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A trait labelled as "morality" has been argued to be perceived and prioritised during first impressions of faces; however, immorality is not a homogenous concept. Violations of purity are frequently distinguished from other violations via distinct behavioural and emotional patterns, arguably stemming from physical disgust, sexual content, or "weirdness" impure scenarios. In the current research, participants were asked to rate unfamiliar faces based on social traits and their likelihood of engaging in immoral or nonmoral behaviours. Across two studies, perceived engagement in most autonomy and purity moral violations but also the non-moral sexual and "weird" acts was predicted by lower facial morality. There was also a distinction wherein most purity violations and physical disgust were more associated with male gender, and most autonomy violations with ratings of high dominance. The scenarios also differed within categories, such as sexually impure scenarios and disgust associated with unattractive faces; while behaving "weirdly" and certain other purity violations were associated with low dominance. Taken together, our results suggest faces seemingly low on the trait labelled "morality" are perceived as more likely to engage in most immoral behaviours, but also in other socially relevant, nonmoral behaviours. Social judgements are also not homogenous within or between theory-based categories of moral violations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent research has highlighted the application of moral foundations theory in counseling settings as it can provide a complex framework to understand the concept of morality, moral diversity, values, and decision-making processes. The emergence and development of social justice and multicultural counseling competencies has particularly raised important concerns regarding the application of values in counseling. The present study examined moral foundations as predictors of counseling students’ universality – diversity orientation. Three hundred and fifty-six counseling students at the undergraduate level participated in the research (Mage = 21.86, SD = 2.26, 77.1% female). The results of a series of multiple regression analyses indicated that individualizing foundations were stronger predictors of universality – diversity orientation. Fairness was the only significant predictor of the behavioral aspect of universality – diversity orientation (diversity of contact), while fairness and care robustly predicted the cognitive aspect of universality – diversity orientation (relativistic appreciation). Care, authority, and loyalty significantly predicted the emotional aspect (comfort with differences). Overall, these results suggest that the participating counselor candidates were more likely to rely on individualizing foundations for cultural competence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public support is crucial for mitigating and adapting to the effects of climate change. Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) play a significant role in normative governance aimed at influencing attitudes and mobilizing citizens to take action. Civil society organizations (CSOs) use digital media to this purpose. The framing of information presented by CSOs has been shown to shape how people perceive and respond to it. This paper aims to examine how cognitive or topical framing and moral foundational framing interact in predicting public engagement with CSOs’ communication about climate change on Facebook. To this end, several computational methods – including topic modeling, semantic network analysis, and automatic text processing based on a Moral Foundations dictionary – are combined, using data gathered on Facebook. The results of the empirical analysis reveal that CSOs use different topical frames and moral foundations in order to influence policymakers and mobilize citizens. CSOs elicit most engagement on Facebook when they combine a “Climate mobilization” topical frame with the moral foundations of care and fairness pertaining to the ethics of autonomy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista de Psicoterapia is the property of Revista de Psiquiatria y Psicologia Humanista, S.L. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The social category ‘borrowers’ is heterogeneous in a number of indicators. The article raises the problem of differences in the psychological characteristics of borrowers who prefer formal loans and loans from private individuals. The purpose of the study is to analyze the psychological characteristics of consumers of various types of loans. Based on previous research, the authors identified for analysis variables such as time perspective and long-term orientation of the individual, consideration of the consequences of one’s behavior, level of generalized trust, moral foundations, social beliefs and attitudes towards debt, which were presumably associated with people’s preferred type of borrowing. The sample consisted of users of financial services with various types of loans ( N = 1974); they were divided into three groups, homogeneous by type of loans: (1) the respondents who had only loans received from relatives, friends or acquaintances ( N = 97), (2) the respondents who had only loans from microfinance organizations (MFO) ( N = 97), and (3) the respondents who had only consumer loans ( N = 103). The analysis was carried out using the following methods and techniques: The Moral Foundations Questionnaire (MFQ) by J. Haidt (adapted by O.A. Sychev), The Long-Term Orientation of Personality (LTOP) by T.A. Nestik, The Consideration for Future Consequences (CFC) by A. Strathman (adapted by T.A. Nestik), a short version of The Dual Process Model Scales by J. Duckitt (adapted by D.S. Grigoriev), a short version of The Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory (ZTPI) , The World Value Survey (WVS) , The Personal Belief in a Just World Scale by K. Dalbert with two subscales: belief in the justice of the world and belief in the justice of the world in relation to oneself (adapted by S.K. Nartova-Bochaver), and The Debt Behavior Express Inventory . In each group of the respondents, significant differences were found in the structure of relationships among the studied parameters. The results showed that the respondents who had only non-institutional loans, in contrast to those who had exclusively bank or MFO loans, were less loyal to their group (low traditionalism), which in their perceptions was associated with reduced trust in (regional) authorities. This may indicate the autonomy of these borrowers in social terms. The limitations of the study were also noted. Finally, the prospects for further research were outlined and the possibilities of practical use of the results obtained were determined.

