Moral foundations theory (MFT) posits that binding moral foundations (purity, authority, and ingroup loyalty) are rooted in the need for groups to promote order and cohesion, and that they therefore underlie political conservatism. We present evidence that binding foundations (and the related construct of disgust sensitivity) are associated with lower levels of ideological polarization on polit...

Positioning moral motivations within the framework provided by Schwartz’ (1992) values theory, we ran three dictator game studies (total N = 256) investigating moral integrity and moral hypocrisy. We adapted Batson’s (et al., 1997; et al., 1999; et al., 2002) landmark research design into the experimental economics laboratory (Study 1), and showed that the behavioral inconsistency – out of 64 d...

People are more likely to become politically engaged (e.g., vote, engage in activism) when issues are associated with strong moral convictions. The goal of this research was to understand the underlying motivations that lead to this well-replicated effect. Specifically, to what extent is moralized political engagement motivated by proscriptive concerns (e.g., perceived harms, anticipated regret...

The moral ambit understood in the generic sense, as that which is opposed to the amoral has an identical extension to that of the ambit of freedom. Private life as well as professional, economic, and political life are equally moral realities. Together with personal ethics there also exist professional ethics, economic ethics, social ethics, and political ethics. Here, we will not discuss the d...

Religiosity and Consequentialist Moral Thinking 2 Three studies demonstrated that the moral judgments of religious individuals and political conservatives are highly insensitive to consequentialist (i.e., outcome-based) considerations. In Study 1, both religiosity and political conservatism predicted a resistance towards consequentialist thinking concerning a range of transgressive acts, indepe...

this is a commentary on gilbert and colleagues’ (1) paper on morality and markets in the national health service (nhs). morality and values are not ephemeral qualities and universal healthcare is not simply an aspiration; it has to be enshrined in law. the creation of the uk nhs in 1948 was underpinned by core legal duties which required a system of public funding and delivery to follow. the mo...

Scholars often assume that some issues globally evoke moral reactions, whether these issues are presented as moral dilemmas (e.g., trolley problems) or as controversial issues of the day (e.g., the legal status of abortion). There is considerable individual variation, however, in the degree that people report that their position on specific issues reflects a core moral conviction. This chapter ...

Legislation of ethical issues illustrates the uneasy mix of ethics and politics. Although the majority has the political right to express its moral views in the law, a number of important ethical values like autonomy, tolerance and respect for other people’s opinions urge the majority to take the minorities’ position into account. Ignoring pluralism in society will inevitably lead to reproducti...

This article chronicles the impact on sexuality policy in the United States of the rise of the Religious Right as a significant force in American politics. Using a case study analysis of abortionreproductive rights and sexuality education, it narrates the story of how U.S. policy debates and practices have changed since the 1970s as sexual conservatism rose in prominence and sexual progressives...