values, attitudes, and others, have a direct relation to morals and morality, the problem itself somehow veered off the main course of the psychological problems. At the same time, a considerable part of psychological studies, including those pursued by the modern Russian psychological science, do address this problem, in particular, the moral state of modern Russian society - the aspect which is of most relevance for Russia today.Some available data, for example, indicate that the poll question Can a person break the law and at the same time be right? would induce Russian respondents to answer in the affirmative much more often than their opposite numbers do in the West. At the same time, the number of people holding, at least by word of mouth, that the laws must not be disobeyed under any circumstances, or the truly law-abiding citizens, has been practically unchanged during the last 15 years, accounting for some 10 to 15% (Volovikova, 2004). Unlike in the Western countries, where moral and legal socialization is mostly achieved through following the socially accepted standards and laws, in Russia this process either gets stuck at the initial stage, where obedience is secured by the fear of punishment, or, bypassing the middle level, shoots up right to the top level characterized by reliance on the supreme ethical principles and conscience (Ibid.) [1]. Similar results can be derived from studying moral judgments of primary school students, who believe that human actions are mostly motivated by the fear of punishment and by compassion, with this explanation pattern remaining changed but little over the last 70 years (see: Kravtsova, 2005).Some symptomatic results were yielded by psychological examinations targeting partially sane law-breakers. It turned out that what they understood by was not staying in prison and/or being released from places of confinement, while existentially they viewed it as license and freedom from moral and public checks (Kudryavtsev, 2007).A particularly worrisome picture arises from a probe into mind-sets of today's people. A widespread phenomenon is embracing negative stereotypes with regard to old age and aging, as well as the relevant discriminatory practices (see: Guddy & Fiske, 2004. More often, the term ageism is used on a broader scale denoting any prejudiced attitude to age groups, including younger generations). Psychologists note that currently a steady view has taken shape in Russia's society that relationships between age generations are passing through a stage of aggravation; specifically this concerns people, on the one hand, and elderly or old people, on the other, something confirmed by numerous studies. It is also stated that in today's Russian society to old age is displayed as intolerance to aged persons on the part of the younger generations and society as a whole.Studies show that a considerable part of immoral acts committed by people is linked to their orientation to group standards that clash with the publicly accepted ones, as a result of which young people express an ambivalent attitude to the necessity of obeying the social norms (Bi-Bud, Zhalagina, & Lelchitsky, 2008, pp. …