BACKGROUND: Vaccine hesitancy poses a substantial threat to efforts to mitigate the harmful effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. To combat vaccine hesitancy, officials in the United States issued vaccine mandates, which were met with strong antivaccine discourse on social media platforms such as Reddit. The politicized and polarized nature of COVID-19 on social media has fueled uncivil discourse related to vaccine mandates, which is known to decrease confidence in COVID-19 vaccines. OBJECTIVE: This study examines the moral foundations underlying uncivil COVID-19 vaccine discourse. Moral foundations theory poses that individuals make decisions to express approval or disapproval (ie, uncivil discourse) based on innate moral values. We examine whether moral foundations are associated with dimensions of incivility. Further, we explore whether there are any differences in the presence of incivility between the r/coronaviruscirclejerk and r/lockdownskepticism subreddits. METHODS: Natural language processing methodologies were leveraged to analyze the moral foundations underlying uncivil discourse in 2 prominent antivaccine subreddits, r/coronaviruscirclejerk and r/lockdownskepticism. All posts and comments from both of the subreddits were collected since their inception in March 2022. This was followed by filtering the data set for key terms associated with the COVID-19 vaccine (eg, vaccinate and Pfizer) and mandates (eg, forced and mandating). These key terms were selected based on a review of existing literature and because of their salience in both of the subreddits. A 10% sample of the filtered key terms was used for the final analysis. RESULTS: Findings suggested that moral foundations play a role in the psychological processes underlying uncivil vaccine mandate discourse. Specifically, we found substantial associations between all moral foundations (ie, care and harm, fairness and cheating, loyalty and betrayal, authority and subversion, and sanctity and degradation) and dimensions of incivility (ie, toxicity, insults, profanity, threat, and identity attack) except for the authority foundation. We also found statistically significant differences between r/coronaviruscirclejerk and r/lockdownskepticism for the presence of the dimensions of incivility. Specifically, the mean of identity attack, insult, toxicity, profanity, and threat in the r/lockdownskepticism subreddit was significantly lower than that in the r/coronaviruscirclejerk subreddit (P

Copyright of Environmental & Social Management Journal / Revista de Gestão Social e Ambiental is the property of Environmental & Social Management Journal and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

AbstractSelf-control, perceived procedural justice, and moral foundations are prominent theoretical constructs in the criminological literature. However, existing measures of each are long. Long scales crowd questionnaires, increase cognitive burden, and lengthen completion times. Using a set of heuristic guidelines for scale construction, we develop short measures of self-control, procedural justice, and moral foundations and then test experimentally whether they can replace the existing longer versions. We conducted a series of split-ballot experiments with a national sample of American adults (N = 1191). Respondents were randomly assigned to receive the existing long scale or our shorter version. We then compared the scales on factor structure, reliability, and validity. The short scales performed as well, and sometimes better than, the longer versions. Our results suggest that researchers can use our short scales of self-control, procedural justice, and moral foundations in lieu of the existing long scales while maintaining data quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We illustrate how standard psychometric inventories originally designed for assessing noncognitive human traits can be repurposed as diagnostic tools to evaluate analogous traits in large language models (LLMs). We start from the assumption that LLMs, inadvertently yet inevitably, acquire psychological traits (metaphorically speaking) from the vast text corpora on which they are trained. Such corpora contain sediments of the personalities, values, beliefs, and biases of the countless human authors of these texts, which LLMs learn through a complex training process. The traits that LLMs acquire in such a way can potentially influence their behavior, that is, their outputs in downstream tasks and applications in which they are employed, which in turn may have real-world consequences for individuals and social groups. By eliciting LLMs' responses to language-based psychometric inventories, we can bring their traits to light. Psychometric profiling enables researchers to study and compare LLMs in terms of noncognitive characteristics, thereby providing a window into the personalities, values, beliefs, and biases these models exhibit (or mimic). We discuss the history of similar ideas and outline possible psychometric approaches for LLMs. We demonstrate one promising approach, zero-shot classification, for several LLMs and psychometric inventories. We conclude by highlighting open challenges and future avenues of research for AI Psychometrics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Can attitudes toward social groups be considered in the context of morality? To that purpose, two studies assessed whether dogmatism, social dominance orientation, and moral foundations predict perceived threats from Syrian asylum seekers in Turkey. In the first study, Structural Equation Modeling analyses revealed that dogmatism and social dominance orientation predicted the perception of threat via the mediating role of binding moral foundations, whereas individualizing moral foundations did not (N = 235). The second study collected data from a larger sample (N = 438) and used Moral Foundations Scenarios to assess moral concerns, replicating the first study's findings. Furthermore, it was shown that an alternative model in which individualizing and binding moral foundations predicted threat via dogmatism and SDO mediating did not fit the data. The findings are discussed in light of the possibility that moral judgments are a product of motivated social cognition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our study focused on the discovery of how vaccine hesitancy is framed in Twitter discourse, allowing us to recognize at-scale all tweets that evoke any of the hesitancy framings as well as the stance of the tweet authors towards the frame. By categorizing the hesitancy framings that propagate misinformation, address issues of trust in vaccines, or highlight moral issues or civil rights, we were able to empirically recognize their ontological commitments. Ontological commitments of vaccine hesitancy framings couples with the stance of tweet authors allowed us to identify hesitancy profiles for two most controversial yet effective and underutilized vaccines for which there remains substantial reluctance among the public: the Human Papillomavirus and the COVID-19 vaccines. The discovered hesitancy profiles inform public health messaging approaches to effectively reach Twitter users with promise to shift or bolster vaccine attitudes.

