In "Future-Oriented People Show Stronger Moral Concerns" (2013), published in Current Research in Social Psychology, Ola Nordhall of Gavle University and Jens Agerstrom of Linnaeus University, showed that students whose focus was on the distant future (ten years from now) demonstrated stronger morality specific to certain questions than students whose focus was on the near future (one week from now). Moreover, people with a more long-term perspective tend to be more ethical themselves. This study's goal was to determine how a person's intrinsic time perspective was related to their present temporal proximity and their moral judgment. Referred to as Construal Level Theory (CLT), it is related to how people perceive nearer events (referred to as temporal proximity) in detail as opposed to further events -- which people see in generalities. Temporal proximity is also called TP.
The study used the Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory (ZTPI) to gather data for the experiment. The objective of the ZTPI is to obtain a measurable number for TP. This experiment measure three aspects of TP: present-hedonistic, present-fatalistic, and future. Researchers hypothesized that people who focus more on an abstract future rather than on the present would be more likely to show moral concern.
Two studies were devised to test these hypotheses. In the first study, a future versus present TP was investigated in relation to the violation of certain ethical rules. In the second study, it was investigated how hedonistic (or present) vs. future TP related to moral commitment. The researchers predicted that a future TP would be positively correlated to ethical values. Surveys and questionnaires were used to collect data which were then ranked using the ZTPI. The predictions of the researchers were borne out by the results, i.e. the data showed that those subjects with a future time perspective were significantly less likely to tolerate the moral transgressions of others.
Based upon this experiment, I have devised a study which explores the question: How does socioeconomic upbringing influence future professional choices and desired income levels? In this experiment, surveys would be handed out and scored using a devised index. It is hypothesized that those with a higher socioeconomic upbringing (as measured by a comfort index and parents' income questionnaire) will choose professions that garner less income. Conversely, those who show less socioeconomic status in their upbringing will choose professions that garner more income. This hypothesis is based on the observation that those who were raised with their needs more easily provided for will have been raised to think they do not need to work as hard to "make a living" whereas those whose parents struggled may choose professions that are higher-paying as they expect themselves to "work harder" (and more independently) to meet their needs.
In another study conducted by Andrew Ahlgren, "Sex Differences in the Correlates of Cooperative and Competitive School Attitudes" (1983), published in Developmental Psychology,
it was found that there were significant differences between the sexes among 2,432 2nd-12th graders.
A logical spin-off of this study is gender differences in attitudes towards competition versus collaboration at the University level. This experiment would assess attitudinal differences between males and females in a post-secondary setting. A simple game with teams (males vs. females) would be played in which one team would win a prize. The allure of a prize makes the game more competitive. A simple survey would be administered before the game and after the game that would assess gender differences with respect to collaboration (i.e. teamwork) and competition. After the game, a similar survey would be administered. Based on the results, "true attitudes" towards competition and collaboration would be determined. Questions like, "Do you feel it is more important to compete against others or cooperate with others?", or "Should males and females compete against each other or cooperate with each other?" could be asked both before and after "the game". It is hypothesized that the losing team will have a more negative attitude towards competition and that the winning team will have a more positive outlook on competitiveness. In the initial survey, males will show a more positive attitude towards competition against females based on their social conditioning. This seems intuitive but, when controlled for variables such as the result of the game, females will reveal more positive attitudes towards competition than males, again, due to social conditioning that causes an "inferiority complex". Females will demonstrate the desire to "prove" that they are not the so-called "lesser sex".
References
Ahlgren, A., (1983). Sex Differences in the Correlates of Cooperative and Competitive School
Attitudes. Developmental Psychology, 19(6), 881-888.
Gneezy, U., Niederle, M., & Rustichini, A. (2001). Performance in Competitive Environments:
Gender Differences. Retrieved from http://users.nber.org/~rosenbla/econ311-
05/syllabus/murielgender.pdf
Nordhall, O., & Agerstrom, J., (2013). Future-Oriented People Show Stronger Moral Concerns.
Current Research in Social Psychology, 52-63.
Sutter, M., & Rutzler, D., (2010). Gender Differences in Competition Emerge Early in Life. The
