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.

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.

Moral foundations theory in autism spectrum disorder: A qualitative investigation

Autism ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (8) ◽  
pp. 2202-2212
Author(s):  
Erin E Dempsey ◽  
Chris Moore ◽  
Annie E Richard ◽  
Isabel M Smith
Keyword(s):  
Moral Psychology ◽  
Quantitative Methods ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Moral Foundations ◽  
Moral Foundations Theory ◽  
Moral Thinking ◽  
Moral Judgements ◽  
Similarities And Differences ◽  
Autistic Adults ◽  
Moral Transgressions

Morality is important for how humans treat each other and non-human animals. Differences in moral reasoning have been found between autistic and neurotypical individuals. Research in this area has relied on accounts of moral psychology that suggest increasingly mature moral principles that develop from taking the perspectives of others. Yet, even autistic individuals, who sometimes differ in their ability to take others’ perspectives, make moral judgements that are similar to neurotypical individuals. Moral foundations theory suggests that moral psychology is not hierarchical but differs depending on culture. Moral foundations theory has not yet been investigated among autistic individuals. This qualitative study used interviews and qualitative analysis as a first attempt at understanding how moral foundations theory fits with autistic moral thinking. We found that all five moral foundations of moral foundations theory were represented in the interviews, yet certain foundations appeared more prominent than others. The autistic adults interviewed in our study discussed issues of care and fairness more than of loyalty, authority or purity when prompted to discuss moral transgressions. Future research should use quantitative methods to compare groups of autistic and neurotypical individuals to clarify similarities and differences in moral thinking between the groups. Lay abstract Morality is important for how humans treat each other and non-human animals. Differences in moral thinking have been found between autistic and neurotypical individuals. This research has relied on ways of thinking about moral psychology that suggest that mature morals develop as individuals learn to take the perspectives of others. Yet, even autistic individuals, who sometimes differ in their ability to take others’ perspectives, make moral judgements that are similar to neurotypical individuals. Moral foundations theory suggests that moral psychology is not hierarchical but differs depending on culture. This theory could therefore help make sense of similarities and differences in autistic and neurotypical moral thinking. Moral foundations theory has not yet been investigated among autistic individuals. In this study, we interviewed autistic adults as a first attempt at understanding how moral foundations theory fits with autistic moral thinking. We found that all five moral foundations of moral foundations theory were represented in the interviews, yet certain foundations appeared more prominent than others. The autistic adults interviewed in our study discussed issues of care and fairness more than of loyalty, authority or purity when prompted to discuss moral transgressions. Future research should use quantitative methods to compare groups of autistic and neurotypical individuals to clarify similarities and differences in moral thinking between the groups.

Validation of the Moral Foundations Questionnaire with three Chinese ethnic groups

2019 ◽  
Vol 47 (8) ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jun Du
Keyword(s):  
Gender Difference ◽  
Ethnic Group ◽  
Ethnic Groups ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
Moral Judgments ◽  
Influential Factor ◽  
Moral Foundations ◽  
Moral Foundations Theory

Moral foundations theory is claimed to be universally applicable and is classified into 5 foundations of morality: care/harm, fairness/cheating, loyalty/betrayal, respect/subversion, and purity/degradation. This theory has not been tested in the Eastern cultural context. Therefore, in this study I addressed this lack in the context of China, where there are people of a number of different ethnicities. I adopted the Moral Foundations Questionnaire, which was completed by 761 Chinese of Han, Uygur, and Tibetan ethnicity. The results show that there was no gender difference in morality foundation scores, but the differences among ethnic groups were significant: Tibetans scored lower than did Han and Uygur in care and fairness, and Uygur scored higher than Han and Tibetans did in loyalty, respect, and purity. The interactions between gender and ethnic group were significant for care, fairness, and respect. These findings suggest that moral foundations theory is applicable to China, that the Moral Foundations Questionnaire can also be partially applied to Chinese, and that ethnicity is an influential factor when people make moral judgments.

scholarly journals What is the relationship between morals and politics?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oliver Scott Curry
Keyword(s):  
Future Research ◽  
Moral Foundations ◽  
Moral Foundations Theory ◽  
Substantial Body ◽  
Moral Decisions ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Way