This research investigated the role of moral foundations and broader worldviews in judgments about why and how criminal offenders should be punished. In Study 1, Swedish law students (N = 103) and social science students (N = 130) evaluated how harsh the punishment for crimes that varied across three crime categories and five contexts should be. In Study 2, Swedish adults (N = 161) evaluated eight sentencing goals and thirteen sentencing methods. Humanism and individualizing intuitions were associated with higher punitiveness for crimes that involved a selfish motive or harm inflicted upon the victim and with increased focus on rehabilitation and counseling. Normativism and binding intuitions were associated with higher punitiveness when the damage was primarily material, less leniency when there were mitigating circumstances, and more focus on retribution, deterrence, restoration, incapacitation, denunciation, and imprisonment. The moral foundations predicted preferences concerning sentence goals and methods better while the worldviews predicted punitiveness better. The results show that we need to take both people’s moral foundations and their broader worldviews into consideration to understand why and how they think criminals should be punished. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study utilizes a controlled experimental design to investigate the influence of a virtual reality experience on empathy, compassion, moral reasoning, and moral foundations. With continued debate and mixed results from previous studies attempting to show relationships between virtual reality and empathy, this study takes advantage of the technology for its ability to provide a consistent, repeatable experience, broadening the scope of analysis beyond empathy. A systematic literature review identified the most widely used and validated moral psychology assessments for the constructs, and these assessments were administered before and after the virtual reality experience. The study is comprised of two pre-post experiments with student participants from a university in the United States. The first experiment investigated change in empathy and moral foundations among 44 participants, and the second investigated change in compassion and moral reasoning among 69 participants. The results showed no significant change in empathy nor compassion, but significant change in moral reasoning from personal interest to post-conventional stages, and significant increase in the Care/harm factor of moral foundations. By testing four of the primary constructs of moral psychology with the most widely used and validated assessments in controlled experiments, this study attempts to advance our understanding of virtual reality and its potential to influence human morality. It also raises questions about our self-reported assessment tools and provides possible new insights for the constructs examined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: In February 2022, Poland became one of the most engaged countries in accepting Ukrainian refugees. Based on the norm activation model, the study, performed during the first two weeks of the war, examined the prosocial intentions of Poles toward Ukrainians in relation to the individualizing moral foundations (harm/care and fairness/reciprocity), as well as beliefs about the obligation of individual citizens to help. PARTICIPANTS AND PROCEDURE: The study was designed to investigate the views of Poles on helping Ukrainians in times of tension. On the second day of data collection, the war in Ukraine began. Therefore, the study shows the intentions of Poles to help refugees from Ukraine in the first days of full-scale war. A total of 139 people aged 18-71 years from the general public participated (102 females) in an online survey distributed through social media channels. RESULTS: The results show that individual obligation belief fully mediates the effect of individualizing moral foundations on prosocial behavior intentions. CONCLUSIONS: Based on the results, it could be concluded that during a refugee crisis, in line with the norm activation model, highlighting the personal obligation to provide support can be important to motivate people to help others in need. The effect of a sense of personal obligation is more important than the effect of an underlying individualizing morality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing from Moral Foundations Theory, in this article I hypothesize that higher scores on binding moral foundations are related to having children or being in a committed relationship. I support this assumption by presenting empirical evidence gathered from one meta-analytical analysis involving of nineteen studies about moral foundations and marital status (k = 27; N = 38,044), one meta-analytical analysis involving ten studies about moral foundations and parental status (k = 12; N = 24,521), and four independent samples t test, involving a subsample of eight studies (k = 8; N = 6,982). The results support my hypothesis for parental status, and partially support my hypothesis for marital status. Limitations regarding the scarcity of available data and others, are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores (im)politeness conceptualizations and evaluations and the moral foundations of lay notions of (im)politeness in Syrian Arabic. The data were collected using an online questionnaire which was administered to 88 native speaking participants. The results show that participants consider politeness and impoliteness as polar opposites; both are viewed as (in)consideration for others, chiefly conveyed through (dis)respect, and upholding/violating appropriate behaviors, respectively. Moreover, the results show that notions of hierarchical respect, face, equity rights, reciprocity, and attending to others' needs are central in motivating participants' views of (im)politeness. These notions are rooted in the moral foundations of authority/respect, fairness/reciprocity, and harm/care. Additionally, interesting findings emerge in that politeness in Syrian Arabic appears to be more of a relational phenomenon, based on morality, which is in line with contemporary views on politeness, than a rational and strategic behavior, as