The Effect Of Iterative Dilemmas On Moral Dilemma Judgments:A Moderated Mediation Model

Moral judgment is the evaluative judgment made by the perceiver about behaviors or tendencies that violate ethical norms.Moral judgments are influenced by many factors.Previous research has often focused on two kinds of factors: one is individual factors,that is,emotional and cognitive factors;The other is the content of moral judgments,that is,the context of moral judgments,and most of the current researches focus on the discussion of the types of situations,but few studies have paid attention to the impact of iterative situations on moral judgments.Iterative situations make individuals more susceptible to feelings of guilt.Studies have shown that individuals tend to respond to deontological reaction under guilt.Belief in a just world is a cognitive belief that drives people to abide by social moral norms.Therefore,combining individual factors and situational factors,this study pays attention to the factors of iterative moral dilemma judgment when the situation is iterative,and investigates the psychological mechanism of individuals making moral dilemma judgment in iterative dilemmas.In this study,568 high school students and 322 college students were tested using the Just World Belief Scale,Guilt Self-Rating Scale,and Moral Dilemma Judgment Materials.A moderated mediation model was constructed by taking the iterative dilemma types(noniterative dilemma,same object iterative dilemma and different objects iterative dilemma)as the independent variable,guilt as the mediation variable,and belief in a just world as the moderator variable.The main results were as follows: the score of moral dilemma judgment was reduced under iterative dilemma,and the score of the same object iterative dilemma was significantly lower than that of different objects.Guilt is the mediation variable of iterative dilemma affecting moral dilemma judgments.Belief in a just world moderates the second half of the mediation model.The results of this study support the hypothetical model.The main conclusions of this study are as follows:1.When the dilemma is iterative,the participants are more inclined to make a deontological response,which is manifested as: compared to different objects iterative dilemma,the participants are more inclined to make a deontological response in the same object iterative dilemma.2.Guilt mediated the relationship between iterative dilemmas and moral dilemma judgment.Iterative dilemma makes participants to be more inclined to respond to deontological reaction by triggering guilt.3.Belief in a just world plays a moderating role in the path of guilt and moral dilemma judgment.For individuals who with low belief in a just world,the degree of influence of guilt on moral dilemma judgment is small;for individuals who with high belief in a just world,the degree of influence of guilt on moral dilemma judgment is large.