A Developmental Study On The Effect Of Interpersonal Relationship On Moral Decision Making

Moral decision making is a choice process in which individual has to give his or her last decision of action from multiple possibilities of available actions in a specific moral scenario based on his or her own value structure of morality. Rules-based and outcome-based thinking are the main thinking ways taken in the process of one’s moral decision making. Interpersonal relationship in the scenario of decision making is one of most important elements which may influence the last decision of action. Adolescents are in their vital developmental period during which their senses of the value and the morality are shaped. The main aim of current study is to investigate the characteristics and its mechanics of the effect of interpersonal relationship in variable scenario of decision making on adolescents’ moral decision making and based on which some measures could be taken to carry out the schema of adolescent’s moral education to shape their benign sense of morality.The effect of interpersonal relationship on adolescents’ moral decision making has been debated by the stage theory of moral development and the theory of moral relationship regulation.The stage theory of moral development holds that the effect of interpersonal relationship on adolescents’ moral decision making happens only on some specific stage of ages, it is universal that moral decision making is not influenced by the angle of decision making, and moral decision making is a process of cognitive reasoning. While the theory of interpersonal relationship posits that the outcome of moral decision making mainly depends on the specific structure of interpersonal relationships and its corresponding moral motive in decision scenario, and such effect is not age specific but scenario and decision angel specific.Based on the debate about the effect of interpersonal relationship on moral decision making, three problems remain needed a further study:(1) whether the effect of interpersonal relationship on adolescents’ moral decision making exits a difference in the angle of decision making?(2) Is the effect of interpersonal relationship on adolescents’ moral decision making scenario specific or scenario universal?(3) Is it the early or the late stage that the information of interpersonal relationship in decision scenario is processed in the course of processing information of decision making?Using moral dilemma diagram current study is to address the three questions above from the perspective of development with the classical trolley problem and foot bridge problem as main experimental materials as well as with eye-tacking instrument to investigate the mechanism of the effect of interpersonal relationship on moral decision making form the angle of cognitive information processing. Five studies involved with eight experiments.In study one, using the scale of interpersonal relationship IOS the developmental characteristics of interpersonal relationships of600adolescents was investigated with the design of4(Grade:5,8,11, sophomore)×5(categories of relationship:father, mother, close friend, ordinary friend, strangers).In study two, the developmental characteristics of the effect of interpersonal relationship on moral decision was investigated with480adolescents from the "player angle" in "harm-side effect" scenario (experiment2) with an subject-between experimental design of2(victims on the scheduled trolley route:relatives, strangers)×2(victims on the unscheduled trolley route:relatives, strangers)×4(Grade:5,8,11, sophomore), and in "harm-means" scenario (experiment3) with another subject-between experimental design of2(victims on the trolley route:relatives, strangers)×2(victims on the footbridge:relatives, strangers)×4(Grade:5,8,11, sophomore) with another480adolescents as participants.In study three, the developmental characteristics of the effect of interpersonal relationship on moral decision making was investigated with480adolescents from the "outsider angle" in "harm-side-effect" scenario (experiment4) with an subject-between experimental design of2(victims on the scheduled trolley route: relatives, strangers)×2(victims on the unscheduled trolley route:relatives, strangers)×4(Grade:5,8,11, sophomore) and in "harm-means" scenario (experiment5) with another subject-between experimental design of2(victims on the trolley route: relatives, strangers)×2(victims on the footbridge:relatives, strangers)×4(Grade:5,8,11, sophomore) with another480adolescents as participants.In study four, by changing the way of response to the moral scenario from "decision-making" to "judgment-making" the effect of interpersonal relationship on moral judgment was investigated with120sophomore from the "player angle" in "harm-side-effect" scenario (experiment6) with an experimental design of subject-between2(victims on the scheduled trolley route:relatives, strangers)×2(victims on the unscheduled trolley route:relatives, strangers) and in "harm-means" scenario (experiment7) with another subject-between experimental design of2(victims on the trolley route:relatives, strangers)×2(victims on the footbridge: relatives, strangers) with another120sophomore as participants.In study five, using eye-moment-tracking technology an experiment with30college students as participants and the subject-within experimental design of2(victims on the scheduled trolley route:relatives, strangers)×2(victims on the unscheduled trolley route:relatives, strangers) x2(rate of person’s quantity on scheduled and unscheduled trolley route:1:5,5:1) was conducted to investigate the mechanics of the effect of interpersonal relationship on moral decision by the examination of characteristics of information procession during the decision making.Taking the results in five studies above together, following conclusions can be made safely:(1) The relationship between adolescents and their parents becomes thinner and thinner as the age grows from Grade5to sophomore, and become more closer with their close friends, there is unstable relationship among their ordinary friends, the threshold is at the Grade8.(2) There is no effect of interpersonal relationship on thinking ways of moral decision making of adolescents in Grade5, but of adolescents in Grade8. The thinking ways of moral decision making of adolescents in Grade11and sophomore are influenced significantly by the interpersonal relationship in scenario of decision making. (3) The angle of decision making has an effect on adolescents’ thinking ways of moral decision making:in the player angle, the threshold of adolescent’s thin ways of moral decision making comes between Grade5and8,and there is a speed-up development of rules-based moral thinking ways between Grade11and sophomore, and such developmental characteristics is scenario universal. But two thresholds come between Grade8and11,and between Grade11and sophomore respectively in the "outsider angle" of decision making, and such developmental characteristics is scenario specific, scenario of moral decision has a greater effect to the adolescents of Grade8on their thinking ways of moral decision making.(4) The effect of interpersonal relationship on the thinking ways of moral decision making is not influenced by the ways of response to the scenario of moral decision making and there is relatives-bias effect on moral judgment making.(5) There is an effect of interpersonal relationship on the speed of moral decision making, it is becoming longer under the condition that the victim is a relative of decision maker. The information of interpersonal relationship in decision scenario is processed at the late stage of information processing of decision making.