Psychology, Interamerican
Self-Control Moralization: The Role of Moral Identity and Moral Foundations in Young Adults
Creative Commons
PDF

Keywords

moralization
moral identity
moral foundations
self-control
young adulthood

How to Cite

Orellana, D., & Roth, E. (2024). Self-Control Moralization: The Role of Moral Identity and Moral Foundations in Young Adults. Revista Interamericana De Psicología/Interamerican Journal of Psychology, 58(2), e1842. https://doi.org/10.30849/ripijp.v58i2.1842

Abstract

Despite the morality and self-control relationship having been studied in the past, there is still not enough information about how different moral variables, and their possible interaction, affect self-control levels; especially when referring to young adulthood, a critical period for development of self-control and morality. Within the framework of self-control moralization, the current study aimed to explore whether self-control scores were affected by levels of moral identity and binding-individualizing foundations through early adulthood. Data were obtained by an online survey from a non-probabilistic sample (n=626) of young adults from Bolivia. Having found significant correlations between variables, hypotheses were tested employing t-tests and an ANCOVA, with age as a covariate. Findings showed that binding foundations, moral identity, age and the interaction between moral identity and both types of moral foundations had a significant effect on self-control scores and marginal means, with small to moderate effect sizes. Finally, finding’s implications within the theoretical framework of self-control moralization are discussed.

https://doi.org/10.30849/ripijp.v58i2.1842
PDF

References

Abelson, R. P. (1985). A variance explanation paradox: When a little is a lot. Psychological Bulletin, 97(1), 129. https://psycnet.apa.org/fulltext/1985-11199-001.html

American Psychological Association. (2017). Ethical principles of psychologists and code of conduct. https://www.apa.org/ethics/code

Anderson, D. J., & Krettenauer, T. (2021). Connectedness to nature and pro-environmental behaviour from early adolescence to adulthood: A comparison of urban and rural canada. Sustainability, 13(7), 3655.

Andrade, F. C., & Hoyle, R. H. (2023). A synthesis and meta-analysis of the relationship between trait self-control and healthier practices in physical activity, eating, and sleep domains. Personality and Individual Differences, 205, 112095. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2023.112095

Aquino, K., Freeman, D., Reed II, A., Lim, V. K. G., & Felps, W. (2009). Testing a social-cognitive model of moral behavior: The interactive influence of situations and moral identity centrality. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 97(1), 123-141. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0015406

Aquino, K., & Reed, A. I. (2002). The self-importance of moral identity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83(6), 1423-1440. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.83.6.1423

Bandura, A. (2014). Social cognitive theory of moral thought and action. In Handbook of moral behavior and development (pp. 45-103). Psychology press. https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781315807294-8/social-cognitive-theory-moral-thought-action-albert-bandura

Barbaranelli, C. (2003). AnalisideiDati. Tecniche Multivariate per la RicercaPsicologica e Sociale, Milano: LED Bentler, PM and Bonnet, DC (1980). Significance Tests and Goodness of Fit in the Analysis of Covariance Structures. Psychological Bulletin, 88(3), 588-606.

Berkman, E. T., Livingston, J. L., & Kahn, L. E. (2017). Finding the “self” in self-regulation: The identity-value model. Psychological Inquiry, 28(2-3), 77-98. https://doi.org/10.1080/1047840X.2017.1323463

Blasi, A. (1994). Moral identity: It’s role in moral functioning (Vol. 2). New York, NY: Garland.

Canet Juric, L., Introzzi, I. M., Andrés, M. L., & Stelzer, F. (2016). La contribución de las Funciones Ejecutivas a la autorregulación. https://doi.org/10.7714/CNPS/10.2.206

Carifio, J., & Perla, R. (2008). Resolving the 50-year debate around using and misusing Likert scales. Medical Education, 42(12), 1150-1152. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2923.2008.03172.x

Cobb-Clark, D. A., Dahmann, S. C., Kamhöfer, D. A., & Schildberg-Hörisch, H. (2023). Self-control and unhealthy body weight: The role of impulsivity and restraint. Economics & Human Biology, 50, 101263. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ehb.2023.101263

del Valle, M. V., Galli, J. I., Urquijo, S., & Juric, L. C. (2019). Adaptación al español de la Escala de Autocontrol y de la Escala de Autocontrol-Abreviada y evidencias de validez en población universitaria. Revista Argentina de Ciencias del Comportamiento, 11(2), Article 2. https://doi.org/10.32348/1852.4206.v11.n2.23413

Doğruyol, B., Alper, S., & Yilmaz, O. (2019). The five-factor model of the moral foundations theory is stable across WEIRD and non-WEIRD cultures. Personality and Individual Differences, 151, 109547. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2019.109547

Duckworth, A. L., & Gross, J. J. (2024). Self-control. In Handbook of emotion regulation, 3rd ed (pp. 250-257). The Guilford Press.

