The goal of the proposed investigation is to examine cross- cultural commonalities and differences in the development of moral reasoning concerning interpersonal responsibility as contrasted with justice and individual rights. It is hypothesized that adoption of the individualistic cultural values emphasized in the United States will lead Americans to give moral priority to issues involving justice and individual rights and to treat interpersonal responsibilities as matters of personal choice. In contrast, it is expected that adoption of the more relational cultural values stressed in India will lead Hindus to treat interpersonal responsibilities as moral obligations which take priority cross-cultural commonalities in moral reasoning will be observed at young ages, before children have fully acquired the conceptual presuppositions emphasized in their culture. The experimental hypotheses are to be tested in three studies, which contrast the reasoning of American and Indian children (ages 5, 10 and 15) and adults, sampled in the United States and India. The first study compares subjects' reasoning about hypothetical issues involving interpersonal responsibility and/or involving justice and individual rights. Adopting a more ethnographic focus, the second study assesses the content which subjects spontaneously associate with the domain of morality as contrasted with the domain of personal choice; and examines subjects' interpretations of actual everyday behaviors. To investigate the socialization of morality in the family, the third study compares the rule perceptions of American and Hindu children and their parents. The research is expected to contribute theoretically to an understanding of: 1. the cross-cultural distribution of moral codes; 2. the characteristics of moral reasoning in everyday contexts and 3. the natural of the socialization process. The long term goals of the research are to understand the mental health consequences of cultural values and beliefs for the development of conceptions of the self and others.
| Miller, J G; Bersoff, D M (1992) Culture and moral judgment: how are conflicts between justice and interpersonal responsibilities resolved? J Pers Soc Psychol 62:541-54 |
| Miller, J G; Bersoff, D M; Harwood, R L (1990) Perceptions of social responsibilities in India and in the United States: moral imperatives or personal decisions? J Pers Soc Psychol 58:33-47 |
