Vol.1, No 5, 1998 pp. 507 - 514
UDC:159.923.2:17.022:37.034
PERSONALITY CHARACTERISTICS AND MORAL
JUDGEMENT
Snežana Stojiljković
Institute for Educational Research, 11000 Belgrade, Yugoslavia
Abstract. The cognitive-developmental approach to morality represents
a wider theoretical framework of this research. The study had as its objective
to determine the relative contribution of some personality characteristics
to moral judgement at different developmental levels. More precisely, moral
judgement is connected with an individual's intellectual abilities, empathy
and Eysenck's basic dimensions of personality. Moral judgement was examined
by Rest's Defining Issues Test that consists of six stories, similar to
Kohlberg's moral dilemmas. The usual psychometric means were used for intelligence
assessment. The Emotional Empathy Scale (Mehrabian and Epstein, 1972) and
Eysenck's EPQ were also used. The research sample consisted of 506 pupils,
aged 16-17. Factor analysis and canonical correlation analysis were applied
to the gathered data. The results confirmed that there is a relation between
moral judgement and cognitive abilities, especially on the postconventional
level. Some noncognitive properties of personality (empathy, extroversion,
neuroticism) are of some importance for the conventional forms of moral
thinking. The findings suggest that moral judgement is not in its nature
an exclusively cognitive process which can be thoroughly explained by the
Ethics of justice principles. In short, moral judgement is the act of a
Person as a whole. Moral person cannot be reduced to a moral thinker and
Homo Justitiae. All in all, the results show that a cognitivistic approach
cannot offer a complete explanation of the moral judgement processes.
Keywords: psychology of morality; cognitive-developmental approach;
moral judgement; personality characteristics; Ethics of justice
OSOBINE LIČNOSTI I MORALNO RASUĐIVANJE
Širi teorijski okvir ovog istraživanja predstavlja kognitivno-razvojni
pristup moralnosti. Cilj istraživanja bio je da se utvrdi koliki je relativni
doprinos pojedinih osobina ličnosti u moralnom rezonovanju različitog razvojnog
nivoa. Preciznije, moralno rasuđivanje dovedeno je u vezu sa intelektualnim
sposobnostima, empatijom i Ajzenkovim bazičnim dimenzijama ličnosti. Moralno
rasuđivanje ispitano je Restovim testom DIT (Defining Issues Test), koji
se sastoji od šest priča nalik na Kolbergove moralne dileme. Inteligencija
je merena uobičajenim psihološkim testovima. Takođe su primenjeni Skala
emocionalne empatije (Mehrabian and Epstein, 1972) i Ajzenkov upitnik ličnosti
EPQ. Uzorak ispitanika činilo je 506 učenika srednjih škola u Nišu, uzrasta
16-17 godina. Za obradu podataka korišćene su metode faktorske analize
i kanoničke korelacijske analize. Rezultati istraživanja potvrđuju da postoji
povezanost moralnog rasuđivanja i kognitivnih sposobnosti, naročito kad
je reč o postkonvencionalnim formama. Nekognitivne osobine ličnosti (empatija,
ekstraverzija, neuroticizam) imaju određenu ulogu u moralnom rasuđivanju
konvencionalnog nivoa. Nalazi ukazuju da moralno rasuđivanje nije isključivo
kognitivne prirode i da se ne može u potpunosti objasniti načelima Etike
pravde. Ukratko, moralno suđenje je delo Osobe u celini. Neopravdano je
izjednačavanje celokupne moralne osobe sa moralnim misliocem i Homo Justitiae.
Sve u svemu, nalazi upućuju na to da kognitivistički pristup ne pruža zadovoljavajuće
i potpuno objašnjenje moralnosti.
Ključne reči: psihologija morala; kognitivno-razvojni pristup;
moralno rasuđivanje; osobine ličnosti; Etika pravde
