Do Social Relationships Influence Moral Judgment? A Cross-Cultural Examination

This study examines whether social relationships influence moral judgment across different types of moral violations and cultural contexts. Drawing on Relationship Regulation Theory, which outlines four relational models-communal sharing, authority ranking, equality matching, and market pricing-we investigate whether moral evaluations vary depending on the relationship between the actor and the victim. Unlike previous research that primarily adopts a third-party perspective, this study uses a first-person approach, focusing on judgments made by individuals directly involved in the moral interaction. Three empirical studies were conducted: Study 1 tests the influence of social relationships on moral judgment using Chinese participants; Study 2 explores how moral judgments differ across various moral domains in relational contexts; and Study 3 compares Chinese and American participants to assess cross-cultural differences in the impact of social relationships on moral evaluation. Across all three studies, the results consistently show that social relationships significantly affect moral judgment, supporting the view that moral evaluations are shaped not only by the nature of the act but also by the relational context in which it occurs.