The current study breaks new ground in a few different ways. Perhaps most importantly, previous psychological studies of moral responses relied on observations in laboratory settings. This study, however, uses a method that allows researchers to escape the lab and catch glimpses of how participants think about morality as they go about their lives. Researchers using the method, known as “ecological momentary assessment,” periodically contact participants to report their feelings. --- This is surprising only to any one who has had their head in the sand on several areas that really should be basic investigation in ones teens....for me , pre adolescence. (thanks Catholic school education!!) That said the methodology of the study could be made more rigorous. As it stands the method is subject to pre selection bias in that the cohort of people texted necessarily means that the people sampled for the study are people who HAVE mobile devices and know how to text on them, this may seem obvious but it is also an obvious filter of the total possible cohort space that is being probed by asking a question regarding the variability of morality across expressed religious belief. For all we know texters may tend to be more progressive to start and thus less likely to be immoral than non texters skewing the results such that atheists seem as moral as non religious. Note, I identified this possible #mistrapolation (as Mike would call it) as an atheist (and I am certain the study findings are reflective of an objective truth) I am playing devils advocate by pointing out this potential weakness in the methodology for purpose of Scientific completeness because thats what we do as Scientists, our god is the right Data, personal position irrelevant.
Posted on: Sat, 27 Sep 2014 14:57:29 +0000