Measure Of Moral Judgment Research Articles

Morality, Risk-Taking and Psychopathic Tendencies: An Empirical Study.

Research in empirical moral psychology has consistently found negative correlations between morality and both risk-taking, as well as psychopathic tendencies. However, prior research did not sufficiently explore intervening or moderating factors. Additionally, prior measures of moral preference (e.g., sacrificial dilemmas) have a pronounced lack of ecological validity. This study seeks to address these two gaps in the literature. First, this study used Preference for Precepts Implied in Moral Theories (PPIMT), which offers a novel, more nuanced and ecologically valid measure of moral judgment. Second, the current study examined if risk taking moderates the relationships between psychopathic tendencies and moral judgment. Results indicated that models which incorporated risk-taking as a moderator between psychopathic tendencies and moral judgment were a better fit to the data than those that incorporated psychopathic tendencies and risk-taking as exogenous variables, suggesting that the association between psychopathic tendencies and moral judgment is influenced by level of risk-taking. Therefore, future research investigating linkages between psychopathic tendencies and moral precepts may do well to incorporate risk-taking and risky behaviors to further strengthen the understanding of moral judgment in these individuals.

Who Is to Blame? Children's and Adults' Moral Judgments Regarding Victim and Transgressor Negligence.

Research has documented that individuals consider outcomes, intentions, and transgressor negligence when making morally relevant judgments (Nobes, Panagiotaki, & Engelhardt, 2017). However, less is known about whether individuals attend to both victim and transgressor negligence in their evaluations. The current study measured 3- to 6-year-olds (N=70), 7- to 12-year-olds (N=54), and adults' (N=97, ages 18-25years) moral judgments about scenarios in which an accidental transgression occurred involving property damage or physical harm. Participants were either assigned to conditions where the victim or the transgressor was negligent. Results revealed attention to negligence among all participants across a range of different moral judgment measures (including acceptability judgments, punishment judgments, and attributions of blame), with age-related increases in attention to negligence evident. Results provide novel evidence that children and adults consider not just outcomes and intentions, but also the role of negligence in both victims and transgressors, when making social decisions.

Introducing the Emotive Moral Competence Index (EMCI): A New Measurement of Moral Judgment

Background: According to the approaches of emotions in moral judgment, some moral emotions, especially guilt and pride can be considered its primary triggers. It seems that guilt and pride motivate moral judgment, such that the guilt is a moral emotion opposed to pride. Also, the horror stimulates an emotional reaction into the spectator. Objectives: To appreciate the introduction of the new emotive moral test, the present study was designed to validate the emotional moral competence index (EMCI), to identify associations between EMCI and moral emotions, including pride and guilt, and the age of university students. Methods: In this study, 177 students were selected, the participants were chosen fulfilling with differentiated education years, from the first to the fourth university grade. Fifty-seven students were assigned to the first group, 33 students to the second, 52 to the third, and 35 to the fourth group. The participants completed the emotive moral test. The effect inter-subjects of the four groups were examined by the multiple analysis of variance statistical method, and the relationships between EMCI and other sub-indexes were evaluated by correlation analysis. Results: The introduced emotive moral test was a validated instrument of moral judgment. The validation of its EMCI index explicitly showed the inseparable emotive and cognitive relationship through two specific emotions, guilt and pride. Also, guilt was a moral emotion opposed to pride, and pride had a favorable impact on moral judgment. Finally, it indicated that the horror triggered an emotional reaction that inversely related to the spectator’s age. Conclusions: The findings indicated that both pride and guilt activate moral judgment. The EMCI was introduced, and its theoretical and empirical validity was shown. The EMCI explicitly demonstrates the inseparable emotive and cognitive relationship through two specific opposed emotions, guilt versus pride. Finally, pride has a favorable impact on moral judgment and the horror triggers an emotional reaction proportional to the habituation.

