The linkage of Intelligence, Prosocial Moral Reasoning and Moral Identity among Iranian University Students

This study examined the relationships between intelligence, moral identity and prosocial moral reasoning with the mediating role of moral identity. From the population of undergraduate university students of Salman Farsi University of Kazerun, 245 students (163 female and others male) were selected by convenience sampling. They completed the questionnaires for the assessment of general intelligence (Cattell, 1957), moral identity (Aquino & Reed, 2002), prosocial moral reasoning (Carlo, Eisenberg, & Knight, 1992) and social desirability (Reynolds, 1982). Lie/nonsense responding and social desirability were controlled from correlations by the partial correlation method. The findings showed that there were positive and significant relationships between intelligence, prosocial moral reasoning and internalization subscale of moral identity (p < .01, for all). The mediating role of moral identity (internalization) was confirmed for internalized prosocial moral reasoning by the path analysis method. The importance of both rationality and social learning in making the different types of prosocial reasoning was discussed for explanation the findings.