Question

Groups of Hindu adults and children from India and non-Hindu adults and children from the United States are read a dilemma in which a person is forced to choose between breaking the law to help out a friend or not breaking the law but disappointing the friend. What results would you expect?

Answer 1

In general terms, most human beings are committed to obeying the law. However, to give a well-founded answer it's important to take into consideration the concepts of ethics and morality and also the cultures involved in this matter. Having said that, in the dilemma of a person being forced to choose between breaking the law to help a friend or not breaking the law but disappointing a friend, the results I would expect are the following:

The Hindu population (adults and children), based on the complex and inherent concept of Dharma, which assigns a high value to right conduct, ethics and morality, would tend to prioritise the obedience to law while the group of Americans would probably hesitate in this forced decision. Some psychology specialists talk about a moral crisis in America in which the limits of moral conviction,  virtues and vices, good and evil, right and wrong are not very clear. If this applies to a vast part of American society, they would not be expected to choose law obedience in first place.