Stigmatizing Attitudes Toward People Living with HIV Among Adults and Adolescents in the United States

Stigmatizing attitudes toward people living with HIV (PLWH) cause psychological distress for PLWH and hinder HIV prevention efforts. We estimated the prevalence of stigmatizing attitudes among 6809 adults and 885 adolescents who responded to online surveys in 2015. Fear of casual contact with PLWH was reported by 17.5% [95% confidence interval (CI) 16.3-18.6%] of adults and 31.6% (CI 27.8-35.4%) of adolescents. Among adults, 12.5% (CI 11.6-13.5%) endorsed a measure of moral judgment toward PLWH. Stigmatizing attitudes toward PLWH persist in the United States. Continued monitoring of these attitudes and efforts to reduce associated stigma are warranted.

The Relationship between Intuitive Action Choices and Moral Reasoning on Animal Ethics Issues in Students of Veterinary Medicine and Other Relevant Professions.

With growing understanding of animals' capabilities, and public and organizational pressures to improve animal welfare, moral action by veterinarians and other relevant professionals to address animal issues is increasingly important. Little is known about how their action choices relate to their moral reasoning on animal ethics issues. A moral judgment measure, the VetDIT, with three animal and three non-animal scenarios, was used to investigate the action choices of 619 students in five animal- and two non-animal-related professional programs in one Australian university, and how these related to their moral reasoning based on Personal Interest (PI), Maintaining Norms (MN), or Universal Principles (UP) schemas. Action choices showed significant relationships to PI, MN, and UP questions, and these varied across program groups. Having a previous degree or more experience with farm animals had a negative relationship, and experience with horses or companion animals a positive relationship, with intuitive action choices favoring life and bodily integrity of animals. This study helps to explain the complex relationship between intuitive moral action choices and moral reasoning on animal ethics issues. As a useful research and educational tool for understanding this relationship, the VetDIT can enhance ethical decision making.

The Relationship between Intuitive Action Choices and Moral Reasoning on Animal Ethics Issues in Students of Veterinary Medicine and Other Relevant Professions.

With growing understanding of animals' capabilities, and public and organizational pressures to improve animal welfare, moral action by veterinarians and other relevant professionals to address animal issues is increasingly important. Little is known about how their action choices relate to their moral reasoning on animal ethics issues. A moral judgment measure, the VetDIT, with three animal and three non-animal scenarios, was used to investigate the action choices of 619 students in five animal- and two non-animal-related professional programs in one Australian university, and how these related to their moral reasoning based on Personal Interest (PI), Maintaining Norms (MN), or Universal Principles (UP) schemas. Action choices showed significant relationships to PI, MN, and UP questions, and these varied across program groups. Having a previous degree or more experience with farm animals had a negative relationship, and experience with horses or companion animals a positive relationship, with intuitive action choices favoring life and bodily integrity of animals. This study helps to explain the complex relationship between intuitive moral action choices and moral reasoning on animal ethics issues. As a useful research and educational tool for understanding this relationship, the VetDIT can enhance ethical decision making.

Decisional Bias as Implicit Moral Judgment

Decisional bias (false alarm rate) when judging the guilt/innocence of a suspect is offered as an implicit measure of moral judgment. Combining two data sets, 215 participants, ages 10–12, 13–15, and 16–18 watched the visually identical film involving a person setting a fire, framed either as (a) intentional but not resulting in a fire (BI-NF), (b) unintentional but resulting in a major fire (NI-F), or (c) intentional and resulting in a major fire (BI-F). After watching the film, participants identified seriatim who of six individuals was the perpetrator and how certain they were. The data were subjected to a signal detection analysis. Participants also explicitly judged “how bad” the perpetrator and act were. The implicit measure fit Piaget’s claim of moral realism, shifting from judging wrongness according to the outcome to judging according to the actor’s intentions, better than the explicit traditional measures.

Assessing Veterinary and Animal Science Students' Moral Judgment Development on Animal Ethics Issues.

