scholarly journals The Effects of Politician’s Moral Violations on Voters' Moral Emotions

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annemarie S. Walter ◽  
David P. Redlawsk
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Responses ◽  
Moral Emotions ◽  
Limited Attention ◽  
Moral Foundations ◽  
Moral Foundations Theory ◽  
Moral Foundation ◽  
Moral Principles ◽  
Party Identity ◽  
Moral Transgressions ◽  
Partisan Identification

AbstractExisting empirical research on voters’ responses to individual politicians’ moral transgressions pays limited attention to moral emotions, although moral emotions are an integral part of voters’ moral judgment. This study looks at U.S. voters’ discrete moral emotional responses to politician’s moral violations and examines how these discrete moral emotional responses are dependent on voters’ own moral principles and the extent to which they identify with a political party. We report on a 5 × 3 between-subjects experiment where 2026 U.S. respondents reacted to politicians’ violations of one of five moral foundations defined by Moral Foundations Theory. We randomly vary which moral foundation is violated and the partisanship of the politician. While voters’ own moral principles somewhat condition moral emotional responses, we find that voters’ moral emotional responses mostly depend on partisan identification. When voters share party identity with a politician committing a moral violation, they respond with less anger, contempt, disgust and shame than when they do not share party identity. The effect is greater among strong partisans. However, we find limited evidence that specific moral emotions are activated by violations of particular moral foundations, thereby challenging Moral Foundations Theory.

scholarly journals Moral Foundations Theory Among Autistic and Neurotypical Children

2022 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erin Elizabeth Dempsey ◽  
Chris Moore ◽  
Shannon A. Johnson ◽  
Sherry H. Stewart ◽  
Isabel M. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Moral Judgments ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Moral Foundations ◽  
Moral Foundations Theory ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Moral Foundation ◽  
Longitudinal Methods ◽  
Autistic People ◽  
Moral Transgressions

Morality can help guide behavior and facilitate relationships. Although moral judgments by autistic people are similar to neurotypical individuals, many researchers argue that subtle differences signify deficits in autistic individuals. Moral foundation theory describes moral judgments in terms of differences rather than deficits. The current research, aimed at assessing autistic individuals’ moral inclinations using Haidt’s framework, was co-designed with autistic community members. Our aim was to describe autistic moral thinking from a strengths-based perspective while acknowledging differences that may pose interpersonal challenges among autistic youth. We assessed 25 autistic and 23 neurotypical children’s moral judgments using the Moral Foundations Questionnaire for Kids. We used semi-structured interviews and qualitative analysis with a subset of participants to describe children’s moral reasoning. Analyses suggested that autistic and neurotypical children make similar judgments about moral transgressions across all five moral foundations. General linear mixed modeling showed that the greatest predictor of recommending punishment was how bad children deemed moral transgressions to be. We also found a trend that autistic children were more likely to recommend punishment for harmless norms violations than were neurotypical children. Future research could use longitudinal methods to understand the development of moral judgments among autistic and neurotypical children.

Sensemaking and sensegiving

2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 291-313 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthias Georg Will ◽  
Ingo Pies
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Change ◽  
Business Ethics ◽  
Change Management ◽  
Resistance To Change ◽  
Emotional Responses ◽  
Moral Foundations ◽  
Moral Foundations Theory ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
Relevant Alternatives ◽  
Content Type

