Individual Differences Associated with Undergraduates’ and Children’s Likelihood of Engaging in Various Minor Moral and Legal Violations

The present studies examined the role of selected individual difference variables in 223 undergraduates' (Study 1) and 279 fourth- through sixth-grade children's (Study 2) willingness to engage in various minor moral and legal violations (MMLVs). In both studies, individuals scoring relatively low on conscience and, especially, those scoring relatively high on risk taking reported a heightened likelihood of engaging in various minor transgressions. With regard to gender, the tendency for males to report a greater likelihood of engaging in minor transgressions than females in Studies 1 and 2 was markedly attenuated when the other individual difference variables were included in the likelihood rating analyses. The undergraduates' and children's ratings indicated that both groups of participants would be more likely to engage in MMLVs having a nonhuman or unidentifiable victim than an identifiable human victim. Although the pattern of findings for the undergraduates and children were generally quite consistent, one glaring inconsistency did emerge: whereas the undergraduates indicated that they would be more likely to engage in minor illegal behaviors than minor immoral behaviors that are legal, the children displayed the opposite pattern.