Little has been done to assess veterinarians' moral judgment in relation to animal ethics issues. Following development of the VetDIT, a new moral judgment measure for animal ethics issues, this study aimed to refine and further validate the VetDIT, and to identify effects of teaching interventions on moral judgment and changes in moral judgment over time. VetDIT-V1 was refined into VetDIT-V2, and V3 was developed as a post-intervention test to prevent repetition. To test these versions for comparability, veterinary and animal science students (n=271) were randomly assigned to complete different versions. The VetDIT discriminates between stages of moral judgment, condensed into three schemas: Personal Interest (PI), Maintaining Norms (MN), and Universal Principles (UP). There were no differences in the scores for MN and UP between the versions, and we equated PI scores to account for differences between versions. Veterinary science students (n=130) who completed a three-hour small-group workshop on moral development theory and ethical decision making increased their use of UP in moral reasoning, whereas students (n=271) who received similar information in a 50-minute lecture did not. A longitudinal comparison of matched first- and third-year students (n=39) revealed no moral judgment development toward greater use of UP. The VetDIT is therefore useful for assessing moral judgment of animal and human ethics issues in veterinary and other animal-related professions. Intensive small-group workshops using moral development knowledge and skills, rather than lectures, are conducive to developing veterinary students' moral judgment.

Impact of Acute Training Stress on Moral Decision Making Following Marine Corps Martial Arts Training

Military training involves rapid decision making during periods of intense stress. Often these decisions have a profound impact on the moral and tactical growth of military personnel in training. PURPOSE: Map the trajectory of the endocrine response and quantify variation in measures of moral judgment (MJ) and intention (MI) following Marine Corps Martial Arts training. METHODS: 10 male Marines participated in this study and were observed 3 times during a 9-week period. Blood samples for cortisol, norepinephrine (NE) and epinephrine (EPI) were collected before training (Baseline) and during the recovery period (Immediate Post (IP), 15, 30, 45 and 60min). Components of the Ethical and Moral Index were assessed over the same times. Blood markers were quantified using summary measures and analyzed with rm-ANOVA. Hierarchical regression was used to analyze emotional and cognitive variables. RESULTS: There were no significant differences across visits for the summary or baseline blood markers. EPI (69±46.5pcg/ml, 70.6±46.1pcg/ml, 58.5±42.6pcg/ml) and NE (880.3±670pcg/ml, 886.4±353.2pcg/ml, 874.1±578.1pcg/ml) values peaked at IP. Times to peak for cortisol (22.0±6.7mcg/dl, 20.9±5.9mcg/dl, 19.7±3.9mcg/dl) are interpreted as peaks between 15-30min for Visit 1 and between 0-15min for Visits 2-3. At baseline, MJ was predicted positively by moral justification (β=.67, t(24)=2.39, p<.05) and national identity (β=.59, t(24)=2.22, p<.05). At IP, national identity (β=.77, t(24)=2.27, p<.05) predicted MI - the higher the individual identified with America, the more likely they were to intend to commit unethical acts on the battlefield. Over the 15-45 min recovery moral identity predicted MJ (β=-.61, t(24)=-2.72, p<.05) and MI (β=-.57, t(24)=-2.70, p<.05). CONCLUSION: The lack of significant differences across visits suggests the acute endocrine response to training stress is not attenuated with repeated exposure. Changes in moral predictors over the recovery period indicate moral decision making is informed differently immediately following an acute stressor. Future research quantifying the interplay between physiological responses to acute stress and moral decision making may aid the development of training strategies for military personnel. Supported by a grant through the Office of Naval Research.

Development of a moral judgment measure for veterinary education.

