The Impact Of Trait Sense Of Power On Moral Judgment:The Mediating Role Of Empathy And Guilt

Moral dilemma judgment is the process by which an individual uses moral codes or value standards to make moral judgments and inferences about specific behaviors or events in specific situations.Studies have shown that the sense of power is one of the important factors influencing moral judgment,and further exploring the psychological mechanism of how the sense of power affects moral judgment is an important topic in this research field.In previous studies,it mainly discusses how trait sense of power affects moral judgment,and the purpose of this study is to explore how trait sense of power affects moral dilemma judgment from the perspective of emotions,taking trait sense of power as independent variable,moral dilemma judgment variable as dependent variable,and empathy and guilt as mediating variables,using traditional judgment methods and process separation paradigm to explore the role of empathy and guilt in the influence of trait power on moral dilemma judgment.A survey of 1,089 college students was conducted using moral dilemma judgment materials,trait sense of power rating scales,interpersonal response pointer questionnaires,and guilt questionnaires.The main results were as follows: Trait power sense score,empathy score,guilt score and traditional score(deontological judgment score)were all significantly positively correlated,and empathy and guilt were the mediating variables of trait power feeling affecting the judgment of moral dilemma.Trait power affects moral dilemma judgment through empathy,trait sense of power affects moral dilemma judgment through guilt,and trait power affects moral dilemma judgment through empathy and guilt affect moral dilemma judgment are all significant.The main conclusions of this study are as follows:(1)In the influence of trait sense of power on the judgment of moral dilemma,empathy and guilt play a mediating role in it.Trait sense of power affects the judgment of moral dilemma by influencing empathy,trait sense of power also affects the judgment of moral dilemma by influencing guilt,and trait power affects the level of empathy,which in turn affects the level of guilt,and ultimately affects the judgment of moral dilemma.The higher the sense of power,the higher the level of empathy,and thus the higher the level of guilt,and the more inclined to make moral judgments about morality.(2)Using traditional judgment methods,it can be seen that when the higher trait sense of power the more individuals are inclined to make moral judgments that are deontistic;Using the process separation paradigm method,we can see that the trait sense of power of high trait strengthens the deontological tendency,weakens the utilitarian tendency,and finally makes a deontological moral judgment.