Morality-as-Cooperation Theory in Iran: Validation of the Persian MAC-Q and a preliminary set of moral violation vignettes

Morality-as-Cooperation Theory views moral values in terms of seven distinct domains. Given therelative recency of the theory and the paucity of empirical data putting it to the test, particularlyfrom countries other than the theory’s birthplace, this study aimed to examine reliability andvalidity of the Persian Morality-as-Cooperation Questionnaire (N = 552) and a preliminary set ofMAC violation vignettes (N = 342) in Iran. Both correlated seven-factor and second-orderindividualizing-binding two-factor models showed good fit, particularly for separate Relevanceand Judgement sections of the questionnaire. The majority of MAC-Q, especially Judgement,subscales correlated significantly and most strongly with their corresponding external scales.Moreover, MAC-Q, especially Judgement, made significant improvement over MFQ in predictingmost external scales. Of the initial set of 27 vignettes, 10 showed domain overlap. Criterion validityof vignettes in predicting MAC-Q subscales was fairly satisfactory, though varying across moraldomains. Based on these findings and drawing upon the recently proposed concept of moralmolecules, we recommended two mini-sets of moral vignettes to guide future attempts at vignettedevelopment for MAC. We close by discussing concerns and suggestions regarding the reliabilityand construct validity of the scale, thus incrementing the growing literature on this theory.