Moral Judgment and Its Relationship to the Level of Optimism and Pessimism among Yarmouk University Students

Abstract

The study aimed to identify the moral judgment, optimism and pessimism level, among Yarmouk University students, as well as to reveal the relationship between moral judgment, optimism and pessimism, and the statistical significant differences (α =0.05) in the levels of moral judgment, optimism and pessimism, by gender and specialization variables. The study sample consisted of (500) Yarmouk University students selected in the second semester of 2012-2013 Academic year. To achieve the objectives of the study, the moral judgment scale for adults prepared by Abed Al-Fattah (2001) was used. Also, the researchers developed a scale to measure optimism and pessimism among students. The results showed a moderate degree of moral judgment in the fourth stage (strict adherence to laws and regulations) of the sixth Kohlberg's stages of moral judgment. The results also showed a high level of optimism among Yarmouk University students, The results of the study indicated that there was a statistically significant positive correlation between the moral judgment level and the domain of optimism and pessimism scale as whole among Yarmouk University students. The results of the study also indicated that there were statistically significant differences (α=0.05) in the moral judgment levels according to gender, in favor of females. There were statistically significant differences (α=0.05) in the moral judgment levels according to specialization variable, in favor of humanistic specialization colleges. In addition, there were no statistically significant differences in the levels of optimism and pessimism according to gender and specialization variables