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Gender Differences in the Moral Judgment and Behavior of Israeli Adolescents in the Internet Environment
Abstract
This study explored differences between genders regarding adolescents' behavioral characteristics and moral judgment in the Internet environment. A questionnaire was administered to 1,048 students in the 7th to 11th grades in six different schools, one class in each grade. The questionnaire included personal data, characteristics of Internet interaction patterns, moral dilemmas in daily life, and moral dilemmas in the virtual environment. No significant differences were found between the genders regarding the age usage of the Internet began, Internet experience, and average daily hours of Internet use. We found that boys prefer, more than girls, to surf at school and in Internet cafés. Girls tend to use the Internet more for doing homework and blogs than boys, whereas boys tend to play Internet games more than girls. Gender differences were found regarding immoral behavior. Boys were involved more frequently than girls in behaviors such as cyberbullying, plagiarism, impersonation, and downloading music and movies illegally from the Internet. A correlation was found between gender and moral judgment. Although both boys and girls made relatively little “humane judgment” in the Internet environment, girls tended to make “humane judgment” more frequently than boys. In the Internet environment, boys tended to make “absence of judgment” evaluations more than girls. Girls tended, relatively more, toward “normative judgment” that reflects adherence to peer-group conventions with minimal reflexivity.
... Recent researchers have refuted the Piaget and Kohlberg declarations, Wang and Calvano [20] indicate that women take decisions more ethical than men. Similarly, Bouhnik and Mor [21] declare that the female moral judgment is more developed than the male. Thus, these last authors say that women are more ethical and have a higher moral judgment than men. ...
... Kohlberg's [3] asserts that the social role opportunities influence the moral judgment level. Bouhnik and Mor [21] support the argument that moral judgment is more developed in adolescent women. Their results in 1,048 adolescents on the internet environment, showed evidence about sex differences, where the men behavior were more immoral than women, researchers identified a significant correlation between sex and moral judgment, this judgment is more developed in women than in men. ...
... These results do not support the precept of Piaget [2] neither of the Kohlberg [3], that the women moral judgment is less than of men. My findings contradict Wang and Calvano [20], Bouhnik and Mor [21] who argue that women have a higher moral development. ...
... Moreover, initial differences in individuals' socioeconomic context and WB and SI may affect the extent and scope of ONS relative to OFS (Raacke & Bonds-Raacke, 2008 (Kwon et al., 2014). Women are reported to be more likely to be socially influenced than men (Eagly, 1983) and more active in online social participation (e.g., Bouhnik & Mor, 2014;Ellison et al., 2007;McAndrew & Jeong, 2012). Moreover, women have different motivations (Stefanone et al., 2012;Thelwall, 2008) for using ONS than men. ...
... As suggested in this study, some context-related constraints, such as physical and time resources that limit the use of OFS, may increase the use of ONS outlets. For example, for those individuals with reduced time resources, such as parental responsibilities and older age, ONS compensates the users' potential to restore their needs for belonging and sociability and increase the odds for WB and SI (Bouhnik & Mor, 2014). These findings assess that context variables are important in understanding users' preferences for ONS confirming the theoretical premises of the Social Diversification Hypothesis (Mesch et al., 2012). ...
... The questionnaire included ten moral dilemmasfive pertaining to conduct in the online space and five dilemmas pertaining to everyday life in the physical world. It was one of three questionnaires composed by Bouhnik and Mor (2014) and was adapted to the digital world of today. Each response to a dilemma was categorized as one of five types of moral judgment: humane/ethical judgment, social-interested judgment, selfinterested judgment, double judgment, or no judgment. ...
Young adults explore sexuality through social media, using smartphones to conduct their intimate social relationships. This includes sexting behaviors that may have negative repercussions, such as bullying or non-consensual dissemination of content. Our study examines the connections between emotion regulation, moral judgment, and sexting behavior (with instant messages) among young adults. We tested the research variables—sexting, emotional regulation, and moral judgment—in a sample population of 682 young Israeli adults, ages 18–25. The study’s findings indicate that 45.9% of the sample population of young adults have sent sexual messages and 47.9% have received such messages. No disparities in sexting behavior were found between young men and young women. Higher use of sexting was found among those who were in an intimate relationship. Difficulty in emotion regulation was found to correlate with lower capacity for ethical/humane moral judgment, which in turn signaled a higher likelihood of sexting behavior.
... Murray-Close, Crick, and Galotti (2006) reported that 4 th and 5 th grade American girls found physical aggression more wrong and harmful than boys. In a study conducted by Bouhnik and Mor (2014) with the participation of 1048 adolescents, it was reported that male adolescents resort to immoral behaviours such as cyberbullying, plagiarism and imitation more often than female adolescents and that female adolescents make more human judgments than males. Although Gilligan (1993) claims that Kohlberg's moral dilemma stories are male-centred and females are disadvantaged, studies show that females can achieve higher scores in moral dilemma stories. ...
... In most cases, digital piracy is researched in general using statistical data and researchers are mostly interested in factors which could explain an individual's general unauthorized downloading behavior (Cronan and Al-Rafee, 2008;Jacobs et al., 2012;LaRose and Kim, 2007;Phau et al., 2014;Taylor, 2012;Taylor et al., 2009). Others studied how gender differences are linked to the determination to become an unauthorized content user (Bouhnik and Mor, 2014;Morris et al., 2009), the role of religious leaders in digital piracy (Casidy et al., 2016a), and the behavior of dedicated members of the pirate community (Diamant-Cohen and Golan, 2017). ...
Purpose
The current study aims to identify and explore causes and consequences of unauthorized use of books from readers', publishers', and authors' points of view. The case of Lithuania also assessed, especially historical background (banned alphabet, book smuggling, theft as the social norm in Soviet times) of the country.
