Cross-Cultural Study of the Development of Law-Abiding Orientation

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Abstract
It was hypothesized that (i) a person is less oriented to abide by the law if he is deficient in lower order needs (e.g., physiological, safety or love needs) than in deficiency of higher order needs (e.g., esteem, social or self-actualization needs), and (ii) the probability of an individual's (A) breaking the law to do something in favour of a person (B) depends on the relationship between A and B. The probability decreases in the following order of relationships: brother/sister, best friend, acquaintance, stranger. Two hypothetical dilemmas were used to study the cultural and age differences in law-abiding orientation of 220 English adolescents and 47 English adults (mean ages in years were 15.50 and 25.83, respectively) in London, and 353 Chinese adolescents and 136 Chinese adults (mean ages in years were 16.81 and 21.24, respectively) in Hong Kong. The general findings supported the above hypotheses. Also (i) there was a positive relation between age and law-abiding orientation and (ii) the Chinese were more oriented to abide by the law than the English.

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