Paper Title
Morality and Beliefs, on Which The Individual�s Moral is Established
Abstract
The harmonized existence of a human in society was always the substantial subject of attention and study of numerous sciences. One of the key topics in this regard is Morality and its significance in human�s life. General definition of Morality in scientific literature is rather arid, although is the main axis of individual�s functioning. Morality is defined as principles for how individuals ought to treat one another, with respect to justice, others� welfare, and rights. And Exactly the morality gives the grounds for existed societies. The topic field of individual�s moral development occupies a significant place in Educational psychology. According to the widely recognized theory of Kohlberg moral development is the process through which person develops proper attitudes and behaviors toward other people in society, based on social and cultural norms, rules, and laws. Our research is based on the Kohlberg Theory of moral development. The goal of the research was to study the beliefs and notions of those people who are on different levels of moral development:
a) regarding the individual�s role in society;
b) Regarding the violence;
g) According to the levels of gender attitudes:
Research questions were the following:
If people standing on different levels of moral development have different notions of individual�s role in society;
If people standing on different levels of moral development have different notions of violence and its more and less violent forms;
If people standing on different levels of moral development have different sensitivity to violence and indictors of tolerance;
If moral development level of an individual influences on his/her perception of gender equality.
To implement the research goals, the special tool had been developed, which included the following major blocks: 1) demographic data of the respondent; 2) survey which measured the attitude towards violence and violence sensitivity; 3) moral dilemmas, which helped us to discuss the respondents� moral development.
The research involved 521 respondents. The data was analyzed according to three age groups: early adulthood period (20-40 years); middle adulthood period (40-60 years) and late adulthood period (60 and older).
Data analysis revealed, that basing on Georgian population, we could say that factors such as age, level of education and moral development are significantly related to acceptance/rejection of different forms of violence and to violence sensitivity.
According the regression analysis age and education have predictive value for perception of violence (R2 =.102, F(2,519)=5,31, p<.007):
� Age (β = -.222, p<.025).
� Education (β = .227, p<.023).
� Moral development effect on the sensitivity to violence. Specifically, respondents who are on a post conventional level of moral development have higher sensitivity to violence (M (pc) =4.2, SD=0.92) and M(c) =3.3, SD=1.1) t (484) =-9.050, p = 0.000.�) We also obtained significant qualitative data regarding the definition of violence and about the ranging according to the severity of its forms. Data was quite valuable in regard with the definition of individual role in society also. Discussing and sharing the results of the survey is very interesting for the professionals working in the field and for authors of the studies, to outline the advantages and disadvantages, get feedback and outline the prospects for further research.
Keywords- Gender stereotypes; morality, moral development, sensitivity to violence, violence.