theorized in classical approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the current study, we aimed to investigate whether moral foundations and consideration of future consequences are related to prosocial intentions at work (corporate volunteering intention and pro‐environmental behaviours and practices). Four hundred forty participants, employees from medium‐ and large‐sized organisations, participated in the study. The results showed that most of the assumptions were confirmed. Individualising moral foundations were positively linked to corporate volunteering intentions and pro‐environmental behaviours and practices. Binding moral foundations were positively related to corporate volunteering intentions and general pro‐environmental behaviours at work but negatively to pro‐environmental individual practices. Consideration of future consequences related positively to corporate volunteering intentions and pro‐environmental behaviours at work only when individualising moral foundations were high. This relationship was also observed when binding moral foundations were low or average. The present findings are of interest to employers, corporate psychologists, business executives, and educators raising awareness about social and environmental responsibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As an advocate of the Ethos Theory of Music, Herbert Spencer argues that sharing in a wide range of musically aroused emotions promotes fellow-feeling thanks to which humans behave considerately toward each other. Here we attempt to provide empirical evidence for this claim. We identified Spencer's fellow-feeling as an instantiation of the concerns for Harm and Fairness Moral Foundations; thus, we predicted that musical expertise, and specifically long-term listening to and playing classical music, would lead to favoring individualizing moral foundations and opposing the binding ones. A cross-national questionnaire (US, Canada, and Italy) was conceived (N = 330), and the data were analyzed through a parallel mediation Structural Equation Model. Results confirm that musical expertise is associated with lower proclivity toward the binding moral foundations. Conversely, it is connected with an embracement of individualizing moral foundations. Coherently with Spencer's view, such an effect is fully mediated by the emotional way of listening to music. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To increase Covid-19 vaccine uptake and protect vulnerable people, many countries have introduced a Covid-19 passport in 2021, allowing vaccinated individuals to access indoor facilities more freely and travel to foreign countries. However, the passport has had unintended consequences as it discriminates against those who do not want to get vaccinated for medical, religious, or political reasons, or those who do not have access to vaccines. The present study (N = 678) assessed across Brazil, UK, USA, and a group of other countries, the links between political orientation, human values, and moral foundations, and attitudes towards the Covid-19 passport and whether people perceive it as a discriminatory measure. Results showed that left-wingers, typically more inclined to recognize discrimination, favor the passport more and perceive it as less discriminatory than right-wingers. This pattern remains consistent even after controlling for human values and moral foundations, independently predicting attitudes towards the passport. Overall, our findings provide novel insights into a context in which left-wingers support measures that involuntarily discriminate against certain groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Interamericana de Psicología is the property of Sociedad Interamericana de Psicologia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

During the COVID-19 pandemic, mitigating behaviour moved into the moral domain, and compliance with restrictions became tied to issues of intergenerational solidarity. Little is known about young people's experiences with and attitudes towards coping with COVID-19 restrictions or about the role of intergenerational solidarity and conflict in their compliance. An analysis of 20 in-depth interviews with young adults (aged 18–24) in Dutch cities revealed a profound impact of the restrictions on their lives. Most tried to comply on moral grounds, particularly care and loyalty. But they felt that the impact on their own lives was not taken seriously and that young people were stereotyped as inconsiderate and perceived as flouting regulations. However, when the restrictions were prolonged, some participants renegotiated the ways in which they complied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tax evasion is a major issue for authorities worldwide. Understanding the factors that influence individuals' intrinsic motivation to pay taxes, known as their tax morale, is important for improving tax compliance. This study investigated gender differences in judging tax evasion in the context of cryptocurrency trading. Specifically, a survey study explored whether different moral foundations, financial literacies, and political orientations among females vs. males might explain potential gender differences in judging tax evasion. In an online survey, 243 U.S. adults read a vignette about a friend evading taxes in a cryptocurrency trading context. In a correlational analysis, we found that females judged tax evasion harsher, as being more morally wrong than males. Of the psychographic factors, only individualizing moral foundation values (i.e., fairness and harm avoidance) explained the harsher moral judgment by females. That is, individualizing moral foundation values were at a higher level among females, which further predicted females' harsher judgment of tax evasion. While females also had, on average, lower financial literacy and knowledge of cryptocurrencies than males, these did not predict their harsher judgment of tax evasion. The findings contribute to research on gender differences in moral judgments and highlight that a given transgression, or a specific crime, may violate different moral values in men and women. The results demonstrate to policy makers that it is important to take into account gender