華人社會中的「潛規則」,係指檯面下不可公開言說的人際互動法則;而個體對潛規則的偏好,具備在維持表面和諧秩序的同時,利用檯面下手段進行謀利的表裡不一特性,對個體在公共生活的道德評價中展現不一致態度的虛偽傾向具有影響效果。本研究以「潛規則偏好」量表作為個別差異的測量工具,以送禮行為為例設計情境式問題,探討個體在社會交往中所呈現的虛偽傾向。研究結果發現:相較於沒有潛規則的情境,在具備潛規則(有送禮慣例)的條件下,個體對送禮行為的負面評價受到抑制、有更高的虛偽傾向,即在行為評價上,對行為的正當性與合宜性有更大的標準差值;同時,個體的潛規則偏好邊緣顯著地提升個體在各情境中表現出的虛偽傾向。
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.