Veterinarians increasingly face animal ethics issues, conflicts, and dilemmas, both in practice and in policy, such as the tension between clients' and animals' interests. Little has been done to measure the capacity of veterinarians to make ethical judgments to prevent and address these issues or to identify the effectiveness of strategies to build this capacity. The objectives of this study were, first, to develop a test to identify the capacity of veterinarians to make ethical decisions in relation to animal ethics issues and, second, to assess students' perceptions of the usefulness of three methods for the development of ethical decision making. The Veterinary Defining Issues Test (VetDIT) was piloted with 88 first-year veterinary students at an Australian university. The veterinary students were at a variety of reasoning stages in their use of the Personal Interest (PI), Maintaining Norms (MN), and Universal Principles (UP) reasoning methods in relation to both human ethics and animal ethics issues and operated at a higher level of reasoning for animal than human ethics. Thirty-eight students assessed three methods for developing ethical decision-making skills and identified these as being helpful in clarifying their positions, clarifying others' positions, increasing awareness of the complexity of making ethical decisions, using ethical frameworks and principles, and improving moral reasoning skills, with two methods identified as most helpful. These methods and the VetDIT have the potential to be used as tools for development and assessment of moral judgment in veterinary education to address animal ethics issues.

The Moral Compass of Insecurity

Three studies examined the associations between relational adult attachment and moral judgment. Study 1 shows that attachment-related anxiety and avoidance are uniquely and differentially related to moral concerns. Relative to low insecurity, higher avoidance was associated with weaker moral concerns about harm and unfairness, whereas higher anxiety was associated with stronger moral concerns about harm, unfairness, and impurity. Study 2 replicates these associations and shows that the effect for harm and fairness is mediated by attachment differences in empathic concern, whereas the effect for purity is mediated by disgust sensitivity. Furthermore, using an alternative measure of moral judgment we replicate the negative association between avoidance and harm concerns. Study 3 unpacks fairness judgments into three subcomponents and shows that even at this level avoidance and anxiety show divergent associations. Future directions for empirical examinations of morality and attachment are discussed.

Regression of Moral Reasoning during Medical Education: Combined Design Study to Evaluate the Effect of Clinical Study Years

BackgroundMoral reasoning is important for developing medical professionalism but current evidence for the relationship between education and moral reasoning does not clearly apply to medical students. We used a combined study design to test the effect of clinical teaching on moral reasoning.MethodsWe used the Defining Issues Test-2 as a measure of moral judgment, with 3 general moral schemas: Personal Interest, Maintaining Norms, and Postconventional Schema. The test was applied to 3 consecutive cohorts of second year students in 2002 (n = 207), 2003 (n = 192), and 2004 (n = 139), and to 707 students of all 6 study years in 2004 cross-sectional study. We also tested 298 age-matched controls without university education.ResultsIn the cross-sectional study, there was significant main effect of the study year for Postconventional (F(5,679) = 3.67, P = 0.003) and Personal Interest scores (F(5,679) = 3.38, P = 0.005). There was no effect of the study year for Maintaining Norms scores. 3rd year medical students scored higher on Postconventional schema score than all other study years (p<0.001). There were no statistically significant differences among 3 cohorts of 2nd year medical students, demonstrating the absence of cohort or point-of-measurement effects. Longitudinal study of 3 cohorts demonstrated that students regressed from Postconventional to Maintaining Norms schema-based reasoning after entering the clinical part of the curriculum.InterpretationOur study demonstrated direct causative relationship between the regression in moral reasoning development and clinical teaching during medical curriculum. The reasons may include hierarchical organization of clinical practice, specific nature of moral dilemmas faced by medical students, and hidden medical curriculum.

Enhancing teacher moral judgment in difficult political times: Swimming upstream

Teachers at eight elementary schools in a large metropolitan school district participated in a multi-year program of professional ethical dilemma discussions that took place at monthly school meetings over a two-year or three-year period and focused on real-life situations faced by elementary school teachers. Discussions were structured using the Four Component Model of Moral Judgment. The DIT-2 served as a measure of moral judgment. Results proved to be counterintuitive; teacher moral judgment did not improve over time. We discuss the implications of promoting moral and democratic sensibilities at a time when American classrooms are tightly controlled and teachers held accountable for student performance on high stakes tests.

