The Influence of Social Heterogeneity and Sentimental Credibility on Moral Judgments of Nigerian Muslim Adolescents

Abstract

Two studies were carried out to investigate the effects of social heterogeneity and sentimental credibility on moral judgments of Nigerian Muslim secondary school boys. The first study was aimed at investigating the role of social heterogeneity in generating and resolving moral conflicts. Two groups of Nigerian Hausa boys were randomly selected from two secondary schools, one heterogeneous and the other homogeneous in terms of school population. When moral judgments of the two groups were compared, the boys who came from the heterogeneous school population were significantly more advanced in moral maturity than those who were exposed to the more homogeneous school population. The second study was designed to investigate the effects of sentimental familiarity with the names of actors on generalization of moral reasoning in Kohlberg-type hypothetical moral dilemmas. It was found that Nigerian Muslim children tend to generalize more conveniently the moral reasoning if actors in a hypothetical moral situation bear Muslim names.