Topic
Social cognitive theory of morality
About: Social cognitive theory of morality is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 5842 publications have been published within this topic receiving 250337 citations.
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TL;DR: In this paper, evidence is reviewed showing that college attendance is associated with development in moral judgement, and six interpretations of why college has this effect are discussed: (1) simple age/maturation; (2) socialization; (3) learning specific knowledge or skill; (4) generalized understanding; (5) intellectual stimulation; (6) self-selection.
Abstract: Evidence is reviewed showing that college attendance is associated with development in moral judgement. Six interpretations of why college has this effect are discussed: (1) simple age/maturation; (2) socialization; (3) learning specific knowledge or skill; (4) generalized understanding; (5) intellectual stimulation; (6) self‐selection. Findings from longitudinal, experimental, correlational, educational and life experience studies are used to evaluate the plausibility of each interpretation. The last three interpretations are favoured over the first three.
107 citations
TL;DR: An experiment with 336 participants finds that individuals vary in the extent to which their moral commitments are consequentialist or deontological, and that this variation is systematically but imperfectly related to the moral judgments elicited by trolley car problems.
107 citations
TL;DR: It is demonstrated that for people with a strong moral identity, the answer is “no,” because they are more likely than those with a weak moral identity to extend moral concern to people belonging to a perceived out-group.
Abstract: Throughout history, principles such as obedience, loyalty, and purity have been instrumental in binding people together and helping them thrive as groups, tribes, and nations. However, these same principles have also led to in-group favoritism, war, and even genocide. Does adhering to the binding moral foundations that underlie such principles unavoidably lead to the derogation of out-group members? We demonstrated that for people with a strong moral identity, the answer is “no,” because they are more likely than those with a weak moral identity to extend moral concern to people belonging to a perceived out-group. Across three studies, strongly endorsing the binding moral foundations indeed predicted support for the torture of out-group members (Studies 1a and 1b) and withholding of necessary help from out-group members (Study 2), but this relationship was attenuated among participants who also had a strong moral identity.
107 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a modal-relational perspective is proposed to account for degrees of moral status in the English-speaking literature, according to which the greater a being's capacity to be part of a communal relationship with us, the greater its moral status.
Abstract: The dominant conceptions of moral status in the English-speaking literature are either holist or individualist, neither of which accounts well for widespread judgments that: animals and humans both have moral status that is of the same kind but different in degree; even a severely mentally incapacitated human being has a greater moral status than an animal with identical internal properties; and a newborn infant has a greater moral status than a mid-to-late stage foetus. Holists accord no moral status to any of these beings, assigning it only to groups to which they belong, while individualists such as welfarists grant an equal moral status to humans and many animals, and Kantians accord no moral status either to animals or severely mentally incapacitated humans. I argue that an underexplored, modal-relational perspective does a better job of accounting for degrees of moral status. According to modal-relationalism, something has moral status insofar as it capable of having a certain causal or intensional connection with another being. I articulate a novel instance of modal-relationalism grounded in salient sub-Saharan moral views, roughly according to which the greater a being's capacity to be part of a communal relationship with us, the greater its moral status. I then demonstrate that this new, African-based theory entails and plausibly explains the above judgments, among others, in a unified way.
106 citations
TL;DR: An overview and a comparative analysis of the theoretical understandings of moral distress and related concepts are provided, suggesting that moral distress may serve as a positive catalyst in exercising moral agency.
Abstract: Research on ethical dilemmas in health care has become increasingly salient during the last two decades resulting in confusion about the concept of moral distress. The aim of the present paper is to provide an overview and a comparative analysis of the theoretical understandings of moral distress and related concepts. The focus is on five concepts: moral distress, moral stress, stress of conscience, moral sensitivity and ethical climate. It is suggested that moral distress connects mainly to a psychological perspective; stress of conscience more to a theological–philosophical standpoint; and moral stress mostly to a physiological perspective. Further analysis indicates that these thoughts can be linked to the concepts of moral sensitivity and ethical climate through a relationship to moral agency. Moral agency comprises a moral awareness of moral problems and moral responsibility for others. It is suggested that moral distress may serve as a positive catalyst in exercising moral agency. An interdisciplinary approach in research and practice broadens our understanding of moral distress and its impact on health care personnel and patient care.
106 citations