Purpose Change management projects typically fail because they meet employee resistance created by emotional sensemaking processes. This paper aims to present an in-depth explanation for these failures and how change managers could avoid them. Design/methodology/approach This study presents an argument in the following three steps: it begins with an empirically well-established fact that attempts at change management often trigger negative emotional responses; the moral foundations theory is then used to identify the typical categories of emotional responses that may result in resistance to organizational change; and the ordonomic approach to business ethics is built upon to substantiate the diagnosis that, in many cases, emotional responses cause employees to behave in a way that is collectively self-damaging. Findings The core idea of the current study’s contribution is that emotionally driven processes of sensemaking can easily become dysfunctional, especially in situations that require extensive change. Consequently, it should be top priority for managers to engage in sensegiving, which comprises: narratives that explain what is going on against the background of relevant alternatives and appropriate discourses that guide how employees form their expectations. In a nutshell, sensegiving attempts to reframe sensemaking processes. Practical implications Even if a win–win potential already exists, it can still be misperceived. If employees are used to thinking within a trade-off framework, this might trigger trade-off intuitions and negative emotions, in effect leading to a situation that makes everyone worse off. Such mental models might become a self-fulfilling prophecy. To counter such a tendency, sensegiving aims at a professional management of sensemaking processes. The task of successful change management, properly understood, is to create and communicate win–win potentials, ensuring that all parties involved understand that they are not asked to sacrifice their self-interest, instead they are invited to participate in a process of mutual betterment. Originality/value The literature on sensemaking draws attention to the empirical fact that resistance to change is typically driven by emotions. The moral foundations theory helps in exactly identifying which emotional dimensions are relevant in times of organizational change. The ordonomic approach to business ethics points out that – owing to their emotional nature – processes of sensemaking might fail, that they may mislead employees into behavioral patterns that are collectively self-damaging. Therefore, a top priority for management is to engage in sensegiving, that is, in (re-)framing sensemaking processes.

scholarly journals Moral judgment of disparagement humor

2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 619-641 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karolina Koszałkowska ◽  
Monika Wróbel
Keyword(s):  
Moral Judgment ◽  
Emotional Responses ◽  
Moral Foundations ◽  
Moral Foundations Theory ◽  
Mediating Role ◽  
Disparagement Humor

Abstract The aim of the present study was to analyze the link between the five moral codes proposed in the Moral Foundations Theory and moral judgment of disparagement humor. We presented racist, sexist, homophobic, religion-disparaging and neutral jokes to a group of 108 participants, asking them whether they found laughing at a particular joke moral or immoral. Additionally, participants rated the level of amusement and disgust evoked by each joke. We also measured participants’ moral foundations profiles (Care, Fairness, Loyalty, Authority, and Sanctity). The results confirmed that Care and Fairness were significantly linked to moral judgment of racist, sexist and homophobic jokes, whereas Loyalty, Authority and Sanctity were associated with moral judgment of religion-disparaging jokes. Moreover, these relationships were mediated by emotional responses of amusement and disgust (except for racist jokes, for which we observed no mediating role of amusement).

scholarly journals Moral Basis for Ethnic Tolerance

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 327-340
Author(s):  
Irina N Protasova ◽  
Oleg A Sychev
Keyword(s):  
Theoretical Analysis ◽  
Path Analysis ◽  
Psychometric Properties ◽  
Tolerance Index ◽  
Moral Foundations ◽  
Moral Foundations Theory ◽  
Social Tolerance ◽  
Moral Foundation ◽  
Gender And Age ◽  
The Social

The article deals with the relation between ethnic tolerance and the moral sphere features on the basis of Moral Foundations Theory by J. Haidt. As a result of theoretical analysis we put forward a hypothesis that ethnic tolerance is entirely compatible with individualizing moral foundations (caring/not doing harm and fairness) but contradicts the binding moral foundations (loyalty, authority, sanctity). To test this hypothesis the research was carried out on a sample of 340 university students. The participants completed a questionnaire packet containing the “Tolerance index” questionnaire by G.U. Soldatova et al. and the “Moral foundations questionnaire” by J. Graham et al. The correlations between variables showed that ethnic tolerance was positively correlated with moral foundations ‘Care’ and ‘Fairness’ and negatively correlated with moral foundation ‘Authority’. Using path analysis we showed that ethnic tolerance is positively correlated with individualizing moral foundations and negatively correlated with binding moral foundations under the control of tolerance as a trait, gender and age. Our results also revealed unsatisfactory reliability of the “Social tolerance” scale of the “Tolerance index” questionnaire indicating the need for further investigation of the psychometric properties of this questionnaire. Our results support the hypothesis that ethnic tolerance is compatible with individualizing moral foundations, but contradicts the binding moral foundations. This fact demonstrates the moral inconsistencies of ethnic tolerance in the context of the individualizing and binding moral foundations.

