The relation of multicultural experiences to moral judgment and mindsets.

Abstract

Multicultural experience is considered to be beneficial, but it remains a difficult construct to measure. We tested the validity of a new assessment tool, the Multicultural Experiences Questionnaire (MEQ), using an undergraduate sample (N 164), and examined the relation of multicultural experience to moral judgment, closedmindedness, growth, and fixed mindsets. We expected that greater multicultural experience would be related to lower levels of closed-mindedness and higher levels of moral judgment and growth mindsets. Higher MEQ scores were correlated with decreased closed-mindedness and higher moral judgment scores. In regression analyses, controlling for age and sex, higher MEQ scores positively predicted participant scores on postconventional moral judgment and growth mindsets, but negatively predicted use of less developed moral judgment and fixed mindsets. Overall, these results support the validity of the MEQ and suggest that multicultural experiences are positively linked to measures of moral judgment and growth mindsets.