Development/Validation of a Moral Questionnaire and the Question whether it is Possible to “Fake Good” (original) (raw)
2018, Forensic Science & Addiction Research
Overall objectives: Morality is back in criminological research. We designed a moral dilemma questionnaire and studied to which extent the instrument differentiated socially well-adjusted persons from criminals. If so, are criminals able to "fake good", which would make the instrument useless except in a research context with anonymous participants. Main study Method: The questionnaire included a set of short stories describing a moral dilemma, and a set of solutions to the dilemmas. To each of these the subject should respond "right" or "wrong". 297 well-adjusted subjects, working in governmental or private enterprises, 233 students at the Police Academy, and 321 prison inmates filled in questionnaire forms. Results: A factor analysis suggested a 3-factor solution. Factors were interpreted as Rule knowledge, Rule adherence, and Utilitarianism. Prisoners differed markedly from well-adjusted subjects a discriminant analysis yielded 86% correct classifications. There were theoretically meaningful relations with a set of external validation parameters reflecting personality factors and disorders. Conclusion: The results suggest that the questionnaire approach was successful in a research perspective. Cheating study Method: 46 prisoners filled in (anonymously) the moral dilemma questionnaire twice, honestly and trying to fake good. The order was rotated. Results: The algorithm which correctly predicted 86% as being prisoner or socially well-adjusted was applied. None of the 46 participants were well-adjusted when responding honestly. Scores changed when they faked good, but only five managed to merge into the well-adjusted group. Conclusion: Prisoners are not able to fake good with respect to moral statements. This opens for clinical use but is ethically problematic.
Loading Preview
Sorry, preview is currently unavailable. You can download the paper by clicking the button above.