When Friends' and Society's Expectations Collide: A Longitudinal Study of Moral Decision-Making and Personality across College.
Early adulthood is a developmentally important time period, with many novel life events needing to be traversed for the first time. Despite this important transition period, few studies examine the development of moral decision-making processes during this critical life stage. In the present study,...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2016-01-01
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| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4709233?pdf=render |
| _version_ | 1818506172079013888 |
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| author | Kathryn L Bollich Patrick L Hill Peter D Harms Joshua J Jackson |
| author_facet | Kathryn L Bollich Patrick L Hill Peter D Harms Joshua J Jackson |
| author_sort | Kathryn L Bollich |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Early adulthood is a developmentally important time period, with many novel life events needing to be traversed for the first time. Despite this important transition period, few studies examine the development of moral decision-making processes during this critical life stage. In the present study, college students completed moral decision-making measures during their freshman and senior years of college. Results indicate that, across four years, moral decision-making demonstrates considerable rank-order stability as well as change, such that people become more likely to help a friend relative to following societal rules. To help understand the mechanisms driving changes in moral decision-making processes, we examined their joint development with personality traits, a known correlate that changes during early adulthood in the direction of greater maturity. We found little evidence that personality and moral decision-making developmental processes are related. In sum, findings indicate that while moral decision-making processes are relatively stable across a four-year period, changes do occur which are likely independent of developmental processes driving personality trait change. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-10T22:00:54Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-fe0570a72c324c338fcf25417566f540 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-10T22:00:54Z |
| publishDate | 2016-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj.art-fe0570a72c324c338fcf25417566f5402022-12-22T01:31:54ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032016-01-01111e014671610.1371/journal.pone.0146716When Friends' and Society's Expectations Collide: A Longitudinal Study of Moral Decision-Making and Personality across College.Kathryn L BollichPatrick L HillPeter D HarmsJoshua J JacksonEarly adulthood is a developmentally important time period, with many novel life events needing to be traversed for the first time. Despite this important transition period, few studies examine the development of moral decision-making processes during this critical life stage. In the present study, college students completed moral decision-making measures during their freshman and senior years of college. Results indicate that, across four years, moral decision-making demonstrates considerable rank-order stability as well as change, such that people become more likely to help a friend relative to following societal rules. To help understand the mechanisms driving changes in moral decision-making processes, we examined their joint development with personality traits, a known correlate that changes during early adulthood in the direction of greater maturity. We found little evidence that personality and moral decision-making developmental processes are related. In sum, findings indicate that while moral decision-making processes are relatively stable across a four-year period, changes do occur which are likely independent of developmental processes driving personality trait change.http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4709233?pdf=render |
| spellingShingle | Kathryn L Bollich Patrick L Hill Peter D Harms Joshua J Jackson When Friends' and Society's Expectations Collide: A Longitudinal Study of Moral Decision-Making and Personality across College. PLoS ONE |
| title | When Friends' and Society's Expectations Collide: A Longitudinal Study of Moral Decision-Making and Personality across College. |
| title_full | When Friends' and Society's Expectations Collide: A Longitudinal Study of Moral Decision-Making and Personality across College. |
| title_fullStr | When Friends' and Society's Expectations Collide: A Longitudinal Study of Moral Decision-Making and Personality across College. |
| title_full_unstemmed | When Friends' and Society's Expectations Collide: A Longitudinal Study of Moral Decision-Making and Personality across College. |
| title_short | When Friends' and Society's Expectations Collide: A Longitudinal Study of Moral Decision-Making and Personality across College. |
| title_sort | when friends and society s expectations collide a longitudinal study of moral decision making and personality across college |
| url | http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4709233?pdf=render |
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