The Structural Consistency of Moral Judgments About AIDS

Abstract

This study compared the structure (i.e., stage) of moral judgments to dilemmas involving AIDS to the structure of moral judgment on Kohlberg's test to determine whether attitudes and opinions about AIDS affect level of moral judgment. Subjects included 40 men, who responded to (a) two standard dilemmas from Colby and Kohlberg's (1987) test of moral judgment, (b) two of Kohlberg's dilemmas ammended to involve AIDS, (c) a set of AIDS dilemmas derived from incidents reported in the media, (d) a set of questions tapping attitudes toward people with AIDS, and (e) Rubin and Peplau's (1975) just-world scale. Moral judgment was structurally consistent across the three sets of dilemmas, and only weakly related to attitudes towards AIDS and belief in a just world. Moral choices did not covary with moral stage. These results are consistent with Kohlberg's contention that moral judgment is organized in "structures of the whole."