Ethical ideologies incorporate distinct features as they are quite influential with respect to a personal commitment to moral principles. As the endpoints of a continuum, principled and expedient ethical ideologies function as the pathfinders for individuals along various ethical paths. In this sense, due to their multifarious components and implications in human relations, an elaboration of the mechanisms underlying principled ethical ideologies merits further attention. For this reason, this study aimed to a) investigate some cognitive, emotional and behavioural factors and personality traits related to principled behaviour; b) develop a valid and reliable scale to evaluate the principled behaviour tendencies of people holding a principled ideology; and c) reveal the links between principled behaviour and self-construal, authenticity and psychological needs. The results of three studies have demonstrated that being principled is a combination of certain cognitive, emotional and behavioural factors and personality traits. Furthermore, individualistic, relational and collectivistic self-construal, authenticity and autonomy as well as relatedness and competence within the context of psychological needs were potent predictors of being principled.

伦理意识形态具有鲜明的特征，因为它们对个人对道德原则的承诺具有相当大的影响力。作为连续统一体的端点，有原则和权宜之计的伦理意识形态是个人沿着各种伦理道路的探路者。从这个意义上说，由于其在人际关系中的多种组成部分和影响，对有原则的伦理意识形态背后的机制的阐述值得进一步关注。为此，本研究旨在 a) 调查与原则行为相关的一些认知、情感和行为因素以及人格特征；b) 开发一个有效和可靠的量表来评估持有原则意识形态的人的原则行为倾向；c) 揭示有原则的行为和自我建构之间的联系，真实性和心理需求。三项研究的结果表明，原则性是某些认知、情感和行为因素以及个性特征的结合。此外，在心理需求的背景下，个人主义、关系主义和集体主义的自我建构、真实性和自主性以及相关性和能力是原则性的有效预测指标。