Expanding the Domain of Morality by Going Beyond Moral Reasoning: Emerging Trends in Moral Research

The concept of ‘morality’ has since long been predominantly considered within the paradigm of developmental psychology, as quintessentially cognitive in nature. This paper reviews the studies that indicate different emerging trends, beyond the conventional cognitive developmental paradigm. It shows how the attention from ‘moral reasoning’ has shifted to ‘moral emotions’, and in the recent years researchers have moved toward investigating the interaction among the cognitive, emotional, and behavioral components of moral discourse. Also the review indicates how this domain is now not just a subject matter of interest for developmental psychologists studying the development of moral reasoning in children, but also for other fields. The article proposes to broaden the domain of morality, and to move beyond the conventional ‘harm’- ‘justice’ criteria, to include other culturally relevant aspects.     

复合命题推理能力相关影响因素的实证研究

本研究由两个实验组成,探讨了影响9-11岁的儿童,少年和成年人的复合命题推理能力发展的相关因素,主要有格式类型、性别、材料性质等因素.结果表明:小同的格式类型、性别对被试的复合命题推理能力有着碌著的影响.而材料性质对被试的复合命题推理能力的影响体现在阶段性上,它只对儿童阶段的被试有影响,而对少年阶段和成年阶段的被试影响却不大.     

Identity, Reasoning, and Emotion: An Empirical Comparison of Three Sources of Moral Motivation

Prior research on moral motivation has primarily emphasized moral reasoning and moral emotion; however, identity may also play an important role. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to examine the relative importance of prosocial identity, prosocial moral reasoning, and empathy in predicting prosocial behavior. The sample included 91 university students, ages 19–35 years (M=21.89; SD=3.01; 80% European American; 65% female). Prosocial identity and empathy, but not prosocial moral reasoning, were positively associated with overall prosocial behavior. Exploratory analyses examined how these three sources of prosocial motivation differentially related to six forms of prosocial behavior. Results suggest the importance of considering the roles of all three sources of moral motivation.     

道德困境之困境—— 情与理的辩争

道德判断是人类日常生活中必不可少的评价性活动之一, 但道德判断中情与理的作用争执不休。从休谟和康德的哲学论争到发展心理学家对道德推理的关注, 直至现代社会心理学家对情绪的重新审视, 道德判断的决策机制已经演变为多种模型相互竞争的局面。在回顾和分析道德判断各种理论的基础上, 阐述了情绪和推理在道德判断中的作用, 认为今后应当更多地关注道德推理的实际作用, 并当运用更为先进的操纵手段, 同时注重情境的影响来考察道德判断中情与理的问题。     

An Empirical Investigation of Locus of Control and the Structure of Moral Reasoning: Examining the Ethical Decision-Making Processes of Sales Managers

A study of sales managers examines the utility of locus of control to predict managers' moral reasoning and its effect on ethical decision-making. Results indicate that external managers attach greater importance to teleological and act-oriented reasoning than do internals. To form ethical judgments, internal managers rely more on deontological evaluations than externals. In forming behavioral intentions, external managers rely more on teleological evaluations than internals.

For managerial practice, the findings suggest that internal managers exhibit harsher judgments of bribery, less intention to pay a bribe, and greater emphasis on rule-based decision-making. Internals' preference for deontological reasoning is related to behavior-based control and supervision structures, possibly leading to improvements in organizations' ethical climate.     

Possible Environmental Causes of Stages in Moral Reasoning

Both children (6-, 10-, and 14-year-olds) and their mothers were interviewed. The children's responses to moral dilemmas were classified into Kohlberg's three main categories—preconventional, conventional, and postconventional. The mothers were presented with a variety of hypothetical situations—e.g., they had just found out that their child had stolen something, and were asked to tell what they would say or do to their child in each situation. The mothers' hypothetical responses to such situations were divided into either the preconventional, conventional, or postconventional category depending on the level or moral reasoning such responses would imply to their children. The results indicated that as the age of the children increased, both the level of moral reasoning used by the children and the level of moral reasoning implied by the mothers' treatment of the children increased. Even with age partialed out, there was a significant positive relationship between the mothers' implied level of moral reasoning and the children's level of moral reasoning. Thus, although causality cannot be established, the results indicate that there is at least the possibility that environmental changes—i.e., changes in the way the mother treats the child—may be responsible for the appearance of stages in the child's development of moral reasoning.     

回到道德现象本身——康德道德形而上学的论证方法初探

在康德理性的道德形而上学的建构过程中,两种论证方法即分析法和综合法起到了重要的作用。他首先用分析法从普通人的相互混杂的道德认识中逐步分离出纯粹的道德现象和原则,力图给真正的道德哲学奠基。随后他又用综合法来论证道德律的实在性并使它在经验世界中能得到现实的应用,以说明纯粹的道德原则并非人的主观臆造。两种方法相互依赖,相辅相成,共同支撑起道德形而上学的大厦。     

The Internal Consistency of Moral Reasoning: A Multitrait-Multimethod Assessment

The consistency of moral judgment across five dimensions (immanent justice, moral realism, retribution vs. restitution, efficacy of severe punishment, and communicable responsibility) from two basic, structural components of the cognitive-developmental approach was examined. The two components were (a) the more general concept of level and (b) the more specific concept of stage. Multitrait-multimethod analysis supported the compatibility between the two constructs. The methods differed in their degree of association between the five measured dimensions; the stage technique appeared to be more consistent than the level scale. Finally, comparisons between dimensions indicated that the notion of moral development seems to be multidimensional, vis-à-vis unidimensional, as originally implied by Piaget and later by Kohlberg.     

当代西方道德人格研究的两类取向

道德人格研究是西方道德心理学的新主题,主要有两类取向：特质取向和社会认知取向。特质取向把道德人格理解为与道德有关的人格特质,对道德榜样的自然概念和真实道德榜样的人格特征进行了大量研究。社会认知取向以社会认知图式、知识结构和认知－情感机制来解释道德人格,揭示了个体内部动态的心理过程。未来的道德人格研究要强调两类取向的结合,加强发展过程和影响因素研究,并注重多水平与多学科的整合。     

The Roles of Religiosity and Spirituality in Moral Reasoning

To better understand the influence of religiosity and spirituality on moral reasoning, 1,037 college students completed a survey including demographic questions, a religiosity measure, a spirituality measure, and Forsyth's Ethical Position Questionnaire. Religiosity and spirituality positively correlated with moral idealism, whereas spirituality negatively correlated with moral relativism. However, religiosity and spirituality accounted for a very little variability in moral reasoning, suggesting that they do not directly influence moral reasoning. In addition, female participants reported higher spirituality, but there were no gender differences on a spirituality measure. Future research is needed to examine other factors that may influence moral reasoning.     

Competing Conceptions of Justice: Faculty Moral Reasoning About Affirmative Action

College faculty (N = 115) were recruited to investigate the influence of moral reasoning on hiring decisions about affirmative action dilemmas. Participants completed the Defining Issues Test (DIT), a standard test of moral reasoning, a measure that presented two hypothetical moral dilemmas about affirmative action that manipulated candidates' race and moral issues, and a scale evaluating the use of external norms versus self-chosen principles. Results indicated that moral issue but not race of a minority candidate affected hiring decisions. Faculty used greater percentages of principled reasoning when solving the more salient affirmative action dilemmas than when solving the hypothetical dilemmas of the DIT. Higher scores on the DIT were related to the use of principles rather than norms when making hiring decisions. Findings suggest that faculty decisions about hiring a hypothetical affirmative action candidate are more influenced by moral reasoning level and competing conceptions of justice than racial bias or ambivalence.