Journalists Primed: How Professional Identity Affects Moral Decision Making

Patrick Ferrucci; Edson C. Tandoc; Erin E. Schauster

doi:10.1080/17512786.2019.1673202

Journalists Primed: How Professional Identity Affects Moral Decision Making

Patrick Ferrucci^*, Edson C. Tandoc, Erin E. Schauster

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

10 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

This study examines whether professional journalists reason differently about moral problems when primed with their professional identity. This between-subjects experiment (N = 171) used the Defining Issues Test, a much-used and validated instrument that measures moral reasoning. The results show identity priming does not affect how journalists apply ethics. The study also found that journalists score far lower in moral reasoning than they did 13 years ago. These results are interpreted through the lens of social identity theory.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	896-912
Number of pages	17
Journal	Journalism Practice
Volume	14
Issue number	8
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1080/17512786.2019.1673202
Publication status	Published - 2020
Externally published	Yes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

ASJC Scopus Subject Areas

Communication

Keywords

ethics
experiment
identity
Journalism
moral development
priming

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10.1080/17512786.2019.1673202

Cite this

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Journalists Primed: How Professional Identity Affects Moral Decision Making

Abstract

Bibliographical note

ASJC Scopus Subject Areas

Keywords

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