Design/methodology/approach
Aiming for more understanding why readers, authors and publishers are using or not using technology for unauthorized access of books, technology acceptance model approach was used, a total of 30 respondents (publishers, authors and readers) were interviewed in semi-structured face-to-face interviews and thematic analysis of collected qualitative data was conducted. Interviews were coded in English with coding software for further analysis.
Findings
Findings indicate that the main cause for the unauthorized use of books is a lack of legal e-book titles and acquisition options. This mainly points at publishers, however, instead of using unauthorized sources as opportunities for author promotion or marketing, they rather concentrate on the causes of unauthorized use of books which they are not in control of, including access to unauthorized sources, habits and economic causes. Some publishers believe that the lack of legal e-book titles is the consequence of unauthorized use of book rather than its cause.
Originality/value
This research contributed to the body of knowledge by investigating unauthorized use of books from readers', publishers' and authors' points of view which renders to have a better understanding of the causes and consequences of such behavior, as well as differences between these roles. The authors suggest that these causes lead to the intention to use and actual use of technology which is easier to use and which gives more perceived advantages – technology for unauthorized downloading and reading of books vs legal e-book acquisition options.
Peer review
The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/OIR-03-2021-0133 .
... В то же время в других случаях высокие показатели киберагрессии продемонстрировали сопряженность с высокими показателями эмпатии, сочетающейся с высокими значениями параметров агрессивности «гнев» и «враждебность», что, по всей вероятности, указывает на потенциальную эмоциогенность ситуаций киберагрессии для подростков в сочетании с принципиально иной, в сравнении с офлайн-взаимодействием, трактовкой происходящего и, в частности, оценкой вреда, который наносят его/ее действия жертве агрессии. Исследователями показано, что онлайн-взаимодействие отличается от офлайн-общения, в частности, недооценкой последствий собственных действий, имеющих нравственную нагрузку (Bouhnik & Mor, 2014). Это, вероятно, позволяет подросткам использовать ресурсы эмпатии для понимания возможных реакций жертвы, однако не способствует отказу от агрессивных действий в ее адрес, поскольку их последствия не кажутся агрессору достаточно серьезными. ...
Introduction. This study aims to examine the relationship among the tendency to various forms of cyber-aggression, aggressiveness, and empathy in adolescence. Cyber-aggression is understood as the deliberate infliction of harm on other Internet users. The forms of cyber-aggression are distinguished on the basis of a typological model of cyber-aggression proposed by K. Runions, which was first used to analyze the online behavior of Russian adolescents.
Methods. The study involved 196 adolescents aged between 12 and 15 years. Empirical data were collected using the Cyber-Aggression Typology Questionnaire modified for Russian-speaking respondents, the Buss–Perry Aggression Questionnaire modified by S. N. Enikolopov, and the Balanced Emotional Empathy Scale by Mehrabian (modified by N. Epstein).
Results. There was no relationship among the tendency to cyber-aggression, aggressiveness, and empathy, which would be universal throughout the entire adolescence. The tendency to cyber-aggression significantly correlates with aggressiveness after 14 years of age and with empathy after 15 years of age. Aggressiveness is not a significant predictor of adolescent cyber-aggression; empathy determines the tendency to cyber-aggression (with a negative sign) only among 15-year-old adolescents.
Discussion. We assumed that cyber-aggression has different psychological meanings at various stages of adolescence – cyber-aggression as a form of ‘social tests’ in early adolescence, which is not related to personality traits of an individual, and cyber-aggression as a manifestation of stable personality traits (primarily, lack of empathy) in late adolescence.
Conclusion. We can draw a conclusion that there is a need for a differentiated approach to prevention and correction of adolescent cyber-aggression that takes into account its psychological meanings at various stages of adolescence.
... Este resultado contradice las deducciones del juicio moral realizadas por Piaget y por Kohlberg, que mostraban una predominancia a favor de un mayor nivel en los hombres; (26,27,28) y las de algunos estudios más recientes, como los de Wang y Bouhnik y colaboradores, respectivamente, los cuales indican que las mujeres toman decisiones más éticas y tienen mayor desarrollo del juicio moral. (29,30) La segunda hipótesis fue soportada positivamente por la prueba t de Student, las mujeres expresaron una mayor sensación de horror moral que los hombres. En este sentido, existe coincidencia, en general, con estudios que afirman que las mujeres son más expresivas; (20,22) y en particular, con otros autores que se refieren a los estereotipos sociales, y observan que los hombres, aunque hayan experimentado el mismo grado de horror que las mujeres, reportan una calificación más baja. ...
Fundamento:
Las diferencias emocionales de género han sido poco estudiadas desde el enfoque del juicio moral. En particular, se desconoce la incidencia de las emociones morales primarias en el juicio moral, y si los hombres y las mujeres frente al horror moral, a través del orgullo y la culpa, razonan de manera diferente sobre lo correcto y lo incorrecto.
Objetivo:
identificar las diferencias de género frente al horror moral manifiesto de un parricidio.
Métodos:
estudio descriptivo explicativo, que se aplicó el Cuestionario Moral Emocional a 170 participantes (118 mujeres y 52 hombres). Se realizó la prueba de confiabilidad de los subíndices de culpa y orgullo, cuya consistencia interna resultó buena. La prueba t de Student se realizó para demostrar las hipótesis sobre las diferencias entre hombres y mujeres.
Resultados:
el valor medio del subíndice de horror moral obtenido por las mujeres fue mayor que el de los hombres. Sin embargo, no hubo diferencias importantes en el juicio moral emocional, ni con respecto a los índices de culpa u orgullo.
