Moral conformity in online interactions: rational justifications increase influence of peer opinions on moral judgments
Over the last decade, social media has increasingly been used as a platform for political and moral discourse. We investigate whether conformity, specifically concerning moral attitudes, occurs in these virtual environments apart from face-to-face interactions. Participants took an online survey and...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Taylor & Francis Group
2017-07-01
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| Series: | Social Influence |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15534510.2017.1323007 |
| _version_ | 1797678943953747968 |
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| author | Meagan Kelly Lawrence Ngo Vladimir Chituc Scott Huettel Walter Sinnott-Armstrong |
| author_facet | Meagan Kelly Lawrence Ngo Vladimir Chituc Scott Huettel Walter Sinnott-Armstrong |
| author_sort | Meagan Kelly |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Over the last decade, social media has increasingly been used as a platform for political and moral discourse. We investigate whether conformity, specifically concerning moral attitudes, occurs in these virtual environments apart from face-to-face interactions. Participants took an online survey and saw either statistical information about the frequency of certain responses, as one might see on social media (Study 1), or arguments that defend the responses in either a rational or emotional way (Study 2). Our results show that social information shaped moral judgments, even in an impersonal digital setting. Furthermore, rational arguments were more effective at eliciting conformity than emotional arguments. We discuss the implications of these results for theories of moral judgment that prioritize emotional responses. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T23:07:14Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-2dd46d8bd0274886aaca8b9688ebbaeb |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1553-4510 1553-4529 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T23:07:14Z |
| publishDate | 2017-07-01 |
| publisher | Taylor & Francis Group |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Social Influence |
| spelling | doaj.art-2dd46d8bd0274886aaca8b9688ebbaeb2023-09-21T12:43:11ZengTaylor & Francis GroupSocial Influence1553-45101553-45292017-07-01122-3576810.1080/15534510.2017.13230071323007Moral conformity in online interactions: rational justifications increase influence of peer opinions on moral judgmentsMeagan Kelly0Lawrence Ngo1Vladimir Chituc2Scott Huettel3Walter Sinnott-Armstrong4Duke UniversityDuke UniversityDuke UniversityDuke UniversityDuke UniversityOver the last decade, social media has increasingly been used as a platform for political and moral discourse. We investigate whether conformity, specifically concerning moral attitudes, occurs in these virtual environments apart from face-to-face interactions. Participants took an online survey and saw either statistical information about the frequency of certain responses, as one might see on social media (Study 1), or arguments that defend the responses in either a rational or emotional way (Study 2). Our results show that social information shaped moral judgments, even in an impersonal digital setting. Furthermore, rational arguments were more effective at eliciting conformity than emotional arguments. We discuss the implications of these results for theories of moral judgment that prioritize emotional responses.http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15534510.2017.1323007conformitymoralityreasoningemotionsocial media |
| spellingShingle | Meagan Kelly Lawrence Ngo Vladimir Chituc Scott Huettel Walter Sinnott-Armstrong Moral conformity in online interactions: rational justifications increase influence of peer opinions on moral judgments Social Influence conformity morality reasoning emotion social media |
| title | Moral conformity in online interactions: rational justifications increase influence of peer opinions on moral judgments |
| title_full | Moral conformity in online interactions: rational justifications increase influence of peer opinions on moral judgments |
| title_fullStr | Moral conformity in online interactions: rational justifications increase influence of peer opinions on moral judgments |
| title_full_unstemmed | Moral conformity in online interactions: rational justifications increase influence of peer opinions on moral judgments |
| title_short | Moral conformity in online interactions: rational justifications increase influence of peer opinions on moral judgments |
| title_sort | moral conformity in online interactions rational justifications increase influence of peer opinions on moral judgments |
| topic | conformity morality reasoning emotion social media |
| url | http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15534510.2017.1323007 |
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