Ethical orientation of adolescents and young adults in social networks

Abstract

The article deals with psychological operationalization of the 'ethical square' model (comprising hedonistic, utilitarian, perfectionistic and altruistic orientations) and its application to cyberethics in research on moral orientations of adolescents and young adults (15–25 years old), who actively participate in social network. 42 active users of social network took part in the study. Narratives of semi-structured interviews related to moral dilemma discussion were analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively. Gender and age differences referring basically to perfectionism were found: moreover perfectionism was observed primarily in females. Age differences refer mainly to the youngest group of the subjects (15–17 years old), which lack perfectionism units and use self-categories more often than categories referring to others. In addition, the youngest subjects do not address to the category of perfectionism in discussion of behavior in social networks.