Conclusión:
las mujeres expresan mayor horror ante un estímulo moral violento. Se observó cierto comportamiento inverso entre culpa y orgullo en los participantes. Las diferencias de género, significativas o no, pueden deberse a la regulación emocional.
... The study also showed a significant difference in moral development between male and female students. According to Bouhnik and Mor, (22) female students typically score at stage 3, with its focus on interpersonal feelings, whereas male students more commonly score at stage 4, which reflects more abstract conceptions of social organization. At stage 4, the moral decisions reflect a sense of duty to obey laws and the avoidance of behavior that might weaken the social order. ...
Objective
To compare attitudes toward privacy in with social network sites (SNSs) and moral development between undergraduates nursing and advertising students.
Methods
Cross-sectional study conducted with 324 nursing students and 209 advertising students selected by convenience sampling method in two universities in South Korea. Data were collected by means of a questionnaire with Likert type responses, and analyzed descriptive and analytical statistics using SPSS.
Results
The most posted subject and the most regretted post on their SNS was “pictures of myself”. There was no difference in attitudes toward privacy in SNSs and moral development between nursing and advertising students. Most of students were observed in stage 3, a conventional level of moral development. At stage 4 and 5-6 in moral development, the percentages of 4th academic year of college and male students were high.
Conclusion
Attitude toward privacy in SNS and moral development of nursing students need to be promoted from conventional to postconventional level.
... The study was conducted to find resistance to temptation and it is reported that overall females showed more restraint than males. [13] Bouhnik and Mor [14] studied gender differences regarding immoral behavior and found that boys were involved quite often than girls in behaviors such as cyber bullying, plagiarism, creating false identity, and downloading movie or music unlawfully from the illegal sources of internet. ...
Background: Counterproductive work behavior (CWB) is a matter of concern for many organizations because it represents a potential for an extensive range of negative performance and psycho-social outcomes for organization and its members and it results in enormous losses to organizations. Objectives: To assess the effect of yoga on working professionals and its role in the reduction of CWB by overcoming issues of stress, anxiety, aggression, and negative emotions. Materials and Methods: A randomized controlled pre- and post-test study conducted. Study sample included yoga group (n = 80) and control group (n = 80). Yoga module that included asanas, pranayama, meditation, and yogic theory lectures were taught to the yoga group. Mild to moderate physical exercises and management lectures were taught to the control group. Both groups received intervention for ten weeks, covering 1 hour daily, 5 days a week. Measurements of self-reported CWBs were taken as baseline and post intervention for assessment. Within group, comparison was performed in paired t-test and between group comparisons was performed in the analysis of covariance with baseline score as a covariate. Gender difference for CWB scores was measured in an independent t-test. The relationship between variables was investigated using Pearson correlation. Results: Yoga group reported statistically significant reduction in CWB in comparison to the control group. The gender difference was observed in the case of CWB scores. Conclusion: This study provides evidence of yoga practices as viable and costs effective solution in reducing CWB at the workplace and its predictors such as stress, negative affectivity, and aggression. There seems to be a great deal of assurance in the yoga session if conducted at workplace toward getting numerous benefits on the mental and physical health of employees and substantial savings for employers from losses.
The popularity of Internet usage and the diverse and rich information available online make it easier for students to engage in academic misconduct, especially Internet plagiarism (IP). Therefore, this study investigated the IP intention of Chinese students and analyzed the influence of gender, educational level, achievement goals (AG), low self-control, acceptance, and plagiarism experience on it. A total of 551 students from high school to university participated in this study. It was found that male students had more IP experience than female students, and college students had more IP experience and higher IP intentions than high school students. Correlation analysis showed that all variables in this study were related to each other. Regression analysis showed that AG, low self-control, plagiarism acceptance, and past experience jointly predicted IP intention with a high level of predictive explanatory power (64%). Specifically, students with a dominant mastery approach had lower IP intentions, whereas students with a more impulsive personality, more acceptance of IP, and more IP experience had higher IP intentions. Considering these findings, this article puts forward suggestions to reduce IP.
Türk ve İngiliz çocukların değer algılarını çeşitli değişkenlere göre incelemeyi ve çocuklar tarafından tercih edilen geleneksel ve dijital oyun türlerinin onların değer algılarını ne düzeyde yordadığını belirlemeyi amaçlayan bu araştırmada karma araştırma desenlerinden baskın durum deseninden faydalanılmıştır. Araştırmada nicel yaklaşım ağırlıklı olarak kullanılırken nitel yaklaşım destekleyici görevi görmüştür. Araştırmanın veri toplama süreci iki akademik yıl sürmüştür. İlk yıl Nottingham'da yer alan ilkokullarda öğrenim gören 243 öğrenci ile ikinci yıl ise Ankara'da bulunan ilkokullarda öğrenim gören 267 öğrenci ile çalışılmıştır. Araştırma 9-11 yaş grubu toplam 510 ilkokul öğrencisi ile yürütülmüştür. Araştırma verileri İngilizce olarak geliştirilen ve daha sonra Türkçeye uyarlaması yapılan "Kişisel Bilgiler Formu" ile "Çocuklar İçin Ahlaki İkilem Hikâyeleri Envanteri" aracılığıyla toplanmıştır. Araştırma sonucunda her iki örneklem grubunda yer alan kız çocukların değer algı puanlarının erkek çocukların puanlarından anlamlı olarak daha yüksek olduğu bulunmuştur. Hem Türk hem de İngiliz çocukları en fazla eğlence amaçlı üretilen dijital oyunları, en az ise eğitsel veya beceri öğretimi (ciddi) amaçlı üretilen dijital oyunları tercih ettiklerini belirtmişlerdir. Spor türündeki (futbol, kriket vb.) geleneksel oyunlar İngiliz çocukları tarafından, aksiyon türündeki (yakan top, ebelemece oyunu vb.) oyunlar ise Türk çocukları tarafından daha fazla tercih edilmiştir. Aksiyon-macera ve rol yapma türündeki dijital oyunların çocukların değer algılarını negatif yönde, simülasyon ve puzzle türündeki dijital oyunların ise pozitif yönde yordadığı belirlenmiştir. Bunun yanında hareket temelli geleneksel oyunların (spor, aksiyon) çocukların değer algılarını pozitif yönde, rekabet içerikli yarış oyunlarının ise negatif yönde yordadığı belirlenmiştir.
