College students' moral evaluations of illegal music downloading

Although unauthorized music downloading is illegal, a majority of college students have downloaded music for free online. Evaluations of illegal music downloading and their association with downloading behavior were examined using social domain theory in a sample of 188 ethnically diverse college students (Mage = 19.80 years, SD = 1.36, 56% female). All students treated prototypical moral events as moral on a domain classification task. Students treated illegal downloading as a complex moral issue and, less frequently, as a personal issue (but rarely as a conventional issue of law or authority); judgments varied when different concerns regarding the fair price of music and the structure of the music industry were made salient. Greater discrepancies between the actual price of music and what students viewed to be fair were associated with past illegal downloading, while a greater focus on downloading as stealing was associated with abstaining from downloading.

► We examined college students' evaluations of illegal music downloading.
► All students displayed intact moral judgment abilities.
► Information regarding the music industry and price were varied.
► Downloading was viewed as less ok when concerns for musicians and price were removed.
► Illegal downloading seen as a complex issue entailing different concerns.