The relation of moral judgement to authoritarianism, sexism, ethnocentrism, and concern about nuclear war

Abstract

This study focuses on the relation between moral arguments and political attitudes such as concern about nuclear war, sexism, attitudes toward minority groups, and authoritarianism. Forty‐six high school students were involved in a quantitative study based upon tests and questionnaires, and 19 of them participated in a qualitative study based on interviews. The measures were: the ‘Sociomoral Reflection Objective Measure’, the ‘Inventory of Nuclear War Attitudes’, the Slade and Jenner sexism scale, an ethnocentrism scale, and a Dutch version of the F‐scale. Using a multivariate analysis it was shown that concern about nuclear war and ethnocentrism are particularly related to moral judgement level. The qualitative study illustrates the context of these relationships.