Document Type
Undergraduate Thesis
Publication Date
Spring 5-2022
Journal
Undergraduate Honours Theses
Abstract
In the present study, we examined whether adopting an abstract versus a concrete mindset would influence maladaptive outcomes of potentially morally injurious events. Through the use of a hypothetical potentially morally injurious situation, researchers investigated two different construal level manipulations to determine if one would lessen the maladaptive outcomes that can result from being involved in such an experience. This study included 116 participants recruited from Amazon’s MTurk. Participants completed a survey in which they were randomly assigned to either the concrete or abstract processing condition and answered a series of questions related to the experience of moral emotions (i.e., shame and guilt), moral injury, and their moral identity. It was found that those in the concrete condition reported experiencing significantly less moral injury and weaker moral identity for symbolization than did those in the abstract processing condition. There were no significant differences found across conditions for either of the moral emotion measures nor moral identity for internalization. The findings of the study suggest that the maladaptive outcomes that can result from experiencing a potentially morally injurious event can be lessened by processing the event in a concrete manner. Implications of the findings are discussed.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Notes
Thesis Advisor(s):
Dr. Irene Cheung