Cultural Differences in

Morality in the Real and

Virtual Worlds Between
Chinese and U.S. Youth
René Houston
 Background
 Children around the world are raised in the moral systems of their
culture from birth and this helps with their development
 Moral systems around the world, although different, follow a similar
design: some behaviours are unacceptable and inappropriate
 There is plenty of research on moral decision making in adolescents
in real life scenarios, but has not branched out into the virtual world

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 Hypotheses
 First:
 Are there cultural differences in moral attitudes and behaviours in the real world?
 Second:
 Are there cultural differences in acceptability of morally questionable online behaviour?
 Third
 Do moral attitudes and behaviours in the real world predict questionable online behaviours?
 Fourth:
 Does the extent of Internet and technology use predict acceptability of morally questionable
behaviour across cultures?

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 Methods
 602 Chinese and 604 American youths were recruited for the study
 Average was 12
 Surveys for the Chinese students were administered in school and in the
presence of an administrator while the U.S. students received theirs in the mail
 Both had both rural and urban school recruited while the U.S. also had
suburban schools
 The U.S survey was developed based on questions from the Josephson
Institute Report Card and then was translated into Chinese

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 Results
 Only 4 of the 23 culture by gender interaction were significant.
 U.S. males and Chinese females were more likely than U.S. females and Chinese males to agree that
real world successful people do what they have to do to win, even if it means cheating
 Chinese males were most likely to agree that in sports, if you are cheating, you’re not trying hard
enough while U.S. males were least likely to agree to that.
 U.S. males were more accepting of violence, followed by U.S. females, Chinese males, and Chinese
females (respectively)
 U.S. females and Chinese males were more accepting of keeping track of a person’s online activities
than Chinese females and U.S. males.
 Chinese males were found to be more accepting of send sexually explicit language to a stranger
than any other group
 U.S females were more accepting of text messaging during class than any other group

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 Results Cont.
 U.S. youths were found to using computers longer than Chinese youths
 They were also found to have been using computers longer than Chinese youths
 U.S. youths played more video games than Chinese youths
 U.S males played more while Chinese females played less
 U.S youths used phones more than Chinese youths
 U.S. females used their phones more than any other group. U.S. males did not differ
from Chinese males in cell usage.
 Having good moral character was more important to Chinese youth (females most)
than U.S. youths (males least)

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 Discussion
 U.S and Chinese youths differed in 16 out of the 23 measures of moral behaviour
 Chinese youths were indicated to believe that having good moral character was more
important than U.S. youths
 Chinese youths found morally questionable behaviours more acceptable than U.S. youths
 This may be because Chinese youths are provided a venue to expressing their own autonomy
they aren’t granted in the real world
 Future research should try to replicate study’s finding, actual online behaviours should be
measured to determine acceptability and actual behaviour, and alternative explanations for
cultural differences in acceptability in online behaviours should be explored.

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