| The relations among personality structure, right-wing authoritarianism (RWA), and moral reasoning were assessed in a two-level design. Participants were 353 undergraduate students. In the first level, the students completed measures of the five-factor model of personality, right-wing authoritarianism, and levels of moral reasoning. Correlation coefficients showed that RWA was positively related to conscientiousness, and to the law-and-order stage of moral reasoning. RWA was negatively related to the personality dimension of openness, and to stages of moral reasoning associated with a focus on conscience and principled thinking. In addition, moral reasoning at the law-and-order stage was positively related to conscientiousness, and moral reasoning focused on conscience was negatively related to extraversion. In the second level, students responded to questions designed to assess social influence. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: control, peer, and authority. Those in the treatment conditions were told they would report, individually, to a committee of the reference group to which they were assigned. Results showed that high-RWA were overall more susceptible to social influence, but low-RWA were more differentially responsive to an authority reference group. The particular type of question asked, however, seemed to influence the direction and strength of response. This study concludes that patterns of moral decision making may be preferred styles of reasoning, rather than merely reflections of levels of cognitive development. |
