Personality factors of moral conformity in solving moral dilemmas under virtual group pressure

The article presents the results of a study on personality factors of moral conformity in solving moral dilemmas under virtual group pressure. The author examined the relationship of personality traits and ethical positions with the solution of moral dilemmas both under virtual group pressure and without it. The study involved 242 university students (females = 74%, males = 26%). At the first stage, 223 respondents were asked to solve a series of ethical dilemmas and fill out personality questionnaires (the Big Five Inventory-2 (BFI-2) adapted by A.Yu. Kalugin et al., the Dirty Dozen Questionnaire adapted by T.V. Kornilova et al., and the Ethical Position Questionnaire (EPQ) adapted by A.A. Fedorov and I.V. Badiev). At the second stage, 66 respondents were asked to solve the same dilemmas, but they were shown how the other participants had solved them at the previous stage. Virtual group pressure was implemented by presenting the participants with pie charts indicating the percentages of “permissible” and “impermissible” responses to a given dilemma. For dilemmas that received the majority of “acceptable” responses at the first stage, it was indicated that the majority of responses were “unacceptable” and vice versa. At this stage, the Solomon four-group design was implemented with two experimental and two control groups. The study yielded data on the relationship of personality characteristics and ethical positions with the nature of moral dilemma decisions. The effect of moral conformity under virtual group pressure was confirmed. Three types of reactions to virtual pressure were identified: conforming, nonconforming, and counterconforming. Conforming responses were observed under virtual pressure both towards deontological and consequentialist decisions. Counterconforming responses showed asymmetry: no counterconforming reactions occurred under consequentialist virtual pressure; however, they were present under deontological virtual pressure. The study has not revealed any significant relationship between moral conformity and the personality traits or ethical positions of the respondents, which suggests that moral conformity is a universal phenomenon depending more on situational factors (such as the content of dilemmas and the form and direction of pressure) than on the respondent’s personality.