Rational Versus Intuitive Processing

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 2-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marina Krcmar ◽  
Allison Eden
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Design ◽  
Cognitive Load ◽  
Automatic System ◽  
Cognitive Systems ◽  
Moral Foundations ◽  
Moral Foundations Theory ◽  
Moral Foundation ◽  
Rational System ◽  
System 2 ◽  
System 1

Abstract. This study explored two main theoretical propositions. First, we tested Hartmann’s (2011 , 2012 ) notion that video games are processed via two separate cognitive systems: System 1, the automatic system, and System 2, the rational system. Specifically, we used a cognitive load manipulation to test if intuitive moral responses such as guilt and anthropomorphism are processed in System 1. Second, we utilized moral foundations theory to test the effect of care salience on guilt and in-game aggression. Using an experimental design ( n = 94), the results indicate that under conditions of cognitive load, players had somewhat lower in-game aggression. Effects on guilt and anthropomorphism were in the same direction, albeit with small effects. In terms of moral foundations, we found that care salience was not negatively related to in-game aggression but was directly related to guilt, indicating that greater emphasis on the moral foundation of care resulted in greater guilt. Also, anthropomorphism was positively related to experienced guilt and negatively related to in-game aggression.

scholarly journals Moral foundations and voting intention in Italy

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 667-687 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrizia Milesi
Keyword(s):  
Moral Foundations ◽  
Moral Foundations Theory ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Moral Foundation ◽  
National Elections ◽  
Regional Autonomy ◽  
Regional Elections ◽  
Political Groups ◽  
The U.S

Based on the view of morality proposed by the Moral Foundations Theory, this paper investigates whether voting intention is associated with moral foundation endorsement in not perfectly bipolar electoral contexts. Three studies carried out in Italy from 2010 to 2013, showed that controlling for ideological orientation, moral foundation endorsement is associated with voting intention. In Study 1 and 3, in fictitious and real national elections, intention to vote for right-wing political groups rather than for left-wing rivals was associated with Sanctity, confirming previous results obtained in the U.S. Furthermore, as a function of the specific competing political groups in each of the examined contexts other moral foundations predicted voting intention. In Study 1, Care and Authority predicted voting intention for the major political groups rather than for an autonomist party that aimed at decreasing central government’s fiscal power in favor of fiscal regional autonomy. In Study 3, Loyalty predicted the intention to vote for the major parliamentarian parties rather than for a movement that aimed at capturing disaffection towards traditional politics. In Study 2, at real regional elections, Loyalty predicted voting intention for the incumbent right-wing governor rather than for the challengers and Fairness predicted voting intention for left-wing extra-parliamentarian political groups rather than for the major left-wing party. Thus multiple moral concerns can be associated with voting intention. In fragmented and unstable electoral contexts, at each election the context of the competing political groups may elicit specific moral concerns that can contribute to affect voting intention beyond ideological orientation.

scholarly journals Foundations of Morality in Iran

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammad Atari ◽  
Jesse Graham ◽  
Morteza Dehghani
Keyword(s):  
Mixed Methods Research ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Romantic Partners ◽  
Moral Values ◽  
Moral Foundations ◽  
Moral Foundations Theory ◽  
Moral Foundation ◽  
The Us

Most moral psychology research has been conducted in Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic (WEIRD) societies. As such, moral judgment, as a psychological phenomenon, might be known to researchers only by its WEIRD manifestations. Here, we start with evaluating Moral Foundations Theory (MFT) using the Moral Foundations Questionnaire, and follow up by building a bottom-up model of moral values, in Iran, a non-WEIRD, Muslim-majority, understudied cultural setting. In six studies (N = 1,945) we examine the structural validity of the Persian translation of the Moral Foundations Questionnaire, compare moral foundations between Iran and the US, conduct qualitative interviews regarding moral values, expand the nomological network of “Qeirat” as a culture-specific set of moral values, and investigate the pragmatic validity of “Qeirat” in Iranian culture. Our findings suggest an additional moral foundation in Iran, above and beyond the five foundations identified by MFT. Specifically, qualitative studies highlighted the role of “Qeirat” values in Iranian culture, which are comprised of guarding and protectiveness of female kin, romantic partners, broader family, and country. Significant cultural differences in moral values are argued in this work to follow from the psychological systems that, when brought to interact with particular socio-ecological environments, produce different moral structures. This evolutionarily-informed, cross-cultural, mixed-methods research sheds light on moral concerns and their cultural, demographic, and individual-difference correlates in Iran.

