On the “Exporting” of Morality: Its Relation to Political Conservatism and Epistemic Motivation

A new phenomenon, moral exporting (ME), is introduced to capture active attempts to promote certain views of morality to others. It was hypothesized that political conservatives would be more likely to exhibit ME, due in part to strong epistemic concerns for certainty that may become attached to the moral domain. Related items from the 1988 and 2006 General Social Surveys were analyzed, and new scales were developed to better assess ME and specific moral-related epistemic concerns (moral absolutism). In a second study, these scales were administered to a large college student sample along with measures of political ideology and need for closure (NFC). Results generally showed that political conservatism was strongly related to the new ME factor. Further analysis determined that both moral absolutism (MA) and NFC accounted for significant portions of this relationship, but that the specific epistemic construct (MA) was a more proximal mediator. Discussion centers on further distinguishing ME and MA from related constructs, as well as on future research and applications.     

Literatur

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Some thoughts on normal adolescents who lost a parent by death

This study is an attempt to determine the effects of the loss of a parent by death in childhood on adolescents who were not part of a clinic population. In a longitudinal study of 350 normal adolescents by Peterson and Offer, 7 teenagers had lost a parent between the ages of 7 and 10 1/2. These 7 research protocols were reviewed at ages 12 and 13. Almost all of these youngsters were intensely involved with siblings and peers as a way to help them adapt to their loss. At least one-half of this group of normal adolescents had some type of therapeutic contact since the parent's death. At age 12 these youngsters appeared to be coping with their loss by extracting from their environment the necessary help and support. At age 13 they were still coping, but their adaptation appeared more precarious.