differences, in campaigns promoting tax morale and compliance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This moral psychology study surveys the College of Fellows of the Public Relations Society of America to examine morally relevant features and motivations. Using the Moral Foundations Theory assessment in conjunction with other moral psychology measures, the results (n = 59) affirm the exemplar status of Fellows, reflected in Global Character Strengths, personality traits and ethical ideology. Fellows reject relativism and rate Honesty and Fairness among their top Character Strengths, reflecting key ethical norms for public relations practice. Results also document links regarding empathy, justice and harm, reflecting the moral intuitionist orientations found to be common among populations in Western developed countries. Overall, the emerging moral psychology profile of PR exemplars embodies the spirit and core meta-ethical elements of both an ethic of care and neo-Aristotelian virtue ethics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

People with antagonistic (or "dark") personality traits (e.g., Machiavellianism, grandiose narcissism, and psychopathy) are reportedly more racist, sexist, and xenophobic than their non-antagonistic counterparts. In the present studies (N1 = 709; N2 = 267), we examined whether people with antagonistic personality traits are also more likely to express homonegative and transnegative attitudes, and, if so, whether this can be explained by their endorsement of the moral foundations. We found that people high in Machiavellianism, grandiose narcissism, and psychopathy are more likely to endorse homonegative and transnegative views. The associations of Machiavellianism and psychopathy with homonegativity and transnegativity were primarily explained by low endorsement of individualizing moral foundations (i.e., care and fairness), while the association of narcissism with these beliefs was primarily explained by high endorsement of the binding moral foundations (i.e., loyalty, authority, and purity). These findings provide insight into the types of people who harbor homonegative and transnegative attitudes, and how differences in moral foundations contribute to these associations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vaccine hesitancy is a significant global health concern, with over 90% of countries reporting such hesitancy. In the United States, vaccine hesitancy has risen significantly, with over 79 million cases and 950,000 deaths in 2022. This highlights the political importance of vaccine hesitancy in the coming years. Moral foundations are associated with political alignments on the left-right axis, but they do not extend to beliefs about political contexts. Populism, a belief in the power of the people to take back power from the elite, is particularly important in the COVID-19 pandemic. This study explores possible associations of vaccine hesitancy with both moral foundations and populism using survey research. Results from multiple regression analysis show that while moral foundations are not entirely accounted for, populism can impact vaccine hesitancy outside of its overlap with moral foundations. The study reveals a significant association between vaccine hesitancy and populism and four moral foundations. It suggests that vaccine hesitancy is linked to populist sentiment and moral orientations and suggests that further research could explore the relationship between these factors. The study also suggests that the challenge of vaccine hesitancy is not solely about vaccines, but rather exacerbated skepticism and lack of trust in institutions and elite knowledge. The findings could help policymakers and practitioners understand the motivational factors influencing vaccine hesitancy, focusing on moral reasoning and sociopolitical narratives rather than swaying people with scientific elite knowledge. Emphasizing messages about vaccination as a form of loyalty to family, friends, and country could be more effective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The debate around vaccine passports has been polarising and controversial. Although the measure allows businesses to resume in-person operations and enables transitioning out of lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, some have expressed concerns about liberty violations and discrimination. Understanding the splintered viewpoints can aid businesses in communicating such measures to employees and consumers. We conceptualise the business implementation of vaccine passports as a moral decision rooted in individual values that influence reasoning and emotional reaction. We surveyed support for vaccine passports on a nationally representative sample in the United Kingdom in 2021: April (n = 349), May (n = 328), and July (n = 311). Drawing on the Moral Foundations Theory—binding (loyalty, authority, and sanctity), individualising (fairness and harm), and liberty values—we find that individualising values are a positive predictor and liberty values a negative predictor of support for passports, suggesting adoption hinges on addressing liberty concerns. Longitudinal analysis examining the trajectory of change in support over time finds that individualising foundations positively predict changes in utilitarian and deontological reasoning over time. In contrast, a fall in anger over time predicts increased support towards vaccine passports. Our study can inform business and policy communication strategies of existing vaccine passports, general vaccine mandates, and similar measures in future pandemics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Opinions on abortion are more polarized than opinions on most other moral issues. Why are some people pro-choice and some pro-life? Religious and political preferences play a role here, but pro-choice and pro-life people may also differ in other aspects. In the current preregistered study (N = 479), we investigated how pro-choice women differ in their moral foundations from pro-life women. When the Moral Foundations Questionnaire (MFQ) was applied (i.e., when declared moral principles were measured), pro-life women scored higher than pro-choice women in loyalty, authority, and