Moral Disengagement Researchers

Question 1

Moral disengagement evaluation - research support for MD in bullying - STRENGTH
Hemel et al

Answer 1

Studied 494 Canadian children ages 13-15
Found those who engaged in bullying were more likely to express positive attitudes towards bullying
Also showed that MD was a strong predictor of bullying behaviour

Question 2

Moral disengagement evaluation - support from meta analysis - STRENGTH
Gina et al (2014)

Answer 2

Meta analysis between MD and sgression in school children of 27 studies from 8 countries
18,000 participants
Found significant effect sizes for bothe bullying being 0.25 and cyber bullying 0.31 indicating MD is a significant sector regardless of gender

Question 3

Moral disengagement evaluation - the role of moral emotions (weakness)
Thronberg

Answer 3

Found students with high MD scores but low moral emotions scores were more likely to engage in bullying behaviours
Whereas those with high moral emotions scores didn’t bully even if they did have high MD scores.

Question 4

Moral disengagement evaluation - contradictory evidence - weakness
Perren, gutzwiller- hefenfinger

Answer 4

Found MD predicted traditional bullying behaviours
but not cyber bullying
Suggested that the inability to see victims distress in cyberbullying makes cognitive distancing strategies less relevant