La competencia moral es fundamental en el estudiante universitario, por lo que su medición eficaz a partir de las emociones morales impulsoras del comportamiento moral es fundamental. Esta investigación asumió como objetivo realizar la evaluación de la competencia moral en estudiantes dela Universidad de Guanajuato en México y comparar el nivel de esta competencia entre mujeres yhombres. Se aplicó el cuestionario moral emocional (CME), diseñado mediante emociones morales, auna muestra de 270 participantes, 167 mujeres y 103 hombres. Los resultados mostraron un valor poblacional de la competencia moral de 32.85 y la prueba U de Mann-Whitney arrojó valores designificancia superiores a 0.05 en el género. Se concluye que el nivel de la competencia moral de los participantes obtuvo un valor medio y que hombres y mujeres desarrollan igualmente habilidades cognitivas y emocionales para actuar de forma correcta.
This study seeks to reveal the attitudes of the Lithuanian adult population on using digital books and illegally distributed books and seeks to provide possible solutions to Lithuanian publishers and other institutions combating this phenomenon. A quantitative survey of 322 respondents was conducted. The analysis of the results was based on the Technology Acceptance Model, the theory of self-efficacy and the theory of planned behaviour. The results show that the ability to use digital technologies encourages the use of digital books. The perception of digital books as having value reduces the tendency to download them from illegal distribution channels. Legislative regulation does not have a significant impact on the intention not to use digital books from illegal distribution channels. It is likely that a negative assessment of the phenomenon in the immediate environment will have a greater impact on refusing to use illegally distributed books. In order to compete with illegal distribution channels, the channels for legally distributed books need to be more convenient and provide more content.
Purpose
This study examines the impact of personality traits on the degree of challenge experienced by individuals with respect to the threat on their information, the evaluation of their self-efficacy to secure the information and hence, their readiness to secure information.
Design/methodology/approach
The study's population consisted of 157 teachers from various educational institutions across Israel. We used five questionnaires to gather data.
Findings
Findings reveal a link between participants' personality traits, situation evaluation indicators and their readiness to secure information. Further, the greater subjects' information security awareness and familiarity with information security concepts, the better their application of the tools for securing information will be.
Originality/value
The importance of this research lies primarily in that it highlights the importance of individual differences while dealing with information security awareness. The findings constitute a theoretical and empirical basis for building tools toward guiding teachers to protect their information, as well as for devising educational and pedagogic programs for making a cultural change.
Based on Willard's (2007) classification of the eight types of cyberbullying behavior, this study examined primary, junior and senior high school students' bullying behavior in online gaming and the relationship between this behavior and their perception of the seriousness of bullying from the perspectives of perpetrators and victims. Factors related to cyberbullying, including gender and education level, were also examined. We used cyberbullying in online games scale to investigate the prevalence of students. Among 1112 respondents with valid questionnaires, 81% (n = 902) responded their demographic information. Participants comprised elementary students (n = 268, 29.7%), junior high school students (n = 223, 24.7%) and senior high school students (n = 411, 45.6%). Among them, 62.7% (n = 565) were males, and 37.3% (n = 337) were females. Our study revealed that cyberbullying and cyber-victimization behavior from Willard's (2007) eight classifications indeed existed in Taiwanese adolescent players, although the frequencies varied from person to person. Compared with primary and junior high school students and girls, senior high school students and boys were found to have more experience with various types of cyberbullying as both the perpetrator and the victim. Additionally, there were statistically significant differences between victims and bullies in the perception of the seriousness of CB outing acts. Therefore, to keep students from engaging in these deviant behaviors and becoming victims, schools and teachers should provide assistance that varies from student to student.
With increasing computer use in classrooms, there has been a growing concern of the resulting moral dilemmas that may emanate from their use. Though theorists have conducted extensive research on children's moral development, there has been little attempt to situate this within the digital domain. It is the purpose of this article to examine children's moral reasoning in relation to their use of computers and the Internet. This study reports on interviews conducted with 48 third-grade and fifth-grade students about moral dilemmas involving computer and Internet use. Scenarios involving computer use were developed and compared to Damon's dilemmas which involved moral reasoning about everyday situations. The results indicated that chil-dren's moral understandings fell into the expected developmental levels. Significant differences were found between children's moral reasoning in everyday situations compared to those involving computer and Internet use. However, gender differences were not consistently detected for all computer and Internet scenarios. These findings are discussed in light of Turiel's (1983) postulated domain dependence of moral reasoning and the gender differences found so prevalent in children's computer use. We conclude with considerations for school's policies regulating Internet use and potential training programs.
