History, aims, and scope of the Network Responsibility, Justice, and Moral Behavior

The research network “responsibility, justice, and moral behavior” was established by Leo Montada in 1982 at the University of Trier, Germany. Together with his students, he started a research program that is devoted to understanding how perceptions of responsibility, adherence to justice norms, and moral reasoning shape behavior between individuals and groups. Theories of personality, social psychology, and human development were integrated into a broad theoretical framework that includes four types of hypothetical constructs: personality constructs such as belief in a just world, cognition constructs such as judging an outcome as deserved, emotion constructs such as guilt, and behavior constructs such as helping unfairly deprived victims. The studies that were inspired by this theoretical framework address a variety of research questions such as the following ones:

• Under what conditions do people adopt responsibility for others, for their community, for the protection of their environment, and for the considerate use of natural resources?
• Under what conditions do people attribute responsibility to themselves and to others for the consequences of their behavior?
• What are the core moral considerations that lead people to judge behavior as right or wrong?
• What role does justice play in the formation and solution of conflicts between individuals and groups?
• What are the underlying justice principles of such conflicts?
• How do people differ in their need for justice and their sensitivity to observed, suffered, and committed injustice?
• What effects do individual differences in justice beliefs, values, and attitudes towards moral principles have on social interaction, on coping with conflict, on coping with gains and losses, and on well-being?

It is the purpose of these pages to inform the scientific community about the results of this research program. They have been published in research reports and publications. Many of these documents can be traced or accessed via these pages.

The list of former and current members of the network provides contact information as well as information regarding institutional affiliations and current research interests.

The list of publications provides a quick overview of the research questions that have been addressed.

The list of research reports has the same purpose. These reports provide extended information on the studies that were conducted by members of the network. Most of these research reports can be downloaded as PDF-files.