The Effects Of Construal Level On Moral Judgment

Moral judgment is the hot issue in the study of moral psychology. The presentstudy put the moral events into two types: moral behavior and immoral behavior, and each typeof behavior was divided into high level and low level. It was investigated the effects ofconstrual level on moral judgment from two aspects: the types and extent of moral events.According to the position of presenting moral events and operating construal level, it wasdistinguished the starting position of construal level into before the start and after the start.Construal level was operated by the modified how&why Priming paradigm. And added anexperimental group of never start construal level, it was to explore the effects of construal levelon moral judgment based on the three kinds of situation: never start, before the start, and afterthe start.The results showed:1. In the conditions of before the start of construal level, when reducing the level, it tendsto use more conservative moral standard to judge moral events, however, when improving thelevel, it tends to use more extreme moral criterion to judge these events.(1) Before the start of construal level can affect the judgment of different types of moralevents. Low level tends to judge moral acts more general, and judge immoral behavior lesshateful. But high level tends to judge the moral acts more positive, and judge the immoralbehavior more negative.(2) Before the start of construal level has influence on the judgment of different degreesof moral events. It is more likely to match low level and low degree of moral events, andchoose more cautious moral standards to judge. But it is more likely to match high level andhigh degree of moral events, and choose more strict moral standards to judge.2. There is priming effect between construal level and moral judgment, that startingconstrual level tends to use more cautious criterion to judge moral events, but never startinglevel tends to use more broad standards to judge behaviors. (1) There is different effect between starting and never starting construal level ondifferent types of moral events. Starting level tends to judge moral acts less noble, and judgeimmoral behaviors less bad. But never starting level tends to judge moral acts nobler andjudge immoral behaviors worse.(2) There is different effect between starting and never starting construal level ondifferent degrees of moral events. Starting level tends to judge low degree of behaviors moregenerally, and never starting level tends to judge high degree of behaviors more extreme.3. There is position effect between construal level and moral judgment, that after the startof construal level tends to use more rigorous moral standards to judge moral events, whilebefore the start of level tends to use relatively loose moral standards to judge behaviors.(1) There is different effect between after and before the start of construal level ondifferent types of moral events. After the start of level tends to judge moral acts more general,and judge immoral behaviors judgment less bad. However before the start of level tends tojudge moral behaviors more positive, and judge immoral behaviors more negative.(2) There is different effect between after and before the start of construal level ondifferent degrees of moral events. After the start of level tends to judge low degree ofbehaviors more generally, but before the start of level tends to judge high degree of behaviorsmore extreme.