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Experimental Paradigm for Measuring the Effects of Self-distancing in Young Children
Published on: March 1, 2019
Young adults' scores on the defining issues test as a function of a "self" versus "other" presentation mode
J M Rybash1, P A Roodin, E Lonky
1Department of Psychology, Mohawk Valley Community College, USA.
Abstract:
One hundred college students were randomly divided into four groups and were administered the standard version (i.e., other-orientation) of the Defining Issues Test (DIT) and/or a Modified version (i.e., self-orientation) of the same instrument on two separate occasions. Subjects displayed greater amounts of principled moral reasoning when responding to the standard (other-orientation) rather than the modified (self-orientation) version of the DIT. Also, significant test-retest reliability was obtained for the standard, but not the modified, version of the DIT. The role of affective factors in the evaluation of moral problems involving the self versus hypothetical others was discussed.
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