Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Psychology

Program Name/Specialization

Developmental Psychology

Faculty/School

Faculty of Science

First Advisor

Tobias Krettenauer

Advisor Role

Marc Jambon

Second Advisor

Eileen Wood

Abstract

Moral identity can be broadly conceptualized as the degree to which an individual places moral values as directly relevant to their personal identity. A recently introduced developmental framework of moral identity argues that moral identity can be conceptualized as a lifelong goal. According to this theoretical framework, the moral identity goal (i.e., to be a moral person and engage in moral action) becomes stronger over the course of development by becoming more abstract (i.e., general), internalized (to satisfy personal ideals) and promotion (i.e., action) oriented. Additionally, the strength of the moral identity goal predicts moral functioning. To date there has been little empirical research to explicitly test this framework. The current dissertation empirically tests some of the core features of this novel framework.

The first of three studies examined the effect of internal (i.e., to satisfy personal ideals) and external (i.e., for impression management) moral identity motivation on moral decisions in sunk-cost dilemmas. The sunk-cost effect is a decision-making bias whereby individuals tend to continue pursuing an unsuccessful activity due to previous unrecoverable investments (sunk costs). Study 1 examined decision-making when continued investment was dishonest and unfair. Results showed that the sunk-cost effect is smaller when continued investment is dishonest and unfair, and internal moral identity motivation but not external moral identity motivation predicts lower likelihood of continued investment when doing so is dishonest and unfair. The second study examined internal and external moral identity motivation in adolescents and adults, and how these moral identity goal orientations predict public and private moral decision-making. The results showed that internal moral identity motivation was stronger in adults than early adolescents. Moreover, internal moral identity motivation predicted moral decision-making in both private and public contexts for both age groups. However, only adults showed moral hypocrisy, whereby external moral identity motivation predicted moral decision-making in the public but not private context. The third study examined moral identity goal abstraction in adolescents and adults, and how moral identity goal abstraction predicts moral decision-making. The results showed that adults possessed greater moral identity goal abstraction than adolescents, and moral identity goal abstraction predicted more consistent moral decision-making across contexts.

Together these studies provide empirical evidence to support certain theoretical propositions made by the moral identity goal theory. Moreover, the studies suggest investigating moral identity goal characteristics may be a viable way to study moral identity developmentally.

Convocation Year

2026

Download

Share

COinS