A preliminary cross-cultural study of moral intuitions

Hypothetical moral dilemmas have been used to explore the nature of moral intuitions that may reflect a universal moral belief system, Several dimensions have been identified empirically that are important to the resolution of these hypothetical moral dilemmas. These dimensions are unrelated to gender, ethnicity, or other factors that might be expected to influence individuals' moral intuitions. We explored the generality of these findings by presenting hypothetical dilemmas to a sample of Taiwanese students attending National Taiwan University. Their native language was Chinese, and over half of the students were affiliated with an Eastern religion. Responses to the dilemmas by the Taiwanese students were similar to the responses from several U.S. samples. The same dimensions that were important in the U.S. samples also were important in the Taiwanese sample, These findings support the argument that an evolved human nature influences the resolution of these dilemmas. These evolved tendencies would be those that would enhance inclusive fitness and increase the likelihood of reciprocal altruism and would be expected to enhance the ultimate reproductive success in the environment of evolutionary adaptation. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Inc.