DOI:10.6129/CJP.202303_65(1).0001
中華心理學刊 民 112，65 卷，1 期，1-18
Chinese Journal of Psychology 2023, Vol.65, No.1, 1-18

Han-Yu Hsu(School of Social Development, East China University of Political Science and Law), Li-Li Huang(Department of Psychology, National Taiwan University), Kuang Kuo Hwang(Department of Psychology, National Taiwan University)

Abstract

Hidden Rule ( 潛規則 in Chinese) refers to the rules, which only could be discussed ‘under the table, about how to interact with others in Chinese society. Individuals’ preference towards Hidden Rule could maintain the social order on the surface while benefiting individuals’ self-interest with the methods under-table. Such a property could promote inconsistent, hypocritical moral evaluation in public life. This research employs the Hidden Rule Preference Scale to measure individuals’ differences toward Hidden Rule and designs a scenario questionnaire of bribery to investigate the functions of the Hidden Rule. The results show that 1) in the situation with the bribery convention, individuals showed more hypocrisy tendency, which indicated greater within-individual standard deviation between behavior righteousness and appropriateness, and 2) individuals’ Hidden Rule Preference could promote individuals’ hypocrisy tendency marginally significantly.

Keywords: hidden rule, hidden rule preference, hypocrisy, moral judgment