Moral and ethical judgement in the academic training: a pilot study on students of economics

Abstract

Moral reasoning is central in all professionalisms and it is crucial in those professions where economical and financial aspects can be used to “help” or not the others. The present pilot study aims at investigating possible differences in moral judgement between students of Economics at their first year and students at the end of university training. This population will be compared to a similar group of students of the School of Psychology. Results show that gender and academic seniority can directly drive moral decision making, while the fact to be enrolled in different academic courses (i.e. Economics Vs Psychology) can probably only indirectly modulate this behavior. Some explanations to these phenomena have been put forward and discussed in a critical way.