Funder, D. C., & Ozer, D. J. (2019). Evaluating Effect Size in Psychological Research: Sense and Nonsense. Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science, 2(2), 156-168. https://doi.org/10.1177/2515245919847202

Garrido, S. J., Morán, V., Azpilicueta, A. E., Cortez, F., Arbach, K., & Cupani, M. (2018). Análisis de Modelos Rivales Unidimensionales y Bidimensionales de la Escala Breve de Autocontrol en Estudiantes Universitarios Argentinos. Psicodebate, 18(2), Article 2. https://doi.org/10.18682/pd.v18i2.745

Gino, F., Schweitzer, M. E., Mead, N. L., & Ariely, D. (2011). Unable to resist temptation: How self-control depletion promotes unethical behavior. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 115(2), 191-203. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.obhdp.2011.03.001

Graham, J., Haidt, J., Koleva, S., Motyl, M., Iyer, R., Wojcik, S. P., & Ditto, P. H. (2013). Moral foundations theory: The pragmatic validity of moral pluralism. In Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 47, pp. 55-130). Elsevier. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780124072367000024

Graham, J., Nosek, B. A., Haidt, J., Iyer, R., Koleva, S., & Ditto, P. H. (2011). Mapping the moral domain. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 101(2), 366-385. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0021847

Haidt, J. (2013). Moral psychology for the twenty-first century. Journal of Moral Education, 42(3), 281-297. https://doi.org/10.1080/03057240.2013.817327

Haidt, J., & Graham, J. (2007). When Morality Opposes Justice: Conservatives Have Moral Intuitions that Liberals may not Recognize. Social Justice Research, 20(1), 98-116. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11211-007-0034-z

Haidt, J., & Joseph, C. (2004). Intuitive ethics: How innately prepared intuitions generate culturally variable virtues. Daedalus, 133(4), 55-66. https://doi.org/10.1162/0011526042365555

Hardee, J. E., Phaneuf, C., Cope, L., Zucker, R., Gearhardt, A., & Heitzeg, M. (2020). Neural correlates of inhibitory control in youth with symptoms of food addiction. Appetite, 148, 104578. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2019.104578

Hofmann, W. (2024). Going beyond the individual level in self-control research. Nature Reviews Psychology, 3(1), 56-66. https://doi.org/10.1038/s44159-023-00256-y

Hofmann, W., Meindl, P., Mooijman, M., & Graham, J. (2018). Morality and Self-Control: How They Are Intertwined and Where They Differ. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 27(4), 286-291. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721418759317

Instituto Nacional de Estadisticas. (n.d.). Proyecciones de Población, Revisión 2020. INE. Retrieved July 30, 2024, from https://www.ine.gob.bo/index.php/censos-y-proyecciones-de-poblacion-sociales/

Inzlicht, M., & Berkman, E. (2015). Six Questions for the Resource Model of Control (and Some Answers). Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 9(10), 511-524. https://doi.org/10.1111/spc3.12200

Joosten, A., Dijke, M. van, Hiel, A. V., & Cremer, D. D. (2015). Out of Control!? How Loss of Self-Control Influences Prosocial Behavior: The Role of Power and Moral Values. PLOS ONE, 10(5), e0126377. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0126377

Kim, Y., Richards, J. S., & Oldehinkel, A. J. (2022). Self-control, Mental Health Problems, and Family Functioning in Adolescence and Young Adulthood: Between-person Differences and Within-person Effects. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 51(6), 1181-1195. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-021-01564-3

Krettenauer, T. (2022). Development of moral identity: From the age of responsibility to adult maturity. Developmental Review, 65, 101036. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0273229722000260

Li, J.-B., Vazsonyi, A. T., & Dou, K. (2018). Is individualism-collectivism associated with self-control? Evidence from Chinese and U.S. samples. PLOS ONE, 13(12), e0208541. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0208541

Li, S., Ren, P., Chiu, M. M., Wang, C., & Lei, H. (2021). The Relationship Between Self-Control and Internet Addiction Among Students: A Meta-Analysis. Frontiers in Psychology, 12. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.735755

Lindner, C., Nagy, G., & Retelsdorf, J. (2015). The dimensionality of the Brief Self-Control Scale—An evaluation of unidimensional and multidimensional applications. Personality and Individual Differences, 86, 465-473. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2015.07.006

Mooijman, M., Meindl, P., & Graham, J. (2020). Moralizing Self-Control. In A. R. Mele (Ed.), Surrounding Self-Control (p. 0). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780197500941.003.0014

Mooijman, M., Meindl, P., Oyserman, D., Monterosso, J., Dehghani, M., Doris, J. M., & Graham, J. (2018). Resisting temptation for the good of the group: Binding moral values and the moralization of self-control. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 115(3), 585-599. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspp0000149

