Cross-Cultural Study of the Hierarchical Structure of Human Relationships

Abstract

A theoretical hierachy of human relationships is constructed in terms of altruism. It is hypothesized that the probability for an actor A to perform an altruistic act to a person B depends on the relationship between A and B, and the probability decreases consistently in the following order of relationships: close relatives, best friends, strangers who are very weak or very young or who are elite in society, common strangers, and enemies. Two hypothetical moral dilemmas were used to study the hierarchy and five test scores expressing correspondingly the above human relationships were constructed. The sample consisted of 400 English subjects in London and 519 Chinese subjects in Hong Kong. It was found that (i) the intercorrelations of the five score variables displayed a simplex-like structure and (ii) loadings for the score variables approximated a two-factor, semicircular configuration with score variables ordered by their hierarchical positions. The findings in both the London and Hong Kong Studies supported the proposed hierarchical structure of human relationships.

A Cross-Sectional Examination of Levels of Moral Reasoning in a Sample of Kuwait University Faculty Members

“…On the contrary, there was a trend towards homogeneity in moral reasoning scores among the different age groups. The present study does not support the claim that stages 2, 3, and 4 responses decrease with age, while stages 5A, 5B, and 6 (P%) increase as participants become older (Ma, 1985;Park & Johnson, 1984). The results related to age are inconsistent with the findings of Ruegger and King (1992) who found that students over the age of 40 were more ethical than were younger students.…”

The Relation of Altruistic Orientation to Human Relationships and Situational Factors in Chinese Children

“…A plot of these unrotated factor loadings would give a semicircular configuration. According to Davison ( 1977) and Ma (1985), the present results support a hierarchical structure underlying each of the two sets of ratings. The general results provide clear support for Hypotheses 1 and 2, as well as for the proposed hierarchy of human relationships in children.…”

“…The present study differs from Ma's (1985Ma's ( , 1989 previous studies in two major aspects. First, in Ma's previous studies, a set of relationship indexes were formulated by averaging subjects' ratings of the group of people concerned in two hypothetical dilemmas, The Sinking Boat and Car Accident.…”

“…the data revealed that (a) the tendency of an actor to sacrifice his or her life for a recipient decreased consistently from R, to R,, (b) the tendency of an actor to give up rescuing a stranger and turn to rescue another person in danger decreased consistently from R , to R,, and (c) children were more willing to perform low-cost altruistic acts than high-cost altruistic acts (this hypothesis was supported only when the recipient was the child's best friend or a postman). If the present findings are combined with Ma's (1985Ma's ( , 1989 previous results, it is justifiable to claim that the proposed hierarchy of human relationships has been empirically supported in Chinese subjects of different ages in Hong Kong and with adolescent subjects from the People's Republic of China and England.…”

“…On the basis of the arguments previously presented and Ma's (1985Ma's ( , 1989 previous findings, three hypotheses were formulated:…”