Political Orientation and Moral Judgment of Sexual Misconduct
In a series of studies in the U.S. (total N participants = 4,828) using both news articles (Studies 1-2) and constructed scenarios (Studies 3-4), we investigated how judgments of responsibility, blame, causal contribution, and punishment for alleged perpetrators and victims of sexual misconduct are...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
PsychOpen GOLD/ Leibniz Institute for Psychology
2023-09-01
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| Series: | Journal of Social and Political Psychology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.5964/jspp.9823 |
| _version_ | 1797320615286276096 |
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| author | Laura Niemi Matthew Stanley Marko Kljajic Zi You John M. Doris |
| author_facet | Laura Niemi Matthew Stanley Marko Kljajic Zi You John M. Doris |
| author_sort | Laura Niemi |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | In a series of studies in the U.S. (total N participants = 4,828) using both news articles (Studies 1-2) and constructed scenarios (Studies 3-4), we investigated how judgments of responsibility, blame, causal contribution, and punishment for alleged perpetrators and victims of sexual misconduct are influenced by (1) the political orientation of media outlets, (2) participants’ political orientation, and (3) the alleged perpetrators’ political orientation. Results indicated that participants’ political orientation, and the interaction between participants’ and alleged perpetrators’ political orientation, predicted moral judgments. Conservative participants were generally more likely inculpate and punish alleged victims in all four studies. Both conservative and liberal participants judged politically-aligned alleged perpetrators more leniently than politically-opposed alleged perpetrators. This political ingroup effect was ubiquitous across all tests of the dependent measures for conservative participants; whereas it was muted and unreliable for liberal participants. The findings collectively demonstrate that moral judgments about sexual misconduct are politicized at multiple psychological levels, and in ways that asymmetrically affect victims. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-08T04:44:36Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-37d5ffd3bdaa4666b2526019716f2bd9 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2195-3325 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-08T04:44:36Z |
| publishDate | 2023-09-01 |
| publisher | PsychOpen GOLD/ Leibniz Institute for Psychology |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Social and Political Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-37d5ffd3bdaa4666b2526019716f2bd92024-02-08T10:55:08ZengPsychOpen GOLD/ Leibniz Institute for PsychologyJournal of Social and Political Psychology2195-33252023-09-0111247850010.5964/jspp.9823jspp.9823Political Orientation and Moral Judgment of Sexual MisconductLaura Niemi0Matthew Stanley1Marko Kljajic2Zi You3John M. Doris4Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USAFuqua School of Business, Duke University, Durham, NC, USAPsychology Department, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, CanadaPsychology Department, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, CanadaCharles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USAIn a series of studies in the U.S. (total N participants = 4,828) using both news articles (Studies 1-2) and constructed scenarios (Studies 3-4), we investigated how judgments of responsibility, blame, causal contribution, and punishment for alleged perpetrators and victims of sexual misconduct are influenced by (1) the political orientation of media outlets, (2) participants’ political orientation, and (3) the alleged perpetrators’ political orientation. Results indicated that participants’ political orientation, and the interaction between participants’ and alleged perpetrators’ political orientation, predicted moral judgments. Conservative participants were generally more likely inculpate and punish alleged victims in all four studies. Both conservative and liberal participants judged politically-aligned alleged perpetrators more leniently than politically-opposed alleged perpetrators. This political ingroup effect was ubiquitous across all tests of the dependent measures for conservative participants; whereas it was muted and unreliable for liberal participants. The findings collectively demonstrate that moral judgments about sexual misconduct are politicized at multiple psychological levels, and in ways that asymmetrically affect victims.https://doi.org/10.5964/jspp.9823political orientationmoral psychologyblameresponsibilitysexual misconduct |
| spellingShingle | Laura Niemi Matthew Stanley Marko Kljajic Zi You John M. Doris Political Orientation and Moral Judgment of Sexual Misconduct Journal of Social and Political Psychology political orientation moral psychology blame responsibility sexual misconduct |
| title | Political Orientation and Moral Judgment of Sexual Misconduct |
| title_full | Political Orientation and Moral Judgment of Sexual Misconduct |
| title_fullStr | Political Orientation and Moral Judgment of Sexual Misconduct |
| title_full_unstemmed | Political Orientation and Moral Judgment of Sexual Misconduct |
| title_short | Political Orientation and Moral Judgment of Sexual Misconduct |
| title_sort | political orientation and moral judgment of sexual misconduct |
| topic | political orientation moral psychology blame responsibility sexual misconduct |
| url | https://doi.org/10.5964/jspp.9823 |
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