The Role of Concern for Others and Moral Intensity in Adolescents' Ethicality Judgments

Abstract

This study addressed 2 aspects of adolescents' morality: (a) the effect of concern for the moral agent (scope of justice) on adolescents' moral judgments and (b) the identification of the underlying determinants of their moral judgments within the framework of the moral intensity model (T. M. Jones, 1991). Participants were requested to make ethicality judgments in scenarios involving 2 types of morally questionable decisions: one resulting in beneficial consequences and the other in harmful consequences. Results indicated that adolescent boys' moral judgments were unaffected by their concern for the moral agent, whereas adolescent girls' judgments of beneficial decisions were significantly affected by such a personal concern. The adolescents took into account different intensity dimensions in making judgments of the 2 different types of moral issues. Implications for the justice versus care focus of morality are discussed, as well as the decision processes underlying adolescents' moral considerations.