Olivera La Rosa, A., & Saldarriaga, L. (2017). Fundaciones Morales en Colombia y su Relación con Actitudes Sexistas. https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.30982.27203

Pennington, C. R., Monk, R. L., Qureshi, A. W., & Heim, D. (2019). Alcohol belongs here: Assessing alcohol-related inhibitory control with a contextual go/no-go task. Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology, 27(5), 455-465. https://doi.org/10.1037/pha0000256

Pilarska, A., & Baumeister, R. F. (2018). Psychometric properties and correlates of the Polish version of the Self-Control Scale (SCS). In Polish Psychological Bulletin (Vol. 49, Issue No 1: Motivation and Social Perception: Theory and Practice). Committee for Psychological Science PAS. https://doi.org/10.24425/119476

Robson, D. A., Allen, M. S., & Howard, S. J. (2020). Self-regulation in childhood as a predictor of future outcomes: A meta-analytic review. Psychological Bulletin, 146(4), 324. https://psycnet.apa.org/fulltext/2020-00476-001.html

Rozin, P. (1999). The Process of Moralization. Psychological Science, 10(3), 218-221. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9280.00139

Rozin, P., Markwith, M., & Stoess, C. (1997). Moralization and Becoming a Vegetarian: The Transformation of Preferences Into Values and the Recruitment of Disgust. Psychological Science, 8(2), 67-73. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.1997.tb00685.x

Schloss, J. P. (2017). Darwinian Explanations of Morality: Accounting for the Normal but not the Normative. In Understanding Moral Sentiments (pp. 81-122). Routledge. https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781351296281-6/darwinian-explanations-morality-accounting-normal-normative-jeffrey-schloss

Silver, E., & Silver, J. R. (2021). Morality and Self-Control: The Role of Binding and Individualizing Moral Motives. Deviant Behavior, 42(3), 366-385. https://doi.org/10.1080/01639625.2019.1678580

Skinner, B. F. (1953). Some contributions of an experimental analysis of behavior to psychology as a whole. American Psychologist, 8(2), 69. https://psycnet.apa.org/journals/amp/8/2/69/

Skinner, B. F. (1982). Reflexiones sobre conductismo y sociedad. Trillas México, DF. https://conductitlan.org.mx/02_bfskinner/skinner/3.%20reflexiones_conductismo_sociedad_skinner.pdf

Sullivan, G. M., & Feinn, R. (2012). Using Effect Size—Or Why the P Value Is Not Enough. Journal of Graduate Medical Education, 4(3), 279-282. https://doi.org/10.4300/JGME-D-12-00156.1

Tangney, J. P., Boone, A. L., & Baumeister, R. F. (2018). High self-control predicts good adjustment, less pathology, better grades, and interpersonal success. In Self-regulation and self-control (pp. 173-212). Routledge. https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781315175775-5/high-self-control-predicts-good-adjustment-less-pathology-better-grades-interpersonal-success-june-tangney-angie-luzio-boone-roy-baumeister

Wikström, P.-O. H., & Svensson, R. (2010). When does self-control matter? The interaction between morality and self-control in crime causation. European Journal of Criminology, 7(5), 395-410. https://doi.org/10.1177/1477370810372132

Wu, C.C., Wu, W.-H., & Chiou, W.-B. (2017). Construing Morality at High versus Low Levels Induces Better Self-control, Leading to Moral Acts. Frontiers in Psychology, 8. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01041

Xie, C., Bagozzi, R. P., & Grønhaug, K. (2019). The impact of corporate social responsibility on consumer brand advocacy: The role of moral emotions, attitudes, and individual differences. Journal of Business Research, 95, 514-530. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2018.07.043

Zahn, R., de Oliveira-Souza, R., & Moll, J. (2020). Moral Motivation and the Basal Forebrain. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 108, 207-217. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2019.10.022

Zakharin, M., & Bates, T. C. (2021). Remapping the foundations of morality: Well-fitting structural model of the Moral Foundations Questionnaire. PLOS ONE, 16(10), e0258910. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0258910

Zhang, W. (2015). Calculation and statistic test of partial correlation of general correlation measures. Selforganizology, 2(4), 65-77. http://www.iaees.org/publications/journals/selforganizology/online•version.asp

Zondervan-Zwijnenburg, M. A. J., Richards, J. S., Kevenaar, S. T., Becht, A. I., Hoijtink, H. J. A., Oldehinkel, A. J., Branje, S., Meeus, W., & Boomsma, D. I. (2020). Robust longitudinal multi-cohort results: The development of self-control during adolescence. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, 45, 100817. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcn.2020.100817

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

Copyright (c) 2024 Dayanne Orellana, Eric Roth