Moral reasoning is a central aspect of morality, and its acquisition is therefore a central aspect of moral development. Children acquire moral norms through social interactions with others. Yet, the ...moral reasoning process that subserves the appreciation of norms remains vastly understudied. In this article we present a theoretical framework on the nature of moral development that conceives human morality in terms of communication. Following this framework, we argue for a closer, systematic investigation of children’s moral reasoning that complements the predominant approach of adult-led interviews examining children’s moral judgments. To better understand the role of the reasoning process for moral development, we need to investigate how different reasoning partners and individual differences influence this process. Ultimately, giving moral reasoning the much-deserved attention has the potential to broaden our understanding of how children become moral beings and how human morality is constituted.
•We present a theoretical framework on the nature of moral development.•Moral reasoning is proposed to emerge and develop in social interactions.•Suggestion of methodological approach to study processes of moral reasoning.•Outline of avenues for future research.
Full text
Available for:
GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
•Consumers’ information processing mode (holistic vs. analytic) leads to different moral reasoning strategies.•Individual (Collective) self-concept prompts moral decoupling (coupling) ...selection.•Moral coupling (decoupling) has a positive (negative) impact on negative word of mouth intent.
Robust evidence suggests that cultural variation affects consumer information processing. However, how different cultural orientations lead consumers to different moral judgments toward celebrity endorsers’ unethical behaviors is less appreciated. Drawing on the dual agency model, we show through two experiments that consumers’ information processing mode (holistic vs. analytic) leads to different moral judgment outcomes. This study contributes to the literature by (1) identifying the substantial roles of consumers’ cultural background and cognitive processing style on their response to negative publicity about celebrity athletes, (2) demonstrating the influence of cultural cognition on moral reasoning for both chronic (study 1) and working self-concepts (study 2), and (3) empirically testing the mediating role of the information processing mode on the effect of cultural cognition on moral judgment processes and its subsequent outcomes for celebrity athlete evaluation. The findings shed important managerial insights for managers dealing with athlete’s unethical behaviors in different cultural contexts.
Full text
Available for:
GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
•This paper tests the Hierarchical Competing Systems Model (HCSM) for social decision making in 121 preschool-age children.•Children’s executive functions and theory of mind helped to explain ...discrepant performance on an embedded-ToM task.•EF and ToM differentially explained moral judgments and intention attributions for prototypic and multifaceted harm.•Children’s EF explained differences in moral justifications across prototypic and multifaceted events.
Children’s moral reasoning in early childhood is dynamic, and requires coordination of multiple social domains. Hierarchical Competing Systems Model (HCSM; Marcovitch & Zelazo, 2009) posits that underlying cognitive mechanisms, namely executive functions (EF), might allow for greater reflection and integration of multiple domains. In the current study, 121 preschool-age children (Mage = 53.24 months) completed an age-appropriate Stroop task, a theory of mind (ToM) battery, and open-ended story-interviews pertaining to intentional and accidental harm. Findings largely support the HCSM in explaining children’s moral reasoning. Stroop performance explained morally-embedded ToM task performance, such that stronger EF corresponded with better ToM performance. ToM performance explained attributions of intentions for events of intentional harm and accidental harm, but did not explain children’s own evaluations of either transgression. Stroop performance also explained discrepant justificatory strategies across harmful events, for instance with faster Stroop performance corresponding with reasoning strategies related to fairness, but only for the accidental event. Implications, limitations, and future directions are discussed.
Full text
Available for:
GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the understudied antecedents of moral reasoning and cognitive processes that ultimately shape the ethical consumption. The theory of planned behavior ...(TPB) and the socio-intuitionist model are integrated. Holistic, inferential, and affective dimensions of intuition are identified as critical antecedents of environmental concerns that then influence the ethical consumption.
