The Effect Of Modesty Traits On Moral Decision-making

Moral decision making refers to the psychological process in which individuals make choices based on what is right or wrong.Moral dilemmas are the classic paradigm of moral dec-ision-making,but the traditional paradigm of moral dilemmas has been questioned a lot.Moral dilemmas lack external validity,can not independently measure the utilitarian or deontological tendencies of individuals,and can not accurately explain moral decision-making.Aiming at the inadequacies of traditional moral dilemmas paradigm,the CNI model of moral decision making uses multinomial processing tree model to calculate individual sensitivity to Consequences,sensitivity to moral Norms and general preference for Inaction versus Action.To identify more clearly the important factors that affect moral decision-making.Modesty is an excellent quality and virtue advocated by both Eastern and Western cultures.It has been found that modesty,as an important psychological attribute,has a positive impact on moral decision-making and moral behavior.Based on the CNI model,this study explores the differences of personality traits in moral decision making to provide a new perspective for the research on the relationship between moral decision making and modesty traits.The research contents mainly include:(1)the effect of modesty trait on moral decision making and its psychological processing;(2)The role of cognition load in the influence of modesty traits on moral decision-making.Study 1 mainly examined the influence of modesty traits on moral decision-making.The results showed that:(1)low modesty group was more willing to make utilitarian decisions in moral dilemmas;(2)After fitting the CNI model,it was found that,compared with the low modesty trait group,the high modesty trait group was more sensitive to moral norms(N parameter),and was affected by the decrease of general inaction preference(I parameter),which did not lead to more utilitarian decisions.Furthermore,Study 2 further investigated the role of cognitive load.The results showed that:(1)under the condition of low cognitive load,low modesty trait group made more utilitarian moral decisions in moral dilemmas;Under the condition of high cognitive load,there was no significant difference in the score of utilitarian moral decision making.(2)After fitting the CNI model,it was found that under the condition of low cognitive load,the scores of consequences sensitivity(parameter C)and general inaction preference(parameter I)of the low modesty trait group were significantly higher than those of the high modesty trait group;However,under the condition of high cognitive load,the general in action preference(I parameter)of the high modesty trait group was significantly increased;The results of consequences sensitivity(C parameter)and moral norms sensitivity(N parameter)were not significantly different between the two groups.In addition,there was no significant difference in moral norms sensitivity(N parameter)between the modesty group under both high and low cognitive load conditions.This study provides a new perspective and evidence for personality trait differences in moral decision-making.The results show that:(1)The low modesty trait group is sensitive to the con-sequence in the moral decision-making process,that is,they make more utilitarian moral decisions.(2)Based on the CNI model,it is found thatthe high modesty trait group is more inclined to abide by the moral norms,shows less utilitarian moral decision making,and is also affected by the individual’s general inaction preference.(3)Cognitive resources can affec t the moral decision-making of modesty trait groups.The CNI model shows that cognitive loa d can reduce the sensitivity of modesty trait group to consequence,and increase the tendency of general inaction preference,which is obvious in the personality difference of moral decisio n making.