Motivation and Moral Development as Determinants of Behavioral Acquiescence and Moral Action

Abstract

Summary In a study of the influence of motives and moral judgment ability on acquiescent behavior and moral action under varying degrees of social pressure, female undergraduates (n = 80) of two different motivational orientations—safety and esteem—were tested for their level of moral development by means of Kohlberg's schema, and formed into four comparison groups—(a) safety-oriented conventional (stage 3), (b) safety-oriented post-conventional (stage 5), (c) esteem-oriented stage 3, and (d) esteem-oriented stage 5. Either as a member of a three person group and subjected to strong social pressure or alone, Ss were instructed to act as a jury and were given a legal case to deliberate (which presented a complex moral dilemma to solve) and told to reach a verdict. As predicted, the results indicated that the esteem-oriented Ss did not acquiesce and were consistent in the moral action across situations. In the group condition, safety-oriented individuals acquiesced to the social pressure of two confederates and displayed moral action inconsistent with their assessed stage of moral reasoning. In the alone condition, safety and esteem-oriented Ss were not significantly different in their moral action.