Individual and Environmental Correlates of Adolescents’ Moral Decision-Making in Moral Dilemmas

Abstract

While extensive research has been conducted on adults’ judgments in moral sacrificial dilemmas, there is little research on adolescents. The present study aimed at: (1) adding further empirical evidence about adolescents’ moral decisions (deontological vs. utilitarian) in sacrificial moral dilemmas and (2) investigating how these moral decisions relate with gender, school grade, emotional traits (callous-unemotional traits), context-related experiences (perceived parental rejection and community violence exposure), and moral-related factors (moral disengagement and universalism value). A sample of 755 Italian adolescents (54.7% females; Mean age=16.45, SD=1.61) attending the second and the fifth year of secondary school took part in the study. Two sacrificial trolley-type dilemmas (where harmful actions promote the greater good) were presented. In the “switch” scenario (impersonal sacrificial dilemma), the choice is whether to hit a switch to save five people killing only one person. In the “footbridge” scenario (personal sacrificial dilemma), the choice is whether to push a large man off a footbridge saving five persons. For each scenario, participants had to indicate whether the proposed action was “morally acceptable” or not. Data were analyzed performing generalized linear mixed models. Our results showed that: (1) Adolescents were more likely to indicate as admissible to hit the switch rather than to push the large man; (2) male adolescents, compared to females, were more likely to say it was morally acceptable to intervene in the footbridge dilemma, whereas younger adolescents said it was morally acceptable both in the switch and the footbridge situations; and (3) higher levels of callous-unemotional traits, perceived parental rejection, and moral disengagement, on the one hand, and lower levels of universalism, on the other hand, were associated to higher admissibility to intervene in the footbridge scenario. Higher community violence exposure was associated with a lower propensity to intervene in the switch scenario. Overall, the present study expands the research on sacrificial dilemmas involving a sample of adolescents. The findings support previous studies concerning the role of emotions in making moral decisions but, at the same, open new perspectives regarding the role of contextual experiences and moral-related factors.

Adolescents’ moral reasoning when honesty and loyalty collide

“…Importantly, this study enriches existing work on adolescents' sophisticated moral reasoning as they grow to navigate into a more complex social world (e.g., Bacchini et al, 2021;Bucciarelli, 2015;Dahl et al, 2018). The focus on loyalty to friendship and loyalty to a national group (patriotism) is of particular interest in adolescence.…”

“…(2014) reported that Chinese, but not Canadian children and adolescents, judged a lie more positively as group size increased (i.e., the positivity of judgments: lie for a country > school > class ). Such an effect echoes the notion of utilitarianism because behaviors that can benefit more people at the sacrifice of fewer people are more acceptable than those that only benefit the self or a small group of people (Bacchini et al., 2021; Bucciarelli, 2015; Dahl et al., 2018).…”

An Asymmetric Effect: Physical and Simulated Confederate’s Mere Presence Induce a Preference for Deontological Over Utilitarian Judgment

“…Future research should recruit people from different cultures to confirm this conclusion. Finally, it is essential to note that related research has shown that university students sometimes have less experience making decisions that may be unpopular or from a position of power than do older adults (Bacchini et al, 2021). Although such effects are not always observed, it is entirely conceivable that our results could be influenced by age differences.…”