Influences of Internal and External Factors on Morality

Abstract

Morality concerns individuals in every society and is important for the normal functioning of the society. Individuals are guided by morality in daily activities and may engage in emotions such as moral anxiety when moral perceptions conflict with moral behaviours. This study provides a review of the factors that influence morality from both internal and external influences. The results indicated that external factors that influence morality include the upbringing environment, childhood experiences. The internal factors that influence morality mainly include the function of brain areas and mental disorders. On the base of the review of prior studies, this paper makes recommendations for future research and practice development. Future research should systematically compare the effects of innate and acquired factors. In addition, the link between the neural structure of the brain and morality beforehand needs to be further explored. More research methods from other research fields are yet to be newly applied in the field of moral sense research.