The Role of Moral Identity and Moral Recognition in Adolescent's Utilitarian on Personal and Impersonal Moral Judgments with Emphasis on Gender

This study examined the utilitarianism in personal and impersonal moral judgments based on moral cognition and moral identity according to gender differences. For this purpose, 303 adolescents were selected by multistage cluster sampling. Then, to evaluate the objectives and hypotheses, the moral identity, moral cognition scale and personality and impersonal moral stories were distributed in small groups among the participants to respond. Collected data to evaluate the purpose of the study were analyzed using the descriptive, correlational, multiple regression analysis, and independent t-test. Results showed that high scores on moral identity was associated with lower utilitarianism on personal moral judgment; however, the relationship between moral identity and impersonal moral judgment was not significant. High moral cognition led to lower utilitarianism in personal and impersonal moral judgments. In addition, a significant positive correlation was found between moral identity and moral cognition. It seems cognitive processes involved in personal and impersonal moral judgments might lead to the utilitarian judgments.