The Influence of Personality and Religiosity on Decision-Making Associated with Moral Judgments

Moral dilemmas are defined as a hypothetical situation where two different moral duties conflict such as the duty not to kill and the duty to help. While not universal, previous research concerned with moral dilemmas has suggested that those informed by religious belief tend to give more weight to deontological or rule-based judgments than to considerations based on utilitarian or outcome-based judgments. The present study specifically focused on the effect of religion when college students from a Christian affiliated campus were presented with moral dilemmas. Specifically, the participants responded to a series of moral dilemmas that differed in terms of conflict as well as whether they were personal or impersonal decisions. In addition, the participants were queried concerning religious orientation (evangelical or mainline), religious moral self-image, empathic responsiveness, level of narcissistic thinking, and the intrinsic and extrinsic aspects of their religiosity. It was hypothesized that evangelical affiliations as well as frequency of church attendance would be predictive of deontological based judgment in moral dilemmas. The results indicated that evangelical affiliation, church attendance, empathy, and moral self-image were predictive of lower levels of acceptability of a moral transgression. The results are considered in the context of contemporary involvement in Christian worship, degree of engagement in worship activities, and the role of personality in moral decision-making.