Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2019

Department

Psychology

Department

Psychology

Abstract

Albeit the moral identity construct has gained a pivotal status in moral psychology, previous research largely neglected cultural differences. The present study investigated moral identity from a cross-cultural perspective by comparing Western (Canadian) and Eastern (Chinese) cultures in three different contexts: family, school, and community/society. The sample included 185 young adults from Canada and 148 from China. A modified version of the moral identity interview (Krettenauer, Murua, & Jia, 2016) was administrated in each culture. All participants were asked to select 12-15 moral attributes describing a high moral person from a culturally inclusive list. They were then asked to rate the self-importance of the chosen attributes in the contexts of family, school, and community/society. Overall, participants from both cultures viewed moral attributes reflecting benevolence and universality central to their moral identity. However, Chinese participants included a broader range of value domains in the definition of their moral identity. Moreover, Chinese participants scored higher on moral identity in the context of community/society than Canadians. The results indicate cultural similarity of moral identity with regard to some moral attributes. At the same time, there is meaningful cultural variability in individuals' moral identities across contexts.

Comments

This is a pre-print of an article originally published in Journal of Moral Education. This version is made available under CC BY-NC licnese.

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