Moral Decision-Making in Situations of Potential Cyberbullying in Relation to Individual Psychological Characteristics of Students

Abstract

Background. The Internet environment creates a special reality for communication, in which socially accepted systems of norms and values are often no longer valid. In conflict situations, the anonymity of Internet communication may reduce the degree of personal moral responsibility for the “digital deeds” and lead to the choice of unethical ways of behaviour, which include cyberbullying. Highlighting the system of cognitive and personal factors involved in the regulation of the moral orientation of behaviour in online communication is an urgent scientific task. Objective. The aim is to explore the regulation of moral orientation in decision-making in situations containing possibility of cyberbullying. The following psychological features of students are considered: the level of moral development, the level of communicative skill development, the perception of cyberbullying as a phenomenon. Study Participants. The sample included 85 respondents of varying ages, ranging from 18 to 26 years old (M = 21; SD = 1.8). Methods. The study engaged the following materials: the “Justice-Care” technique by S.V. Molchanov; communication skills test by L. Michelson (adapted by Yu.Z. Gilbukh); authors' techniques “Open questions” and “Case-method” applied for identifying the content of ideas about cyberbullying and orientation of decision-making (ethical/unethical) in situations of potential cyberbullying. Results. A significant positive correlation (ρ-Spearman; p < 0.05) was found between the ethical choice of decisions in situations of potential cyberbullying, subscales of moral development (“Self-sacrifice”, “Self-respect”) and the content of ideas about cyberbullying. Moreover, significant negative correlations (ρ-Spearman; p < 0.05) were identified between the unethical choices in the investigated situations, subscale of “Preconventional” level of moral development, and communication skills. Conclusions. The moral orientation of the decisions we make in situations of potential cyberbullying is significantly related to the following individual psychological features of students: (1) students who often choose ethical decisions have fully formed ideas about cyberbullying as a phenomenon, they do not prioritize their own interests and consider the values of others; (2) students who choose unethical decisions have low level of development of communication skills, look for personal gain in communication and less often consider the values of other people.

Keywords

• cyberbullying
• moral development
• communicative skills
• decision-making
• concept development
• moral orientation
• moral dilemmas