The relation of multicultural experiences to moral judgment and mindsets.

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.

Moral Identity of Teachers of the Underprivileged

Moral identity is the extent that a person has constructed his or her sense of self around moral concerns (Hardy, 2006). This research study focuses on whether there is a difference in the moral identity of teachers who serve underprivileged students in the inner city and teachers who erve more affluent students in the suburbs. Insight into the moral identity of teachers of the underprivileged was achieved by utilizing both quantitative and cognitive anthropological qualitative methods, and focusing on the role of moral judgment, religiosity, and personality. Teachers were categorized based on educational environment (inner city or suburban), educational experience (taught for less that ten years or more than ten years) and educational level of teachers (Bachelors or either a Masters or Educational Specialist degree). The Defining Issues Test 2, a measure of moral judgment, did not reveal significant differences in the scores of inner city teachers (N = 29) and suburban teachers (N = 32); teachers who taught less than ten years (N = 27) and teachers who taught more than ten years (N = 34); and teachers who did not have a graduate degree (N = 22) and teachers who did have a graduate degree (39). The Quest Scale on the Religious Life Inventory (Batson, 1993) is an open-ended, questioning approach to religion that is associated with reduced authoritarianism, tolerance, and universal compassion (Batson, 1983). A one-way ANOVA revealed no significant difference between elementary inner city and suburban teachers on the Quest Scale F (1,61) = 1.859, p = .178; no significant difference between teachers who taught in the classroom less than ten years and those who have taught ten years or more F (1,60) =1.881, p = .175; However, higher Quest Scale scores for teachers with a graduate degree than teachers with a undergraduate degree only ii resulted in a significant difference between the two categories of teachers, F(1, 60) = 7.460, p = .008. Cultural domain analysis, a cognitive anthropology methodology, examined contrasts between inner city and suburban teachers in their classification and ranking of 21 qualities of a good teacher. Both categories of teachers classified the same qualities as either child-centered, with both equity and caring components, which are associated with moral cognition; or adult-centered, with both openness or interaction components. Inner city teachers preferred equity based qualities when interacting with students and suburban teachers preferred caring based qualities. Only the inner city teachers achieved cultural consensus in their classifying the 21 qualities of a good teacher, and neither group utilized the same cultural domain in classifying the qualities of a good teacher as they used in ranking the qualities of a good teacher. Teachers who were highly positively or highly negatively correlated to the cultural domains of inner city or suburban teachers were selected to be interviewed with the Life Story Interview (McAdams, et al, 2008). There was not a difference between the inner city and suburban teachers regarding a religious motivation for becoming a teacher. However, inner city teachers stated that there is a great sense of community and teamwork between inner city teachers in supporting one another to remain dedicated to their jobs. This sense of community and teamwork was not found among the suburban teachers. Findings of this research indicate that further implementation of cultural domain analysis should be explored in the field of moral psychology.

The distinction between moral judgment development and verbal ability: some relevant data using socio‐political outcome variables

Critics of moral judgment measures question whether the obtained pattern of relationships between moral judgment scores and outcome variables might be better explained by verbal/general ability. To address this concern, we assess the degree to which moral judgment development reduces to verbal ability using the Defining Issues Test (DIT). Our findings suggest that DIT scores describe a latent variable that is distinct from verbal ability. Second, we show that verbal ability cannot account for the relationship between moral judgments and social political attitudes and actions. These results are consistent with the developmental view that moral judgment development scores are related to, but do not reduce to, cognitive and ability measures.

