Mutual Concealment between Relatives:A Test of the Differential Mode of Association in Moral Cognition

Xu Wentao; Zhang Lei; Wang Fengyan

doi:10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.202304021

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Journal of Psychological Science ›› 2023, Vol. 46 ›› Issue (4) : 929-936. DOI: 10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.202304021

Social, Personality & Organizational Psychology

Mutual Concealment between Relatives:A Test of the Differential Mode of Association in Moral Cognition

Xu Wentao^1,2, Zhang Lei², Wang Fengyan^1,2

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Abstract

Whether it is the theoretical contention in the ideological field or the legal practice in social life, the mutual concealment between relatives is a controversial moral case. The empirical study of its moral cognitive mechanism can help to understand the moral structure of Chinese people. Experimental ethics, which uses psychological experimental methods to study ethics, could provide more compelling reasons for moral judgment and behavior. Experimental ethics focuses on whether people hold the moral concept and behavioral tendency of concealing their relatives, and the psychological mechanism inside.
The first study directly verified the existence of kin concealment in moral decision-making. As interpersonal relationships become more distant, people have made more decisions to report relatives' illegal behaviors from the first and third social cognitive perspectives. Whether it's the first or the third perspective, subjects make more prosecution decisions than relatives and friends when neighbors make mistakes and there is no significant difference in decision making between relatives and friends who made mistakes. However, the results of chi-square test showed that the influence of social relation on moral judgment is not significant.
The second study further examined the differential effect of moral judgment and decision-making and the moderating effect of social value orientation. Compared with study 1, the main effect of social relation on moral decision-making is robust. The main effect of social relationship distance on moral judgment is significant. As the social relationship between the wrong situation actor and the subjects is getting closer, the subjects are increasingly disapproving of the legitimacy of the prosecution. The interaction between social value orientation and social relationship distance on moral decision-making is significant from both perspectives.
The third study explored the mediating effect of perceived moral obligation. The variance analysis results with perceived moral obligation as the dependent variable show that the main effect of social relation is significant, and the main effect of social value orientation is not significant. The interaction is significant. The mediating role of perceived moral obligation in the relationship between social relation and moral cognition is further investigated. The mediating model is established with moral judgment and decision-making as dependent variables, social relation as independent variable, and perceived moral obligation as mediating variable. Since moral judgment can positively predict moral decision-making, this path is added to the mediation model to form a chain mediation model, which is supported by data.
Collectively, findings showed that mutual concealment between relatives is implicitly rooted in the moral cognition of Chinese people at the two levels of “ought to be” and “to be” and the perceived difference in interpersonal moral obligations in the context of various social relations plays an important role. In the face of illegal violations by relatives and acquaintances, the activation of interpersonal moral obligations weakens the impact of social responsibility for safeguarding public interests on individual moral cognition, which leads to a decrease in individual recognition of the legitimacy of accusation in moral judgment and makes moral decisions with less accusation.

Key words

mutual concealment between relatives / differential mode of association / moral cognition / SVO / perceived moral obligation

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Xu Wentao, Zhang Lei, Wang Fengyan. Mutual Concealment between Relatives:A Test of the Differential Mode of Association in Moral Cognition[J]. Journal of Psychological Science. 2023, 46(4): 929-936 https://doi.org/10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.202304021

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