The Effects Of Family Moral Image And Moral Self-image On Kin Concealment

Background: Kin concealment refers to the tendency of people to conceal crimes committed by their relatives.According to social identity theory,it is a kind of in-group favoritism because people believe that in-group members committing crimes will affect the group moral image and thus their moral-self image.However,as a psychological phenomenon with strong traditional Confucian characteristics,there is a lack of empirical studies in China.This experiment investigated the role of moral self-image and family moral image in kin concealment.Method: Using g-power to confirm the required sample size,three experiments were conducted online,with the dependent variable all being the willingness of participants to report offenders.Family moral image/moral self-image was manipulated by recalling moral or neutral events that the family/individual has done.Experiment 1was a one-factor(offender identity: brother vs.stranger)between-subjects design.Participants were asked to imagine that they had witnessed a crime committed by a stranger/brother.Experiment 2 was a 2(offender identity)×2(recollections of family events: moral vs.neutral)between-subjects design.Participants were asked to recall a recent moral/neutral event that their family had done,and then next steps were the same as in experiment 1.Experiment 3 was a 2(offender identity)×2(recollections of individual events: moral vs.neutral)between-subjects design.Participants were asked to recall a recent neutral event that their family had done to make sure they reach same level of family moral image.Then participants were asked to recall a recent moral/neutral event that they had recently done to control moral-self image.The rest steps were the same as in experiment 1.Results:(1)People were more likely to conceal a family members’ crime than a stranger.(2)Participants with higher moral family image had a higher probability of reporting their family members.(3)Participants with higher moral self-image had a higher probability of reporting their family members’ crime while keeping their family moral image constant.Conclusion: Kin concealment is partially due to the fear of damage to the family moral image and thus to their moral self-image.Theoretically expanding the research on in-group favoritism,the study of crime scenario was more realistic than most laboratory research.In practice,this research helped clarify the psychological mechanisms of Chinese kin concealment,which could support legal construction.