Moral judgment development across cultures: Revisiting Kohlberg’s universality claims

This article revisits Kohlberg’s cognitive developmental claims that stages of moral judgment, facilitative processes of social perspective-taking, and moral values are commonly identifiable across cultures. Snarey [Snarey, J. (1985). The cross-cultural universality of social-moral development: A critical review of Kohlbergian research. Psychological Bulletin, 97, 202–232] examined Kohlberg’s claims in a survey of 45 cross-cultural studies in 27 countries that used Kohlberg’s dilemma method of stage assessment (the Moral Judgment Interview, MJI [Colby, A., & Kohlberg, L. (1987). The measurement of moral judgment: Vol. 1. Theoretical foundations and research validation. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press]). Snarey’s review identified a basic stage trend but also the cultural specificity of Kohlberg’s highest stages. As a remedy, Snarey proposed a culturally inclusive elaboration of the highest stages. Another proposed model [Gibbs, J. C. (2003). Moral development and reality: Beyond the theories of Kohlberg and Hoffman. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage] argued for maturity in the basic moral judgment stage trend. Gibbs’ revisionist model has been associated with an alternative (dilemma-free) assessment method (the Sociomoral Reflection Measure-Short Form, SRM-SF [Gibbs, J. C., Basinger, K. S., & Fuller, D. (1992). Moral maturity: Measuring the development of sociomoral reflection. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum]). Snarey’s and Gibbs’s revisionist models are compared and used as frameworks for interpreting not only the MJI findings but also newer SRM-SF findings from 75 cross-cultural studies conducted in 23 countries. Despite continuing questions for research, multimethod convergence is found for common moral values, basic moral judgment stage development, and related social perspective-taking across cultural groups.

Assessing Managers’ Ethical Decision-making: An Objective Measure of Managerial Moral Judgment

Recent allegations of unethical decision-making by leaders in prominent business organizations have jeopardized the world’s confidence in American business. The purpose of this research was to develop a measure of managerial moral judgment that can be used in future research and managerial assessment. The measure was patterned after the Defining Issues Test, a widely used general measure of moral judgment. With content validity as the goal, we aimed to sample the domain of managerial ethical situations by establishing links to dimensions of managerial performance, as well as to the types of organizational justice issues managers encounter. Proposed scenarios were evaluated for realism by ethics officers and human resource managers. Results indicated that the new measure is reliable and correlates with a number of relevant variables in the hypothesized manner, demonstrating evidence of construct validity. Implications for future research and for human resources management are discussed.

New Scholars, New Scholarship: Political Understanding and EngagementAn Interview with Anne Colby

Anne Colby is a Senior Scholar at the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, where she co-directs the Political Engagement Project and the Preparation for the Professions Program. Prior to joining the Carnegie Foundation in 1997, she was director of the Henry Murray Research Center at Harvard University. She is co-author of four books: A Longitudinal Study of Moral Judgment (1983), The Measurement of Moral Judgment (1987), Some Do Care: Contemporary Lives of Moral Commitment (1992), and Educating Citizens: Preparing America's Undergraduates for Lives of Moral and Civic Responsibility (2003). She is co-editor of Ethnography and Human Development: Context and Meaning in Human Inquiry (1995), Competence and Character Through Life (1998), and Looking at Lives: American Longitudinal Studies of the Twentieth Century (2002). She holds a B.A. from McGill University and a Ph.D. in psychology from Columbia University. While not a "new scholar," she has some interesting new scholarship under way. She was contacted about her research.

Moral Judgment, Self-Understanding, and Moral Actions: The Role of Multiple Constructs

Current models of moral functioning such as those of Rest (1983) and Damon and Hart (1988) have maintained that optimal moral development and consistent moral action require the presence of multiple constructs. In order to examine the importance of the presence of multiple variables relevant to moral functioning, structural equation modeling was used in addressing relationships among measurements of moral judgment development, self-understanding, and three distinct forms of moral action. A sample of 167 college students responded to measures of moral judgment, self-understanding, and moral action in three datacollection sessions. Models generated of these data revealed that three different forms of moral action were statistically distinct and were differentially related to moral judgment development and self-understanding. The results are discussed in terms of the importance and contributions of multiple moral developmental constructs in the production of moral action.