Families and schools must assume a leadership role in preparing youth for success in the emerging information age by teaching ethical online behavior in addition to academic skills. This paper presents a preliminary overview of moral development issues that are raised when young people interact in cyberspace. A preliminary classification system of Internet ethics issues that parents and educators must address includes (1) respect for property, (2) respect for territory and privacy, (3) respect for others and common courtesy, (4) respect for institution, and (5) respect for self. Based on preliminary analysis, there appear to be four factors that influence online behavior: (1) lack of affective feedback and remoteness of harm, (2) reduced fear of risk of detection and punishment, (3) a new environment with new rules, and (4) perceptions of social injustice and corruption. Moral development research explores moral reasoning, including cognitive-moral development and domain theory; moral motivation, including internal moral orientation; and moral control, including the social cognitive theory of moral thought and action and the theory of limited acceptable morality. This review of moral development research raises many questions including, ultimately, the question of whether humans, as a species, have the capacity to expand our moral reasoning, moral motivation, and moral control capabilities to deal with the complexities of the information age.
Although the Internet frequently has been characterized as male-dominated, recent evidence indicates that the gender gap in Internet use is rapidly diminishing. If more females are using the Internet, then what specific applications do they prefer and do they differ from those of males? This article presents results from a survey assessing gender differences in specific uses of the Internet. The survey included 19 items and was made available to Internet users. For comparison, a paper-and-pencil version was administered to several hundred introductory psychology students. Numerous gender differences in preferences for specific Internet applications emerged. Results showed that males use the Internet mainly for purposes related to entertainment and leisure, whereas women use it primarily for interpersonal communication and educational assistance. However, additional analyses showed that several gender differences were mediated by differences in age and Internet experience. Potential implications of these results for commerce and advertising are discussed.
PLEASE NOTE: The uploaded version conveys the original results, but the text does not correspond fully with the published version!
This study investigated the attitudes and beliefs of 291 science students at a large university in the UK about plagiarism involving the Internet. Students from seven undergraduate classes, ranging from Year 1 to Year 3, completed a 12-item questionnaire anonymously, but in the presence of the investigator and a host lecturer. The results revealed that more than 50 percent of the students indicated an acceptance of using the Internet for academically dishonest activities. Males and first- and second-year students took a more liberal view about academic dishonesty than females and third-year students. Guilt and moral reasoning were significant factors in forming attitudes towards plagiarism. The alarming figures disclosed here are a call for preventative action to curtail students’ academically dishonest activities through the Internet.
The sharp decline in the number of students pursuing information systems (IS) degrees is a source of great concern not only for academic institutions offering IS degrees, but also for companies in need of hiring qualified professionals. In response, university educators are searching for mechanisms to generate larger pools of IS graduates. This study focuses on one such mechanism, instrumental assistance, to promote student choice of IS as a primary field of study. Using Social Cognitive Career Theory as a guiding framework, instrumental assistance is found to boost student confidence (i.e., self-efficacy) and expectations of valued rewards (i.e., outcome expectations). In tum. self-efficacy and outcome expectations elevate student interest, which ultimately influences students' aspirations to choose IS as a major. The study provides important insights into how a particular intervention strategy can be implemented to attract more students to the IS field.
Sixty boys and 60 girls in the first and fourth grades in Israel were interviewed to examine the distinction between moral and conventional norms. The children were equally divided between three groups: secular urban Jews, secular kibbutz Jews, and traditional Arab villagers. The subjects were presented with eight behaviors, all breaches of moral or conventional norms. Two of them dealt with norms strongly observed by the traditional but not by the other groups and two with norms central to the kibbutz. The children were asked the extent to which the behavior was bad (or good) in a country where (a) it was prohibited and (b) it was permitted. They were also asked whether it should be forbidden by law, and why. City and kibbutz children did not differ in their judgments, even in regard to behaviors emphasized in the kibbutz. Compared with these groups, the traditional group judged all behaviors as bad even when permitted; they thought all should be prohibited by law and their justifications tended to be in normative terms. These results are interpreted in terms of two distinct orientations to social norms: one where the criteria for social judgment of behaviors and norms are consequences to others and law, and the other where social norms are considered to have absolute validity and constitute the dominant criterion for moral judgment.
In recent years, electronic games, home computers, and the Internet have assumed an important place in our lives. This paper presents a review of the research on the impact of home computer use on the development of children and adolescents. Time use data are presented along with a discussion of factors such as age, gender, and ethnicity, which impact the time spent on computers as well as the activities engaged in. Research on the impact of computer use on cognitive skill and academic development, social development and relationships, and perceptions of reality and violent behavior is reviewed. The special role of the Internet in the lives of adolescents is brought out using data from the HomeNet study. The paper concludes with recommendations for future study in order to better understand the growing impact of computers on our youth.
Business ethics is an emerging area of research in many subfields of management, including information systems (IS). Empirical IS research has studied differences in users' attitudes and in moral judgments regarding ethical computer-related behavior. This study applied the "domains of morality" approach to determine how users felt about certain computer-related behaviors. Vignettes describing ethical dilemmas involving computer technology (e.g., up-loading a computer virus on an electronic network/bulletin board system) were presented to a sample of Internet users. The research findings offered several interesting and, in some cases, unexpected results. The empirical results indicated that older computer users have a less permissive sense of what is right and wrong for an illegal game. When computers were used to test a banned game, men and women differed in their assessment of its appropriateness. A surprising finding was that participants were not likely to endorse civil liberties, and were more concerned about the harm to, and violations of, social norms when the scenario described a situation involving a computer virus. How users perceive, prejudge, and discriminate computer ethics and abusive computer actions raises numerous questions and implications for IS researchers, IS practitioners, and policy makers. The results of this study foster a better understanding of Internet users' moral categorization of specific computer behaviors and, hopefully, help to further reduce risks and vulnerabilities of systems by identifying computer actions deemed ethically acceptable by users. Opportunities for IS researchers to further explore this timely issue are also discussed.
