Research On Differential Effect Of Moral Orientation In Adolescents And Its Influencing Factors

The individuals have their own different moral values in a diverse society, and they tend to present different orientations of moral cognition, while the justice and caring moral orientations are two of the basic expression forms. The moral orientation of justice emphasizes the importance of autonomy, fairness, rights and the principle of universality, while the moral orientation of caring emphasizes the significance of interpersonal relationship, and the principle of not causing damage is above other common principles. Looking back at various social phenomena (e.g., shallow relationship, moral decline, etc.) in China in recent years, especially facing the emergencies, people act on their instincts and follow certain "rules" to perform justice and provide care, i.e., differential treatment for relatives in different order. We call this social behavior characteristic "differential order" (quoted from FeiXiaotong).This study intends to discuss the differential performance of moral orientation among the adolescents as well as the differential effects on the explicit and implicit levels. Based on that, the influences of perspective-taking task condition and the traditionality-modernity of psychology on the differential moral orientation are discussed respectively, hoping to enrich the researches on moral orientation and differential psychology, so that deep social factors for the individual’s favoritism psychology, which can provide referable basis to promote the harmonious social development.In Research I, the investigation method is used to explore the differential performance of adolescents on moral orientation. In investigation 1, first of all, efforts have been made to investigate the specific target during the interpersonal interaction of adolescents and its expressing meaning on the 10 dimensions of interpersonal interaction. The differential relation of adolescents is in the following order from closer to farther:lineal relative by blood and lover, collateral relative by blood on father’s side and close friends, collateral relative by blood and common friends, collateral relative by blood on mother’s side and acquaintances. In investigation 2, the status quo and development characteristics of the differential moral orientation among adolescents were investigated. In the situation of moral dilemma, when the adolescents had to make a judgment of "should/shouldn’t" (cognitive judgment), they tended to make pro-social response, i.e., expressing unipolar care; when they had to make a judgment of "worth/not worth it" (value judgment), the adolescents made pro-care choice between "justice-care"; when they had to make a judgment of "would/wouldn’t" (behavior tendency), they made a balanced choice between "justice-care".In Research Ⅱ, the explicit report method (Experiment 1) and SA-IAT method (Experiment 2) are used to validate the differential effects in explicit and implicit. The result shows that in explicit, the adolescents showed corresponding differentiability in their moral behavior and disposition toward the five differential targets of mother, siblings, close friends, common friends and acquaintances; in implicit, for the targets with closer to farther relation, the adolescents showed gradually intensified differential effects in justice, while gradually weakened differential effects in caring. There is gender difference, but it is only reflected on the implicit aspect.In Research III, different perspective-taking conditions are tested through instruction manipulation to explore the subjects’differential order in moral orientation under different perspective-taking conditions from the explicit (Experiment 3) and implicit (Experiment 4) levels. Through different types of perspective-taking conditions, the adolescents’ differential performance in moral orientation can be predicted, i.e., at the perspective-taking group that paid attention to other people, the differential effects of the five kinds of targets on the subjects decreased (positive effects); at the perspective-taking group with self-awareness, the differential effects of the five kinds of targets on the subjects strengthened (negative effects). In addition, the explicit and implicit results are consistent, i.e., when facing the farther target in the differential relation (such as common friends and acquaintances), they presented significantly different moral orientation and judgment, which was shown as their moral orientation of care rapidly declined, while their moral orientation of justice rapidly increased.In Research IV, by initiating the two cultural values of traditionality and modernity of the subjects, the impact of different cultural values on the differential order of moral orientation are discussed from the explicit (Experiment 5) and implicit (Experiment 6) levels. In the explicit, the traditionality of psychology can be used to predict the subject’s caring moral orientation, which can also strengthen the differential order of individuals on the moral orientation judgment of targets, and it is particularly reflected in their relation with siblings and close friends; on the other hand, the initiation of modern culture has weakened the differential order of subject’s explicit moral orientation judgment of targets, especially in their relation with mother and siblings. In the implicit, in the psychological context of modernity, the subjects showed low differential order in the moral orientations of justice and care; while the initiation of the traditionality of psychology can aggravate the differential order of subject in moral orientation judgment for different targets, which will expand the difference in moral orientations of justice and care in accordance with different targets, and this kind of effects are mainly reflected on the targets alienated by the subjects in the differential relation.The result shows that:first of all, the differential relation of adolescents is in the following order from closer to farther:lineal relative by blood and lover, collateral relative by blood on father’s side and close friends, collateral relative by blood and common friends, collateral relative by blood on mother’s side and acquaintances. Secondly, the differential order of moral orientation exists both on the explicit and implicit levels, and a general consistency on these two aspects is presented. The differential effects of moral orientation are mainly reflected as:for the targets from closer to farther, the differential effects on the adolescents’moral orientation of justice are gradually strengthened, while the differential effects on the moral orientation of care are gradually weakened. There is gender difference, but it is only reflected on the implicit aspect. Thirdly, the differential order of moral orientation is generally stable, but it is also affected by individual perspective-taking type under certain conditions. Through different types of perspective-taking conditions, the adolescents’differential performance in moral orientation can be predicted, i.e., at the perspective-taking group that paid attention to other people, the differential effects of the five kinds of targets on the subjects decreased (positive effects); at the perspective-taking group with self-awareness, the differential effects of the five kinds of targets on the subjects strengthened (negative effects). In addition, the explicit and implicit results are consistent, i.e., when facing the farther target in the differential relation (such as common friends and acquaintances), they presented significantly different moral orientation and judgment, which was shown as their moral orientation of care rapidly declined, while their moral orientation of justice rapidly increased. Fourthly, the differential order of moral orientation also presents cultural sensitivity, which is affected by the individual’s cultural value. This impact is different in the explicit and implicit measurement conditions. In the explicit measurement, the traditionality of psychology can be used to predict the subject’s caring moral orientation, which can also strengthen the differential order of individuals on the moral orientation judgment of targets, and it is particularly reflected in their relation with siblings and close friends; on the other hand, the initiation of modern culture has weakened the differential order of subject’s explicit moral orientation judgment of targets, especially in their relation with mother and siblings. In the implicit measurement, in the psychological context of modernity, the subjects showed low differential order in the moral orientations of justice and care; while the initiation of the traditionality of psychology can aggravate the differential order of subject in moral orientation judgment for different targets, which will expand the difference in moral orientations of justice and care in accordance with different targets, and this kind of effects are mainly reflected on the targets alienated by the subjects in the differential relation.