ABSTRACT
Making moral judgments is a distinctively human act, the purpose of which is to influence behavior. Religious systems are often used to justify Religion and Moral evaluations; however, those sharing traditions may not make similar moral judgments. Moral evaluation discrepancy occurs when identical behaviors are judged as more moral in one context than in another. The debate over elective abortion may help clarify this idea. Certain individuals strongly believe that abortion is immoral. Moral evaluation discrepancy theory assumes that such discrepancy in contemporary American society is also a personality trait or moral type created by a tension between the superego and conscience. The superego is derived from “reality testing” of one’s society. The gap between moral thought and behavior has received considerable attention by psychologists. Nevertheless, one of the problems with the psychological study of moral character and moral development has been the tendency to ignore contextual or situational effects on moral judgments.
