Bad Apples or Bad Barrels? Moral Disengagement, Social Influence, and the Perpetuation of Hazing in the College Fraternity

Abstract

Previous research on moral disengagement has suggested studying moral disengagement considering internal mechanisms and environmental variables that operate at stimulus, social, structural and contextual levels to influence individual and group behaviors. Zimbardo (2007) specifically suggested college fraternities as a specific environment in which these relationships could be better understood. This article proposes and tests a hypothetical path model involving moral judgment, moral disengagement and attitudes about violence within two separate contexts – fraternity hazing and adolescent bullying. The findings indicate that moral disengagement has a unique impact on the perception of violence based on group membership (fraternity vs. non-fraternity) and that campus climate and cultural norms predict the relationship between moral disengagement and tolerance of hazing in fraternities.