INFLUENCE OF LIVE AND SYMBOLIC MODELING ON PROMOTING MORAL JUDGMENT OF ADOLESCENT DELINQUENTS

THIRTY-SIX ADOLESCENT DELINQUENT MALES WHOSE ANTISOCIAL ACTIVITIES HAD RESULTED IN THEIR BEING REFERRED TO THE JUVENILE COURT WERE SELECTED AND RANDOMLY ASSIGNED TO TWO EXPERIMENTAL GROUPS (LIVE AND SYMBOLIC MODELING) AND THE CONTROL GROUP. EACH DELINQUENT WAS READ A PAIR OF STORIES, ONE OF WHICH DESCRIBED A WELL-INTENTIONED ACT WHICH RESULTED IN SUBSTANTIAL DAMAGE, CONTRASTED WITH A SECOND STORY IN WHICH A SELFISH OR MALICIOUS ACT PRODUCED MINOR CONSEQUENCES TO ASSESS MORAL RELATIVISM. LIVE MODELING WAS REPRESENTED BY THE RESEARCHER'S EXPRESSED HIGH MORAL JUDGMENT RESPONSE TO A GIVEN DILEMMA, AND SYMBOLIC MODELING WAS REPRESENTED BY REINFORCEMENT OF A SUBJECT IF A RESPONSE OF HIGH MORAL JUDGMENT WAS GIVEN UNAIDED. BOTH LIVE AND SYMBOLIC MODELING PRODUCED SIGNIFICANT INCREASES IN INTENTIONALITY IN THE EXPERIMENTAL GROUPS AS COMPARED TO THE CONTROL GROUP, HOWEVER, NO SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCES WERE FOUND IN EITHER GROUP ON THE MORAL RELATIVISM SCALE. A FOLLOW-UP STUDY SHOWED NO DIFFERENCES BETWEEN GROUPS IN NUMBER OR SEVERITY OF OFFENSES.