This article reports the results of a written survey of ninety-seven female and male adolescents, ages fourteen through seventeen, at two U.S. public libraries. In addition to exploring gender-related variance in the reasons for which teenagers use public libraries, the survey investigated how frequently the respondents needed information relating to twelve major topic areas and how useful they considered public libraries in helping them to find information relating to these topics. For the most part, the results indicated no significant gender difference in the respondents’ reasons for using libraries or in their frequency of information needs. The only major gender difference was the girls’ tendency to rate libraries as more useful in helping them to meet their personal information needs, making public libraries “female-friendly spaces” for adolescent girls. The authors conclude with suggestions for helping both female and male adolescents realize the full potential of public libraries and public library services.
Although technology provides numerous benefits to young people, it also has a ’dark side’, as it can be used for harm, not only by some adults but also by the young people themselves. Email, texting, chat rooms, mobile phones, mobile phone cameras and web sites can and are being used by young people to bully peers. It is now a global problem with many incidents reported in the United States, Canada, Japan, Scandinavia and the United Kingdom, as well as in Australia and New Zealand. This growing problem has as yet not received the attention it deserves and remains virtually absent from the research literature. This article explores definitional issues, the incidence and potential consequences of cyber bullying, as well as discussing possible prevention and intervention strategies.
Cyberbullying, the use of information and communication technologies to intentionally harm others, has become an important area of research. Studies have begun to investigate the extent of cyberbullying and its victims' personality characteristics. Less is known about the effect of specific online activities and the role of parental mediation on the likelihood of being bullied. This study attempts to fill this gap in the literature conducting a secondary analysis of a representative sample of the U.S. youth population, the Teens and Parents survey conducted by the Pew and American Life Project (n = 935). The results indicate that the risk of youth being bullied is higher for adolescents who have an active profile on social networking sites and participate in chat rooms but not in playing games online. Gender differences emerge in risk factors. A few parental mediation techniques are protective, but most are not. The results indicate the need for more parental participation to reduce risks to youth arising from Internet use for interpersonal communication.
Many believe that males and females use and regard computer technology differently. Males are generally assumed to be more comfortable with, more adaptable to, and less anxious with computer technology. The same biases are now being applied specifically to Internet technology. Based on research showing that men prefer to use the Internet for information gathering and entertainment, while women prefer to use the Internet for interpersonal communication, this study examined the effects of Internet use when both males and females engaged in the same activity. Participants engaged in synchronous, dyadic chat sessions, and changes in repeated measures of loneliness, depression, self-esteem, and perceived social support were tracked over time. Although previous studies have concluded not only that males and females differ in their computer cognitions and attitudes, but also that they differ in the types of applications they pursue online, no gender differences were found in the present study.
Cyberbullying has recently emerged as a new form of bullying and harassment. 360 adolescents (12-20 years), were surveyed to examine the nature and extent of cyberbullying in Swedish schools. Four categories of cyberbullying (by text message, email, phone call and picture/video clip) were examined in relation to age and gender, perceived impact, telling others, and perception of adults becoming aware of such bullying. There was a significant incidence of cyberbullying in lower secondary schools, less in sixth-form colleges. Gender differences were few. The impact of cyberbullying was perceived as highly negative for picture/video clip bullying. Cybervictims most often chose to either tell their friends or no one at all about the cyberbullying, so adults may not be aware of cyberbullying, and (apart from picture/video clip bullying) this is how it was perceived by pupils. Findings are discussed in relation to similarities and differences between cyberbullying and the more traditional forms of bullying.
Cyberbullying describes bullying using mobile phones and the internet. Most previous studies have focused on the prevalence of text message and email bullying.
Two surveys with pupils aged 11-16 years: (1) 92 pupils from 14 schools, supplemented by focus groups; (2) 533 pupils from 5 schools, to assess the generalisability of findings from the first study, and investigate relationships of cyberbullying to general internet use. Both studies differentiated cyberbullying inside and outside of school, and 7 media of cyberbullying.
Both studies found cyberbullying less frequent than traditional bullying, but appreciable, and reported more outside of school than inside. Phone call and text message bullying were most prevalent, with instant messaging bullying in the second study; their impact was perceived as comparable to traditional bullying. Mobile phone/video clip bullying, while rarer, was perceived to have more negative impact. Age and gender differences varied between the two studies. Study 1 found that most cyberbullying was done by one or a few students, usually from the same year group. It often just lasted about a week, but sometimes much longer. The second study found that being a cybervictim, but not a cyberbully, correlated with internet use; many cybervictims were traditional 'bully-victims'. Pupils recommended blocking/avoiding messages, and telling someone, as the best coping strategies; but many cybervictims had told nobody about it.
Cyberbullying is an important new kind of bullying, with some different characteristics from traditional bullying. Much happens outside school. Implications for research and practical action are discussed.
As theories of developmental psychology continue to define educational goals and practice, it has become imperative for educators and researchers to scrutinize not only the underlying assumptions of such theories but also the model of adulthood toward which they point. Carol Gilligan examines the limitations of several theories, most notably Kohlberg's stage theory of moral development, and concludes that developmental theory has not given adequate expression to the concerns and experience of women. Through a review of psychological and literary sources, she illustrates the feminine construction of reality. From her own research data, interviews with women contemplating abortion, she then derives an alternative sequence for the development of women's moral judgments. Finally, she argues for an expanded conception of adulthood that would result from the integration of the "feminine voice" into developmental theory.
