Journalists Primed: How Professional Identity Affects Moral Decision Making

This study examines whether professional journalists reason differently about moral problems when primed with their professional identity. This between-subjects experiment (N = 171) used the Defining Issues Test, a much-used and validated instrument that measures moral reasoning. The results show id...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournalism practice Vol. 14; no. 8; pp. 896 - 912
Main Authors Ferrucci, Patrick, Tandoc, Edson C., Schauster, Erin E.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Abingdon Routledge 13.09.2020
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Subjects
ethics
experiment
identity
Journalism
moral development
priming
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ISSN1751-2786
1751-2794
DOI10.1080/17512786.2019.1673202

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Summary:This study examines whether professional journalists reason differently about moral problems when primed with their professional identity. This between-subjects experiment (N = 171) used the Defining Issues Test, a much-used and validated instrument that measures moral reasoning. The results show identity priming does not affect how journalists apply ethics. The study also found that journalists score far lower in moral reasoning than they did 13 years ago. These results are interpreted through the lens of social identity theory.
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content type line 14
ISSN:1751-2786
1751-2794
DOI:10.1080/17512786.2019.1673202