Addressing Relationships among Moral Judgment Development, Narcissism, and Electronic Media and Communication Devices

摘要

Recently, Thoma and Bebeau (2008) reported moral judgment developmental trends among various samples of undergraduates and graduates where increases in Personal Interests reasoning and decreases in Postconventional reasoning were observed. In an attempt to explain such trends, they cited recent trends in increased narcissism among college students (Twenge, Konrath, Foster, Campbell, u26 Bushman, 2008) and also noted that certain types of technological devices (i.e. social networking websites, cell phones, etc.) may have adverse effects social decision-making and self-presentation. The current study, therefore, addresses the relationships among moral judgment development, narcissism, and electronic media and communication devices (EMCDu27s). Analyses support that the extent of EM CD usage, as well as the reasons for usage, contribute to decreased Postconventional reasoning, but have a negligible effect on Personal Interests reasoning.