This study analyzed individual perceptions of various situations involving actions likely to be considered unethical by most people. It explored perceptions of the acceptability of parallel technology-based and non-technology-based vignettes, self-rated behavior regarding the survey scenarios and consistency between self-rated behavior and the level of acceptance of the vignettes.The responses from 453 participants were analyzed by age, gender, ethnicity and amount of weekly access to computers at home.The participants were more accepting of the technology-based survey items and were also more likely to engage in those behaviors than the non-technology items; however, the participant responses indicated a low level of acceptance for the scenarios and only a minimal likelihood that they would participate in them. Additional findings across the comparison groups are reported and discussed.
This study examines gender differences in professional school students’ ethical sensitivity and moral reasoning, two aspects of Rest's four‐component model of moral development. Results indicate that men and women dental students differ in general sensitivity to ethical issues, but not in recognition of issues of care or justice, nor in moral reasoning. Our results contribute to a re‐interpretation of Gilligan's gender‐difference arguments, and suggest new directions for research in moral development.
Originally published in 1969 this book analyzes the development of moral judgement in children and adolescents. Interviews were held with 360 children aged 7 to 17, with equal numbers of either sex. Original visual devices were planned to elicit judgements in moral areas known to be of universal significance, such as the value of life, cheating, stealing and lying. In addition, analyses of concepts of reciprocity, of the development of conscience and of specificity in moral judgement were derived from the tests. The book inlcudes a critical survey of previous work in this field and places the research in its wider philosophical, psychological and sociological context.
In this article the bases for recent allegations of sex bias in Kohlberg's theory of moral development are discussed. Studies comparing the development of moral reasoning between the sexes are then reviewed. Only a few inconsistent sex differences have been found in childhood and adolescence. Some studies indicate that, in adulthood, males evidence higher moral development than females, but in these studies sex differences are confounded with differences in level of education and occupation. A metaanalysis (a statistical procedure for combining findings) supported the conclusion that the overall pattern is one of nonsignificant sex differences in moral reasoning. Discussion focused on implications for moral development theory and research.
Assessed the moral reasoning of Hawaiian youths, using the moral dilemmas of fables as used by D. K. Johnston (1988) with a non-Hawaiian population. Ss were 80 children and adolescents (aged 10–18 yrs) of Hawaiian ancestry, who were given a moral reasoning assessment procedure. Findings challenge C. Gilligan's (1982) theoretical proposition that gender differences exist in moral development. Results reveal that Hawaiian male and female students did not significantly differ in terms of manifesting a care or justice perspective in their responses. The predominance of a caring orientation in these Ss may be at least partially explained by considering the cultural context in which the Ss were socialized: the aloha spirit of values, lifestyle, and worldview that emphasizes kindness, agreement, patience, and harmony. It is suggested that existing counseling theories be challenged by more culturally-specific perspectives. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
To evaluate the extent to which the models of moral judgment advanced by Kohlberg (1984) and by Gilligan (1982, 1988) are
able to account for real-life moral judgment, we investigated the relation of sex and type of moral dilemma to moral stage
and moral orientation. Eighty young adult men and women made moral judgments about two hypothetical Kohlberg dilemmas, two
real-life antisocial dilemmas, and two real-life prosocial dilemmas. We failed to find any sex differences in moral judgment.
Moral stage and moral orientation varied across the three types of dilemma. Kohlberg's dilemmas pulled for justice-oriented
Stage 4 moral judgments, real-life prosocial dilemmas pulled for care-oriented Stage 3 moral judgments, and real-life antisocial
dilemmas pulled for justice-oriented Stage 2 moral judgments. The content of moral judgments was related to their structure.
There was a positive relation between stage of moral judgment on Kohlberg dilemmas and on real-life dilemmas. The implications
of these findings for a new, more interactional, model of real-life moral judgment are discussed.
Computer ethics is a relatively young discipline,hence it needs time both for reflection and forexploring alternative ethical standpoints in buildingup its own theoretical framework. Feminist ethics isoffered as one such alternative particularly to informissues of equality and power. We argue that feministethics is not narrowly confined to women''s issues but is an approach with wider egalitarianapplications. The rise of feminist ethics in relationto feminist theory in general is described and withinthat the work of Gilligan and others on an ethic of care. We argue for the need to connect theory toempirical evidence. Empirical studies of gender andbusiness and computer ethics are reviewed. We noteconcerns with surveying a student audience, the issueof how far questionnaires and interviews can get tothe heart of ethical beliefs and problems ofperforming statistical analyses of quantitative data.Although we recognize them, our own small surveycannot avoid all these problems. Nevertheless byrefining our scenarios we are able to offer analternative reading of a hacking problem in terms ofan ethic of care thereby pointing a way forward forfuture research in computer ethics inspired byfeminist theory.
This paper is based on the premise that the analysis of some cyberethics problems would benefit from a feminist treatment. It is argued that both cyberstalking and Internet child pornography are two such areas which have a `gendered' aspect which has rarely been explored in the literature. Against a wide ranging feminist literature of potential relevance, the paper explores a number of cases through a focused approach which weaves together feminist concepts of privacy and the gaze.
This study describes and analyses a survey that was conducted with 384 students from grades 7–12 in a typical urban High School in Israel. The students reported on the extent and characteristics of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) usage within and beyond school time and location. Its focus is on (a) equity issues regarding the extent, purposes and scope of ICT usage and students self perception in ICT proficiency; (b) gender and age differences in ICT use; and (c) relationship between inside/outside school learning processes. The findings show that 10% of the students are non-users of ICT, two thirds are common-users and only 25% are skilled users. About half of the students use the Internet to some extent. Major Gender differences were found: in general, more boys used ICT more extensively than girls did. Differences among age groups were found mainly with respect to the use of complex applications, but not regarding Internet usage. These results are discussed in the light of the three focal issues: equity, gender, and integration of learning processes taking place within and outside school.
