The Influence Of Moral Emotion On The Moral Judgment Of Middle School Students

Moral judgment is a process of an individual imparts moral values to events or the b ehaviors of other individual based on certain moral principles or standards (Greene,200 3), and in essence it is a highly self-motivated and self-determined process of psyc-holo gical processing which reflects self-consciousness. Previous researches about moral judgment have emphasized cognitive factors, but neglected emotional factors. However, in recent years, various evidences from behavior and cognitive neuroscience have indicated that emotional factor also plays an important role in moral judgment. Yet, there were some limitations in previous research. The results of emotion's valence influence on moral judgment is not consistent, for example, some studies have shown that positive emotions can promote the moral judgment, but other studies have found that positive emotions can hinder the moral judgment, maybe due to the type of emotion is different. Although some researches focus on the type of emotion which influence on; moral judgment, but these studies mainly focus on some negative emotions, such as anger and disgust. In the end, middle school students are in growth period, in which values has not yet formed and their thoughts are not stable, combined with the increasingly complicated factors in modern society, their moral cognition and moral behavior are disconnected. Moral judgment is an important part of moral cognition. As a consequence, it's significant to examine the middle school students' moral judgment.Therefore the study use video (reading stories), recalling memories and writing it to induce the moral emotion. We explore the effects of negative moral emotion (guilt, shame) and positive moral emotion (admiration, gratitude) on middle school students' moral judgment.Study one examined the influence of negative moral emotions (guilt, shame) on middle school students' moral judgment. Experiment one examined the influence of guilt on moral judgment, it used 2(emotional states:guilt, neutral emotion) × 2(moral judgment versions: personal moral dilemma, impersonal moral dilemma) two-factor mixed experiment design. The results:in personal moral dilemma, compared with the neutral group, the guilt group was more inclined to make the non-utilitarian choices; In impersonal moral dilemma, two groups have no significant difference; Experiment two used the same design to examine the influence of shame on moral judgment. The results: in personal moral dilemma, compared with the neutral group, the group of shame was more inclined to make the non-utilitarian choices; in impersonal moral dilemma, two groups have no significant difference. Then we examined the difference of guilt and shame which impact the moral judgment of middle school students. The results: in personal moral dilemma, the score of guilty group is significantly lower than shame, that is guilty group were more inclined to make non-utilitarian choices; in impersonal moral dilemma, two groups have no significant difference; two groups'score in personal moral dilemma is lower than in impersonal moral dilemma. In other word, people inclined to make the non-utilitarian choice in personal moral dilemma and make the utilitarian choice in impersonal moral dilemma.Study two examined the influence of positive moral emotions (virtue of admiration, gratitude) on middle school students' moral judgment. Experiment three examined the influence of admiration on moral judgment, it used 2(emotional states: virtue of admiration, neutral emotion)× 2(moral judgment versions:personal moral dilemma, impersonal moral dilemma) two-factor mixed experiment design. The results:in personal moral dilemma, compared with the neutral group, the virtue of admiration group was more inclined to make the non-utilitarian choices; In impersonal moral dilemma, two groups have no significant difference; Experiment four used the same design to examine the influence of gratitude on moral judgment. The results:in personal moral dilemma, compared with the neutral group, the group of gratitude was more inclined to make the non-utilitarian choices; in impersonal moral dilemma, two groups have no significant difference. Then we examined the difference of admiration and gratitude which impact the moral judgment of middle school students. The results:in personal moral dilemma, the score of admiration group is significant lower than gratitude group, in other word, admiration group were more inclined to make non-utilitarian choices; in impersonal moral dilemma, two groups have no significant difference; two groups'score in personal moral dilemma is lower than in impersonal moral dilemma. In other word, people inclined to make the non-utilitarian choice in personal moral dilemma and make the utilitarian choice in impersonal moral dilemma.Summing up all the results and discussions, present research conduct following conclusions:(1)In personal moral dilemma, individuals are more likely to make the utilitarian choices, and in the personal moral dilemma tend to make a utilitarian choice.(2)In personal moral dilemma, compared with the neutral group, the participants of guilt, shame, virtue admiration and gratitude groups were more inclined to make the non-utilitarian choices; In the personal moral dilemma, these groups have no significant difference;(3) In personal moral dilemma, guilt and shame group have significant differences in score of moral judgment, compared with the group of shame, the group of guilty was more inclined to make the non-utilitarian choices; In the impersonal moral dilemma, two groups have no significant difference;(4) In personal moral dilemma, admiration and gratitude group have significant differences in score of moral judgment, compared with the group of gratitude, the group of admiration was more inclined to make non-utilitarian choices; In the impersonal moral dilemma, two groups have no significant difference.