To avoid or to punish, is that the question?

Action tendencies towards moral violationsc

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15448/1980-8623.2021.4.36392

Keywords:

moral judgement, transgressions, ethics, identity

Abstract

We sought to investigate the association among action tendencies in the face of moral violations with moral codes and the identity of the offender. Taking part were 200 university students (70% women, Mean age = 23 years, SD = 6.62). They answered sociodemographic questions, the Community, Autonomy and Divinity Scale, the Action Tendencies List towards Moral Violations. Mixed analyzes of variance suggested a main effect of ethics, with autonomy showing higher scores; a main effect of the violations, with transgressions of autonomy showing higher scores; and a main effect of the level of proximity to the offender, with higher scores observed with strangers. An interaction was observed between action tendencies and the level of proximity, where the participants avoided friends more and punished strangers more. Future research suggests proximity to the offender as a relevant variable.

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Author Biographies

Valeschka Martins Guerra, Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo (UFES), Vitória, ES, Brasil.

Doutora em Psicologia Social pela University of Kent (UKC), em Canterbury, Kent, Inglaterra; mestra em Psicologia Social pela Universidade Federal da Paraíba (UFPB), em João Pessoa, PB, Brasil; professora da Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo (UFES), em Vitória, ES, Brasil.

Viviany Silva Pessoa, Universidade Federal da Paraíba (UFPB), João Pessoa, PB, Brasil.

Doutora em Psicologia Social pela Universidade Federal da Paraíba (UFPB), em João Pessoa, PB, Brasil; mestra em Psicologia pela Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN), em Natal, RN, Brasil; professora na Universidade Federal da Paraíba, João Pessoa, PB, Brasil.

Aline Venceslau Vieira de Lima, Universidade Federal de Campina Grande (UFCG), Campina Grande, PB, Brasil.

Doutora em Psicologia pelo Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (ISCTE-IUL), em Lisboa, Portugal; mestra em Psicologia pela Universidade Federal da Paraíba (UFPB), em João Pessoa, PB, Brasil; professora na Universidade Federal de Campina Grande, Campina Grande, PB, Brasil.

Samuel Lincoln Bezerra Lins, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal.

Doutor em Psicologia pela Universidade do Porto (UP), em Porto, Portugal; mestre em Psicologia pela Universidade Federal da Paraíba (UFPB), em João Pessoa, PB, Brasil; professor na Faculdade de Psicologia e de Ciências da Educação da Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal.

Pollyana de Lucena Moreira, Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo (UFES), Vitória, ES, Brasil.

Doutora em Psicologia Social pela Universidade Federal da Paraíba (UFPB), em João Pessoa, PB, Brasil; mestra em Psicologia pela Universidade Federal da Paraíba (UFPB), em João Pessoa, PB, Brasil; professora da Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo (UFES), em Vitória, ES, Brasil.

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Published

2021-12-31

How to Cite

Guerra, V. M., Pessoa, V. S., Lima, A. V. V. de, Lins, S. L. B., & Moreira, P. de L. (2021). To avoid or to punish, is that the question? Action tendencies towards moral violationsc. Psico, 52(4), e36392. https://doi.org/10.15448/1980-8623.2021.4.36392

Issue

Vol. 52 No. 4 (2021)

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