The Effects of Situational Factors on Moral Judgments

Abstract

SOBESKY, WILLIAM E. The Effects of Situational Factors on Moral Judgments. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1983, 54,575-584. Little empirical investigation has focused on how specific situational variables, such as negative consequences, interact with cognitive developmental variables, such as moral judgment stage, to influence moral decisions and moral thinking. In this study, 223 high school and college students completed 2 questionnaires. In the first, students answered the short form of the Defining Issues Test, which provided a measure of their predisposition to use principled-level rationales in solving moral dilemmas. In the second, students made moral judgments about what they should and would do, and they indicated their use of principled-level thinking in resolving 4 versions of the Heinz dilemma. Each version presented a different combination of negative consequences for the actor (Heinz) and for another (Heinz's wife). Results indicated that, when the negative consequences for the actor were severe, students were less certain that they should and would act to help another person; they also displayed less principled thinking. When the consequences for another were severe, individuals who had displayed a greater predisposition to make use of principled thinking were more certain of acting to help.