What’s the relationship between morals and politics? According to Moral Foundations Theory (MFT), people rely on multiple evolved intuitive “foundations” when making moral decisions, including: Care, Fairness, Loyalty, Authority, and Purity. A substantial body of previous research has found that, when making moral decisions, political liberals place more emphasis on Care and Fairness, whereas political conservatives place more emphasis on Loyalty, Authority, and Purity. However: the way that this research has conceptualised moral and politics has been criticised; there have been some anomalous and contradictory empirical findings; and it remains unclear whether the relationship between morals and politics is causal as opposed to merely correlational. Here I review the literature and make suggestions for future research.

scholarly journals Disgust sensitivity is primarily associated with purity-based moral judgments

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fieke Maria Antoinet Wagemans ◽  
Mark John Brandt ◽  
Marcel Zeelenberg
Keyword(s):  
Moral Judgments ◽  
Personality Characteristics ◽  
Moral Foundations ◽  
Moral Foundations Theory ◽  
Disgust Sensitivity ◽  
Moral Issues ◽  
Total N ◽  
Moral Domain ◽  
Moral Domains ◽  
Moral Condemnation

Individual differences in disgust sensitivity are associated with a range of judgments and attitudes related to the moral domain. Some perspectives suggest that the association between disgust sensitivity and moral judgments will be equally strong across all moral domains (purity, authority, loyalty, care, fairness, and liberty). Other perspectives predict that disgust sensitivity is primarily associated with judgments of specific moral domains (e.g., primarily purity). However, no study has systematically tested if disgust sensitivity is associated with moral judgments of the purity domain specifically, more generally to moral judgments of the binding moral domains, or to moral judgments of all of the moral domains equally. Across five studies (total N = 1104), we find consistent evidence for the notion that disgust sensitivity relates more strongly to moral condemnation of purity-based transgression (meta-analytic r = .40) than to moral condemnation of transgressions of any of the other domains (range meta-analytic r’s: .07 ̶ .27). Our findings are in line with predictions from Moral Foundations Theory, which predicts that personality characteristics like disgust sensitivity make people more sensitive to a certain set of moral issues.

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.

Logic-Based Therapy and Civil Discourse in Fractious Times

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Laura Newhart ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Public Discourse ◽  
Moral Judgments ◽  
Moral Foundations ◽  
Moral Foundations Theory ◽  
Good People ◽  
Politics And Religion ◽  
Social Intuitionist Model ◽  
Civil Discourse ◽  
Methodological Approaches

This paper explores the role that Elliot D. Cohen’s Logic-Based Therapy might play in restoring civility to public discourse in this era of social and political divisiveness. The contributions that Logic-Based Therapy, as a modality of philosophical counseling, might make to improving public discourse are explored through the lenses of Jonathan Haidt’s social intuitionist model of the formation of moral judgments and his Moral Foundations Theory of the development of general political perspectives, both articulated in Haidt’s The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion. In spite of substantial differences in Cohen’s and Haidt’s methodological approaches and theoretical content, the similarities are significant enough to allow opportunities for Logic-Based Therapy to intervene in important and effective ways to restore civil discourse in fractious times.

The moral foundations of crime control in American presidential platforms, 1968–2016

2020 ◽  
pp. 146247452096697
Author(s):  
Elizabeth K Brown ◽  
Jasmine R Silver
Keyword(s):  
Content Analysis ◽  
Crime Control ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Moral Foundations ◽  
Moral Foundations Theory ◽  
Moral Orientations ◽  
First Time ◽  
Over Time

The present research for the first time uses Moral Foundations Theory (MFT) as an analytical framework for evaluating the moral foundations of prescriptive presidential party platform statements on crime control from 1968 through 2016. We use summative content analysis to consider the politics of crime control at a broad, foundational level. Our analysis brings data to bear on previously observed trends in the politics of crime control (e.g., Democrats became increasingly conservative on crime in the 1990s) and deepens our understanding by illuminating and contextualizing the latent ideologies and implicit moral orientations to crime of both parties over time. Our findings speak to the prominence of certain moral foundations, authority and care in particular, in partisan frameworks on crime control and indicate trends in reliance on individualizing foundations ( fairness and care) and binding foundations ( authority, loyalty, purity). We consider the implications of these findings for future research on the politics of crime control.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document