Date of Award

2025

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

MA in Psychology

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Ester N Garcia

Second Advisor

Mark D Terjesen

Abstract

The present study explores the interaction between social group membership and moral judgment in decision-making. This interaction is also assessed through the moderating value of Theory of Mind (TOM), encompassing both affective and cognitive empathy. This research hypothesizes that 1) there is an association between TOM and decision-making in morality, 2) group membership, expressed as adherence to political ideology, influences moral judgment, 3) a higher frequency of utilitarian choices in other beneficial moral dilemmas is expected to be correlated with a stronger association with political group ideals. The sample population is comprised of college students at St. John’s University (N = 26). The participants answered a demographic survey, which included items that assessed their cultural, social and political group belonging. They then completed the 15-item Trolley Problem task for self and other and the TOMCAT experiment assessing capacity for TOM. The results indicated that cognitive TOM predicts moral judgments when it benefits the other (group), and cognitive and affective TOM marginally predict moral judgments made for the self. Political ideology was not found to be a significant predictive factor.

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