purity. However, when women were asked about moral judgments indirectly via more real-life problems from the Moral Foundations Vignettes (MFV), pro-choice women scored higher than pro-life women in emotional and physical care and liberty but lower in loyalty. When we additionally controlled for religious practice and political views, we found no differences between groups in declaring moral foundations (MFQ). However, in the case of real-life moral judgments (MFV), we observed higher care, fairness, and liberty among pro-choice and higher authority and purity among pro-life. Our results show intriguing nuances between women pro-choice and pro-life as we found a different pattern of moral foundations in those groups depending on whether we measured their declared abstract moral principles or moral judgment about real-life situations. We also showed how religious practice and political views might play a role in such differences. We conclude that attitudes to abortion "go beyond" abstract moral principles, and the real-life context matters in moral judgments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing from Moral Foundations Theory, in this article I hypothesize that higher scores on binding moral foundations are related to having children or being in a committed relationship. I support this assumption by presenting empirical evidence gathered from one meta-analytical analysis involving of nineteen studies about moral foundations and marital status (k = 27; N = 38,044), one meta-analytical analysis involving ten studies about moral foundations and parental status (k = 12; N = 24,521), and four independent samples t test, involving a subsample of eight studies (k = 8; N = 6,982). The results support my hypothesis for parental status, and partially support my hypothesis for marital status. Limitations regarding the scarcity of available data and others, are discussed.

Earlier studies have demonstrated that moral values play a critical role in mobilizing against moral norm violations. Despite its importance, scientific knowledge of the concept is limited, especially in non-Western cultures. This study examined the roles of moral foundations and moral disengagement in relation to moral courage in the Turkish cultural context. 658 adults (410 females, 248 males; Mage = 23, SDage = 9.12) participated in the current study through an online survey. Participants filled out Moral Disengagement Scale (Bandura et al., 1996), Moral Foundations Scale (Graham et al., 2011), and Moral Courage Scale (Bronstein et al., 2007). Results indicated that individualizing moral foundations had a direct and positive association with moral courage; they were also related to moral courage indirectly through decreasing moral disengagement. Binding moral foundations, on the other hand, directly and negatively associated with moral courage, but had no indirect role through moral disengagement. Moreover, exploratory analyses revealed that females tended to be more sensitive to moral issues, were less likely to disengage from moral principles, and were more likely to raise their voices against moral norm violations. Findings showed that moral engagement is a substantial part of intentions to stand up against moral norm violations.

This study utilizes a controlled experimental design to investigate the influence of a virtual reality experience on empathy, compassion, moral reasoning, and moral foundations. With continued debate and mixed results from previous studies attempting to show relationships between virtual reality and empathy, this study takes advantage of the technology for its ability to provide a consistent, repeatable experience, broadening the scope of analysis beyond empathy. A systematic literature review identified the most widely used and validated moral psychology assessments for the constructs, and these assessments were administered before and after the virtual reality experience. The study is comprised of two pre-post experiments with student participants from a university in the United States. The first experiment investigated change in empathy and moral foundations among 44 participants, and the second investigated change in compassion and moral reasoning among 69 participants. The results showed no significant change in empathy nor compassion, but significant change in moral reasoning from personal interest to post-conventional stages, and significant increase in the Care/harm factor of moral foundations. By testing four of the primary constructs of moral psychology with the most widely used and validated assessments in controlled experiments, this study attempts to advance our understanding of virtual reality and its potential to influence human morality. It also raises questions about our self-reported assessment tools and provides possible new insights for the constructs examined.

Background In February 2022, Poland became one of the most engaged countries in accepting Ukrainian refugees. Based on the norm activation model, the study, performed during the first two weeks of the war, examined the prosocial intentions of Poles toward Ukrainians in relation to the individualizing moral foundations (harm/care and fairness/reciprocity), as well as beliefs about the obligation of individual citizens to help. Participants and procedure The study was designed to investigate the views of Poles on helping Ukrainians in times of tension. On the second day of data collection, the war in Ukraine began. Therefore, the study shows the intentions of Poles to help refugees from Ukraine in the first days of full-scale war. A total of 139 people aged 18-71 years from the general public participated (102 females) in an online survey distributed through social media channels. Results The results show that individual obligation belief fully mediates the effect of individualizing moral foundations on prosocial behavior intentions. Conclusions Based on the results, it could be concluded that during a refugee crisis, in line with the norm activation model, highlighting the personal obligation to provide support can be important to motivate people to help others in need. The effect of a sense of personal obligation is more important than the effect of an underlying individualizing morality.