It is widely assumed that participation by females on the Internet is hampered by their attitudes towards computers, which in turn is reflective of their attitudes towards new technology. Research generally supports that females have less overall experience with computers and are more likely than males to have negative attitudes towards computers. Although limited, research on Internet experiences and attitudes has found parallel gender differences, with females reporting lower levels of experience and more negative attitudes. This paper explores whether Internet and computer experiences, skills and attitudes are related, using evidence from two studies of incoming college students, in 1989/90 and 1997. There were significant gender differences in many computer experiences and attitudes of incoming students in 1989/90. Males were more experienced with computers, more likely to have taken high school courses requiring computer use, and reported higher skill levels in applications such as programming, games and graphics than females. By 1997, incoming students were more experienced with using a computer than the earlier students. However, gender differences in computer experience and skill levels had diminished in some areas. The 1997 survey also assessed Internet experiences, skills, competence and comfort. Students had more exposure to computers than to the Internet. Males were more experienced and reported higher skill levels with the Internet than females, with the exception of e-mail. The overall competency and comfort level for students in 1997 was significantly higher for computers than for the Internet; 19% of the students did not feel competent and/or comfortable with the computer compared to 36% with the Internet, with females reporting higher levels of incompetence and discomfort for both. Competence and comfort levels with the Internet and computers were highly intercorrelated, and both predicted Internet skills and experiences.
The aim of the present research was to examine the relationship between Greek young people aged 12–18 and the Internet through their patterns of Internet use in the home. A particular objective of the study was the investigation of the possible effects of social stratification, gender and age on their domestic Internet use. A sample of 418 high school students selected from 17 schools in four Greek cities completed a structured self-reported questionnaire primarily concerned with Internet use (frequency, purpose and behaviour patterns) at home and the types of the parental supervision. The research was carried out during the period 2004–2005. The main findings of the study were the following: (a) Internet access remains at a very low level and is insufficiently used for school purposes, (b) younger students (aged 12–15 years) use it more frequently than older ones for information seeking concerning school work, (c) the Internet is an indicator of social and economic stratification since most young people with access to it come from family environments with a higher educational and socioeconomic background and live in urban and semi urban areas, (d) boys make up the majority of systematic users, mainly for entertainment purposes, (e) the Internet is a place and space safeguarding the “privacy” of young people with the majority of them preferring to surf alone, (f) parental supervision and monitoring seems to be absent largely from the relationship between youth and the Internet, and (g) in general, the frequency and type of Internet use are not significantly affected by students’ places of residence or the educational level and profession of their parents.
As adolescent Internet use grew exponentially in the last decade, with it emerged a number of correspondent expectations. Among them were the following: (1) that gender predicts usage, i.e., that boys spend more time online, surfing the web and playing violent games, while girls chat or shop online; (2) that Internet use causes social isolation and depression, especially for teens; and (3) that adolescents use the Internet for anonymous identity experimentation. These expectations were based on research with earlier technologies when the Internet was less diffused in the adolescent population. By means of highly detailed daily reports of adolescents' home Internet usage and peer-related adjustment, the present research sought to compare these expectations with the actual experiences of early and mid-adolescents in 2000 and 2001. Participants were 261 7th and 10th graders from suburban California public schools who completed four consecutive end-of-day reports on their school-based adjustment and Internet activity (including detailed logs of instant messages). Results challenge prevailing expectations regarding gender, well-being, and identity play. For the most part, adolescent boys' and girls' online activities have become more similar than different. On average, boys and girls alike described their online social interaction as (1) occurring in private settings such as e-mail and instant messages, (2) with friends who are also part of their daily, offline lives, and (3) devoted to fairly ordinary yet intimate topics (e.g., friends, gossip). No associations were found between Internet usage and well-being. Online pretending was reported to be motivated by a desire to play a joke on friends more often than to explore a desired or future identity, but participants reported a range of pretending content, contexts, and motives.
The claim of a gender bias is considered on measures of moral judgment focusing on concepts of justice. Both meta-analyses and secondary analyses on 56 samples of over 6000 male and female subjects are used to estimate the magnitude of gender effects. Inconsistent with current expectations, the results indicate that overall, and at every age/educational level, females score significantly higher than males. Second, the magnitude of this difference is small, both in comparison with age/education effects and in relation to conventional interpretations of the measures employed. Several possible interpretations of these results are discussed especially with regard to C. Gilligan's (1977, Harvard Educational Review, 47, 481–517) recent criticism of Kohlberg's theory.
The Ego and the Id ranks high among the works of Freud's later years. The heart of his concern is the ego, which he sees battling with three forces: the id, the super-ego, and the outside world. Of the various English translations of Freud's major works to appear in his lifetime, only one was authorized by Freud himself: The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud under the general editorship of James Strachey. Freud approved the overall editorial plan, specific renderings of key words and phrases, and the addition of valuable notes, from bibliographical and explanatory. Many of the translations were done by Strachey himself; the rest were prepared under his supervision. The result was to place the Standard Edition in a position of unquestioned supremacy over all other existing versions.
This study investigates the effect of gender upon moral development. Prior moral development research on the gender difference
is substantial but ambiguous, but little research has examined public-sector employees. This study compares the moral development
of 299 male and female members of the U.S. Coast Guard. The study uses Kohlberg's moral development framework to operationalize
levels of moral judgment, and it employs Rest's Defining Issues Test (DIT) as a measurement instrument. The study found that
Coast Guard women scored 4.5 points higher than males scored on the DIT, a statistically significant difference. The essay
discusses criticisms of Kohlberg, including Gilligan's argument that Kohlberg ignores the female perspective. Implications
for public-sector ethics are discussed and a path for future research is offered.
The virtual community: Finding connection in com-puterized world
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