The influence of spatial distance and moral trait on the moral judgment of college students

Previous research identifies cognitive development, emotional experience, spatial distance, and moral traits as factors influencing moral judgment, with closer distance and higher moral traits typically leading to stricter judgments. However, there is still a research gap on whether there is interaction between the two factors. This study hypothesizes that college students’ moral traits have a moderating effect on the influence of spatial distance on moral judgment. This study investigated 238 college students from different regions, collecting their honesty-humility level and their moral judgement to different situations from different spatial distances. Data showed that the level of college students’ moral traits significantly affects moral judgment. The higher the level of moral traits, the stricter the standard of moral judgment. The influence of spatial distance on moral judgment and the interaction between moral trait level and spatial distance is not significant. The results may be due to East Asian cultures often employ holistic thinking, which would narrow the observation distance and essentially shortens the psychological distance. This study provides new evidence suggesting cultural background influences how spatial distance impacts moral judgment and future research should further investigate the role of cultural factors and thinking styles in this relationship.