MORAL JUDGMENT: A STUDY IN ROLES.

This article is concerned with the way in which an individual conceives his role in a situation in which a close friend has violated a moral norm. Based on two such situations, one involving theft of $500.00 and one a promiscuous premarital sex relation, a typology of roles is formulated. An effort is then made to describe some related elements of the act of selecting such a role. This article is conceived as part of the larger problem of how the mores of society become the attitudes of individuals, through being fitted into the individual's role conceptions and ideologies. There are no significant associations between the kinds of roles that the same individual assumes in the two situations. The type of role taken is related to the role played, however. Associations between ideological reference and role-playing are different. There is some suggestion of personality types reflected in the roles, including individuals who feel personally implicated in the misdeeds of others, individuals with high social responsibility orientation, and moralistic individuals with high personal loyalty. Besides being fitted into a framework of the theory of an act, the comparison of theft and sex violation provides some information relevant to a typology of moral norms.