Parasocial relationships are examined in diverse contexts and with various media characters, from news presenters to fictional movie heroes. A popular character trope in recent productions is the morally ambiguous media character (MAC). MACs disrupt the dichotomy between hero and villain, simultaneously exhibiting moral and immoral behavior. MACs attracted the attention of researchers, but little is known about parasocial relationships with them. This study examines these relationships by applying a multidimensional morality approach. The five moral domains of care, fairness, loyalty, authority, and purity are considered for the media character and the viewers. The role of these moral domains in parasocial relationships with morally ambiguous media characters was examined through an online survey (N = 250). The results show that moral behavior generally and moral behavior in care, fairness, and loyalty increased the strength of parasocial relationships, regardless of the viewer’s moral foundations. The characters’ behavior in authority and purity did not influence the viewers’ general morality perception nor their parasocial relationships with them. The study contributes to the existing literature about MACs by considering viewers’ parasocial relationships, their moral foundations, and the perceived morality in each of the five moral domains.

Self-reported dark creativity has been related to lower concerns for all moral foundations, especially among those with dark personality traits. The present study aimed to extend these findings using real-world divergent thinking tasks with ethical and unethical instructions. Data (N = 1346, males = 388, females = 840, Mage = 20.93, SD = 5.48) were collected on creative performance, moral foundations, and dark personality traits, including trait deceptiveness. Divergent thinking responses were coded for fluency, flexibility, creativity, goal-directedness, deception, moral valence, and a virtue caveat (where participants explicitly denied to give unethical responses). Results indicated that for both ethical and unethical tasks, lower binding foundations (loyalty, authority, purity) were associated with higher creative performance, whereas higher concerns for moral foundations were related to more noble and positive responses and lower deception used in responses. Among dark personality traits, only trait deceptiveness was a significant mediator between low binding foundations and high creativity. Contrary to our predictions, none of the Dark Tetrad traits were significant mediators. These findings reinforce the salience of deception in the process and outcomes related to dark creativity; implications and suggestions for future research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study was designed to assess the role of moral foundations in predicting the moral/conventional distinction. A significant amount of empirical evidence shows that moral and conventional rules are used in complex social settings; however, there is a lack of knowledge on how moral foundations contribute to people's tendencies to judge transgressions as moral or conventional. In total, 404 participants completed the Moral Foundations Questionnaire followed by 20 scenarios depicting moral and conventional transgression. The findings suggest that moral foundations predict moral/conventional distinction, specifically by proving the positive predictive value of individualizing foundations for moral cases and of binding foundations for conventional cases. In addition, the study demonstrated that Fairness is a superior foundation that not only negatively predicts the appraisal of moral cases but also positively contributes to discrimination between moral and conventional transgression. The present findings advance an understanding of which moral foundations are central for predicting the evaluation of a given event as a moral or conventional transgression. The present findings also advance the current knowledge about determinants involved in moral/conventional distinction and show the unique effect of individualizing and binding moral foundations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholars have explained political orientation and morality as a consequence of epistemic needs and empathic motivation. In this study, we replicate previous research on the influence of psychological states on moral foundations, system justification, and political orientation among Japanese participants. Consistent with previous findings, empathy is positively associated with care and fairness (called individualizing foundations) whereas epistemic needs to manage certainty (e.g., need for closure) are positively associated with ingroup loyalty, respect for authority, and purity (called binding foundations). Empathy and the need for closure indirectly affect political orientation and system justification through their influence on moral foundations. Contrary to previous findings, we find empathy to be positively associated with binding foundations whereas the need for closure is positively associated with individualizing foundations. We discuss the implications of these findings to show that moral foundations are a result of motivated social cognition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The objective of the study was to examine the role of social value orientation and future time perspective to account for individual differences in pro-environmental behaviors, intentions, and opinions about the link between pro-environmental action and pandemic threat (three separate models) in Polish and Swedish samples expected to differ in rate of pro-environmental behaviors (higher in Sweden). We hypothesized that for Poland, future time perspective would be linked to pro-environmental outcomes only when social value orientation is average or high. In contrast, for Sweden, we expected a significant link between these variables regardless of social value orientation. Methods: In total, 301 (150 Polish, 151 Swedish) participants completed online surveys via Prolific.co research panel. We controlled for individualizing/binding moral foundations, present time perspectives, and selected demographic variables in the analyses. Results: In line with expectations, the individualizing moral foundations were a significant predictor across all three models. The data did not support our focal hypothesis regarding the interaction between future time perspective and social value orientation. For pro-environmental behaviors in the past 6months, the future time perspective was a