Reducing moral disengagement mechanisms: a comparison of two interventions

Two intervention strategies aimed at stopping moral disengagement in adolescents were evaluated with 116 ninth-grade students (M age = 14.6 years). Three classrooms were randomly assigned to three conditions: intervention based on critical thinking and social regulation, intervention based on persuasion and behavioral journalism, and a control group. Results revealed a significant reduction in moral justifications and in moral disengagement related to stealing among participants in the critical thinking and social regulation intervention in comparison to the control group and the behavioral journalism intervention group. Given the few interventions aimed at stopping moral disengagement, this study is an important contribution that suggests that it is possible to reduce moral disengagement with school-based pedagogical interventions. Keywords: Moral justifications, Moral disengagement, Excuses, Intervention, Evaluation, Critical thinking, Social regulation, Behavioral journalism, Colombia
Why do we sometimes act against the ethical principles we claim to defend? Why do clear-minded people display antisocial conduct that they consider reproachable? Bandura (1999) considers that behind these [...]