ABSTRACT

Moral identity involves the extent to which morality and being a moral person are important to one's identity. Although the moral internalization and moral ideal self models of moral identity may have explanatory power, measures of them fall short in terms of predictive power. It may be feasible to minimize social desirability while still using explicit, self-report measures of moral identity. Moral identity can be studied at all three levels of personality (traits, characteristic adaptations and narratives), with different aspects of moral identity perhaps involving divergent developmental trajectories and processes. The role of moral identity in moral personality might involve both deliberative and automatic processes. Social cognitive studies of moral identity have the potential to elucidate intra-individual variation in moral identity. Some moral identity research is actually being conducted in business settings rather than lab settings, providing explanatory and predictive power with more real-world validity.