Abstract

POLLI, Gislei Mocelin; THIELENE, Iara Picchioni; HARTMANN, Ricardo Carlos  and  SOARES, Diogo Picchioni. Speeding: analysis under morality perspective. Psicol. cienc. prof. [online]. 2010, vol.30, n.1, pp. 85-97. ISSN 1414-9893.

This research focuses on moral development as one of the factors related to the inadequate behavior in traffic. It aims at verifying the relation between the moral development level and the driver’s law-breaking behavior, starting from the hypothesis that the infraction is related to the primary stages of moral development proposed by Kohlberg. The interviews with 20 drivers, each one with more than 9 fines, were qualitatively analyzed, from which 49 answers were selected for the analysis of the moral development stages. The remaining answers could not be used with that purpose. The analysis led to the conclusion that the level 1 of moral development prevails in 75.51% of the answers. The main characteristic in this stage is the concern with punishment, when the drivers said: “I didn’t know that there was a radar there”. This answer signs that enforcement and consequently punishment justify the non-infractor behavior. This study shows limitations on the use of the moral development theory based on justifications, since they apply to infractor or non-infractor action. This paper didn’t focus on dilemmas, but the analysis focused on answers, not on subjects. So, the first stage was characteristic of answers, not of subjects.

Keywords : Traffic accidents; Risk-taking; Motor vehicles; Moral development.

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