predictor only when social value orientation was low. Discussion: The results suggest that when encouraging more competitive (compared to altruistic) people to behave in a green way, it might be crucial to underline the future consequences and benefits, consistent with the future time perspective. The pro-environmental campaigns could, therefore, highlight how green behavior may bring personal gains in the future, which are typically valued by individualistic people, such as savings or social status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We live in a time of exacerbating political polarization. Bridging the ideological divide is hard. Although some strategies have been found effective for interpersonal persuasion and interaction across the aisle, little is known about what intrapersonal attributes predict which individuals are more inclined to support their ideological opponent's views. The present work identifies a low-level attribute—sensitivity to physical pain—that robustly predicts individual variations in support for moral and political views typically favored by one's ideological opponent. We first summarize a psychophysical validation of an established pain sensitivity measure (n = 263), then report a series of exploratory and preregistered confirmatory studies and replications (N = 7,360) finding that more (vs. less) pain-sensitive liberal Americans show greater endorsement of moral foundations typically endorsed by conservatives (Studies 1a–1c), higher likelihood of voting for Trump over Biden in the 2020 presidential election, stronger support for Republican politicians, and more conservative attitudes toward contentious political issues (Studies 2a and 2b). Conservatives show the mirroring pattern. These "cross-aisle" effects of pain sensitivity are driven by heightened harm perception (Study 3). They defy lay intuitions (Study 4). They are not attributable to multicollinearity or response set. The consistent findings across studies highlight the value of deriving integrative predictions from multiple previously unconnected perspectives (social properties of pain, moral foundations theory, dyadic morality theory, principle of multiple determinants in higher mental processes). They open up novel directions for theorizing and research on why pain sensitivity predicts support for moral and political views across the aisle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 21-item Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS-21) is a common instrument for measuring dimensions of emotional distress. In the present research, we tested across five studies (N = 2,096) whether the number of items could be reduced while maintaining high reliability and validity. Specifically, Item Response Theory and Confirmatory Factor Analysis reduced the number of items to 12, which we named Mini-DASS. Our findings revealed the Mini-DASS is as psychometrically robust as the DASS-21. Multigroup Confirmatory Factor Analysis established its invariance across gender and three countries (Brazil, UK, and USA). The Mini-DASS and the DASS-21 demonstrated similar correlation patterns with other well-being measures and the five moral foundations. Notably, we observed negative correlations between depression, anxiety, stress, and the authority and loyalty foundations. In conclusion, the Mini-DASS is a parsimonious, reliable, and valid instrument for measuring depression, anxiety, and stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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IntroductionThe objective of the study was to examine the role of social value orientation and future time perspective to account for individual differences in pro-environmental behaviors, intentions, and opinions about the link between pro-environmental action and pandemic threat (three separate models) in Polish and Swedish samples expected to differ in rate of pro-environmental behaviors (higher in Sweden). We hypothesized that for Poland, future time perspective would be linked to pro-environmental outcomes only when social value orientation is average or high. In contrast, for Sweden, we expected a significant link between these variables regardless of social value orientation.MethodsIn total, 301 (150 Polish, 151 Swedish) participants completed online surveys via Prolific.co research panel. We controlled for individualizing/binding moral foundations, present time perspectives, and selected demographic variables in the analyses.ResultsIn line with expectations, the individualizing moral foundations were a significant predictor across all three models. The data did not support our focal hypothesis regarding the interaction between future time perspective and social value orientation. For pro-environmental behaviors in the past 6 months, the future time perspective was a predictor only when social value orientation was low.DiscussionThe results suggest that when encouraging more competitive (compared to altruistic) people to behave in a green way, it might be crucial to underline the future consequences and benefits, consistent with the future time perspective. The pro-environmental campaigns could, therefore, highlight how green behavior may bring personal gains in the future, which are typically valued by individualistic people, such as savings or social status.

Corruption aggravates societal inequality and challenges organizations and governments. Although numerous studies confirm that economic growth inhibits corruption, corruption in China rises rather than falls with economic growth. No study found to date has focused on the psychological mechanisms underlying economic influence on corruption. Based on the stimuli-organism-response (SOR) framework and moral foundations theory (MTF), we collected social media big data from 30 provinces in mainland China (involving 1.16 million active users) from 2011 to 2016 to investigate the relationship between economic growth, moral foundations and the incidence of corruption. The results show that: (1) economic growth positively predicts corruption in China; (2) binding foundations rather than individualizing foundations can predict corruption; (3) Loyalty and Authority positively mediate the prediction of economic growth for corruption and (4) Sanctity negatively mediates the prediction of economic growth for corruption. The results confirm the mediating role of moral foundations between economic growth and corruption while providing insights to prevent corruption from a psychological perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]