Design/methodology/approach
Structural equation modeling is used to analyze intuitive judgments and ethical concerns in 256 US undergraduates. The New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) is used to measure ethical concerns and the ecologically conscious consumer behavior (ECCB) instrument is used to measure ethical consumption.
Findings
The results indicate that inferential intuition, but not affective intuition, significantly predicts the ethical concerns (NEP), which in turn significantly influence all five dimensions of ethical consumption behavior (ECCB).
Practical implications
Managers and marketing strategists should focus on non-rational influences such as moral intuition to effectively promote ethical and responsible consumption.
Originality/value
The TPB and the intuitionist theory are integrated to reveal empirically how intuitive judgments may affect consumer attitudes and to provide new insights regarding the ethical consumption.
Following a transgression, apologies serve as assurances of better future behaviour. Here, we investigated 5- and 6-year-old children’s responses when these assurances were violated, with the same ...transgression being repeated, and the role that reason-giving plays in such assurances. Participants (N = 72, 38 girls, UK-based) witnessed a recurring harm that was caused either by an apologetic actor who gave different reasons after each transgression (Different Reason condition), the same reason (Same Reason condition), or who was present but not responsible for the damage done (Baseline condition). We found that children were most trusting of the actor in the Baseline condition, followed by the Different Reason condition, and least trusting in the Same Reason condition. Both ages were also slower to trust the actor in the Same Reason condition compared to the other two conditions. From age 5, children begin to recognise the boundaries of apologies and when they may not suffice.
•Children saw an actor give the same or different reasons for a repeated harm.•5- and 6-year-olds trusted the actor less when she gave the same reason.•Both ages were slower to trust the actor when she gave the same reason.•From age 5, different reasons are needed to justify repeating the same harm.
Full text
Available for:
GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
27.
I. INTRODUCTION Dahl, Audun; Gingo, Matthew; Uttich, Kevin ...
Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development,
September 2018, Volume:
83, Issue:
3
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
ABSTRACT
The value of human life is a significant moral value for most people. Yet, past research has devoted little attention to the development of moral reasoning about the value of life. The ...present studies investigated how adolescents and adults reason about the value of life in the context of so‐called trolley car situations. These situations, adopted from philosophy, involve the option of sacrificing the life of one person to save five others. Based on past developmental research, we expected that individuals would reason about distinct and sometimes conflicting considerations regarding the value of life. This approach contrasted with past research on adults’ responses to trolley car situations, which has been taken to show that most moral evaluations are based not on reasoning but on affective, automatic reactions. In Study 1, 288 adolescents and adults were interviewed about trolley car situations designed to examine considerations like the value of human life and the relationship of those at risk with the actors. In Study 2, 144 college students were interviewed to further examine the roles of those involved. Participants’ justifications referred not only to the number of lives saved, but also to other considerations, such as intrinsic rights and personal responsibility for events. Moreover, responses indicated frequent conflicts about standard trolley car situations, counter to the argument that people's evaluations are automatic or based solely on a counting of lives saved. The present findings indicate that adolescents and adults reason about, and seek to coordinate, distinct moral considerations regarding the value of life.