scholarly journals Moral Foundations vs. Extremist Attitudes in University Students

2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 185-193
Author(s):  
O. A. Sychev ◽  
E. V. Zhikhareva
Keyword(s):  
Side Effects ◽  
Correlation Analysis ◽  
University Students ◽  
Moral Foundations ◽  
Moral Foundations Theory ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Linear Modeling ◽  
Moral Foundation ◽  
Negative Side Effects ◽  
High Level

The paper features relations between extremist attitudes and moral sphere. The study was based on J. Haidt’s Moral Foundations Theory. Most researchers are interested in the problem of right-wing extremist attitudes, e.g. xenophobia, nationalism, religious fanaticism, authoritarianism, etc. However, the existing evidence of the link between such attitudes and some particularities of the moral sphere doesn't take into account modern psychological approaches toward moral. On the basis of moral foundations theory, the authors hypothesized that binding moral foundations may be linked with rightwing extremist attitudes. This hypothesis was tested on 397 university students (women – 83 %). The participants answered the Moral Foundations Questionnaire by J. Graham et al. and Young Men Extremist Attitudes Questionnaire by K. V. Zlokazov. The results of the correlation analysis showed that individualizing moral foundations (Harm and Fairness) were inversely correlated with right-wing extremist attitudes, while binding moral foundations (Loyalty and Authority) showed direct correlation. Such moral foundation as Sanctity showed contradictory correlations with extremist attitudes. Using structure linear modeling the authors demonstrated the significant impact of two moral foundations (Authority and Harm) on extremist attitudes. Authority was associated with a relatively high level of religious fanaticism, xenophobia, and authoritarianism. Care was associated with a low level of fanaticism, xenophobia, and nationalism. The obtained results proved that such violencecondemning values as care and harm avoidance oppose right-wing extremist attitudes. However, such values as respect for authorities and traditions may have potentially negative side effects, e.g. justification and support of right-wing extremist attitudes.

scholarly journals Moral Foundations theory in the context of a political scandal

St open ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Darko Hren ◽  
Ivan Buljan ◽  
Ana Marušić
Keyword(s):  
Online Survey ◽  
Social Issues ◽  
Research Participation ◽  
Moral Foundations ◽  
Moral Foundations Theory ◽  
Moral Foundation ◽  
Research Education ◽  
Incremental Value ◽  
And Training ◽  
Political Scandal

Aim: The aim of this study was to examine the moral foundations structure in the Croatian population, and to examine possible changes in moral foundation structure after a major political scandal in Croatia. Methods: We conducted an online survey using Moral Foundations Questionnaire and Key Social Issues Scale, which was distributed in two waves, in 2009 and 2014. Participants were invited from the Faculties of Humanities and Social Sciences at the universities in Zagreb and Split and asked to distribute the survey to colleagues and friends. Results: 3000 participants completed the survey in 2009, 1323 participants completed the survey in 2014. In both samples, most participants reported that they relied more on individual foundations of “Care/Harm” and “Fairness/Cheating”, than on relational foundations of “Loyalty/Betrayal”, “Authority/Subversion” or “Sanctity/Degradation”, which are typically more valued by traditionally oriented or conservative individuals. Comparison of the two measurement time points indicated that scores on traditional foundations significantly decreased, while liberal values increased. These changes were triangulated and confirmed by the results on the Key Social Issues Scale. Conclusion: In order to encourage students and training doctors to more readily engage in research, exposure to re-search and research participation could have an incremental value to existing research education in medical schools.

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