Full text
Available for:
BFBNIB, DOBA, FZAB, GIS, IJS, IZUM, KILJ, NLZOH, NMLJ, NUK, OILJ, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Background & Aims: The ethical climate of nurses' work environment makes the nurse achieve higher levels of ethical reasoning by participating in decision making. Although making decisions is ...essential, responding appropriately to situations and overcoming fear requires moral courage. The study aimed to determine the nurses' understanding of the hospital's moral climate, reasoning, and moral courage. Materials & Methods: The present study is a cross-sectional descriptive performed on 87 nurses working in Meybod and Ardakan hospitals in March 2020. The Hospital Ethical Climate Survey (HECS), Nursing Dilemma Test (NDT), and Professional Moral Courage (PMC) questionnaire were used to collect data. Data were analyzed using SPSS software, v. 16, and descriptive and analytical statistics of Pearson, independent t-test. Results: The age range of participants was 24-50 years, with a Mean±SD of 32.97±7.26. The average score of ethical climate was 83.72±17.42, moral reasoning was obtained at 45.00±6.91, and moral courage was 45.55±6.04. Significant differences were found between gender and perception of the Ethical Climate (P=0.03). But other individual characteristics of nurses were not significantly different from the studied variables (P> 0.05). Conclusion: According to the findings, the average score of the three variables of nurses' perception of the ethical climate in the hospital, Moral Courage and moral reasoning, was higher than the average score that It reflects the appropriateness of the Ethical Climate in the hospital and the desirable ability of nurses to deal with moral tensions and critical situations. According to the results, the average score of the three variables of nurses 'perception of the Ethical Climate in the hospital, Moral Courage, and moral reasoning, was higher than the average score, which does not indicate the appropriateness of the moral atmosphere in the hospital and nurses' ability to cope with moral tensions. However, due to the need for continuous upgrading and improvement of organizations and human resources working in it, it is suggested to improve the Ethical Climate of hospitals by planning and using appropriate interventions and to promote Moral Courage and moral reasoning in nurses.
While a general manifestation of creativity contributes to desirable outcomes, creative potential may be utilized to harm individuals, property, processes, and symbols on purpose. This is known as ...malevolent creativity (MC). The present study explores whether moral reasoning moderates the relationship between creative potential and MC behaviors. Specifically, 270 college students were recruited to complete the Runco Ideational Behavior Scale (i.e., self-reported creative potential), two Alternative Uses Tasks (AUT) (i.e., performance-based general creative potential), one malevolent creative problem-solving task (i.e., performance-based malevolent creative potential), the Defining Issues Test 2 (i.e., moral reasoning), and the three-item Malevolent Creative Behavior Scale (i.e., MC behavior). Except for AUT fluency, all other indicators of creative potential were positively correlated with malevolent creative behavior. Moreover, moral reasoning significantly moderated the links between performance-based general (i.e., AUT fluency and originality) and malevolent (i.e., fluency and originality of MC problem-solving) creative potential and MC behavior, showing a stronger potential-behavior association in low rather than high levels of moral reasoning. These findings are discussed in relation to the social cognitive theory. Based on our findings, intervention programs designed to increase individuals' moral reasoning may be utilized to eliminate the transformation from creative potential to real-life MC behaviors.
•Individuals may utilize their creative potential to cause harm.•Creative potential positively correlated with malevolent creative behavior.•Moral reasoning moderates the above link.•Low moral reasoning shows a stronger potential-behavior association.
Full text
Available for:
GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
Collective Intelligence (CI) is identified as the group capacity to come up with responses to complex tasks that are not accomplished or are of worse quality if performed cooperatively or ...individually. Based on this premise, we considered knowing if adolescents’ moral reasoning would increase when a big group faces a topical moral dilemma: a sexting-centered cyberbullying case. To do so, the CI platform Thinkhub was used with an online group of 793 simultaneously connected year-1 Higher Secondary Education students. This platform contemplates an initial individual work phase, and another dynamic work group phase in which responses gradually appear. The system finally presents the most valued responses to the participants. The obtained results revealed a significant rise in the individual moral development levels that emerged during the interaction process when the participants engaged in one of the three posed questions, for which the response rate was also higher. The promising potential of the CI generated during online interaction processes followed to solve complex tasks, their weak points and future research in this field, are discussed.
•Thinkhub is a tool designed to generate collective intelligence that uses a new interaction model based on AI.•Interaction is based on small group work, on the rotation of group members and the selection of the most frequent answers.•An online simultaneous group of 793 students participated in the experiment.•Top 1 answer generated was the best possible based on the moral reasoning theory.•Moral reasoning for dealing with cyberbullying can be enhanced by generating collective intelligence through Thinkhub.
Full text
Available for:
GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
