Moral values, social ideologies and threat-based cognition: Implications for intergroup relations
Moral foundations theory (MFT) has provided an account of the moral values that underscore different cultural and political ideologies, and these moral values of harm, fairness, loyalty, authority, and purity can help to explain differences in political and cultural ideologies; however, the extent t...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2022-10-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.869121/full |
| _version_ | 1798028343963025408 |
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| author | David S. M. Morris Brandon D. Stewart |
| author_facet | David S. M. Morris Brandon D. Stewart |
| author_sort | David S. M. Morris |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Moral foundations theory (MFT) has provided an account of the moral values that underscore different cultural and political ideologies, and these moral values of harm, fairness, loyalty, authority, and purity can help to explain differences in political and cultural ideologies; however, the extent to which moral foundations relate to strong social ideologies, intergroup processes and threat perceptions is still underdeveloped. To explore this relationship, we conducted two studies. In Study 1 (N = 157), we considered how the moral foundations predicted strong social ideologies such as authoritarianism (RWA) and social dominance orientation (SDO) as well as attitudes toward immigrants. Here, we demonstrated that more endorsement of individualizing moral foundations (average of harm and fairness) was related to less negative intergroup attitudes, which was mediated by SDO, and that more endorsement of binding moral foundations (the average of loyalty, authority, and purity) was related to more negative attitudes, which was mediated by RWA. Crucially, further analyses also suggested the importance of threat perceptions as an underlying explanatory variable. Study 2 (N = 388) replicated these findings and extended them by measuring attitudes toward a different group reflecting an ethnic minority in the United States, and by testing the ordering of variables while also replicating and confirming the threat effects. These studies have important implications for using MFT to understand strong ideologies, intergroup relations, and threat perceptions. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T19:06:20Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-728438a88e9d4b25a3a3e2442168b706 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T19:06:20Z |
| publishDate | 2022-10-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-728438a88e9d4b25a3a3e2442168b7062022-12-22T04:07:45ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782022-10-011310.3389/fpsyg.2022.869121869121Moral values, social ideologies and threat-based cognition: Implications for intergroup relationsDavid S. M. Morris0Brandon D. Stewart1School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United KingdomDepartment of Psychology, University of Southern Maine, Portland, ME, United StatesMoral foundations theory (MFT) has provided an account of the moral values that underscore different cultural and political ideologies, and these moral values of harm, fairness, loyalty, authority, and purity can help to explain differences in political and cultural ideologies; however, the extent to which moral foundations relate to strong social ideologies, intergroup processes and threat perceptions is still underdeveloped. To explore this relationship, we conducted two studies. In Study 1 (N = 157), we considered how the moral foundations predicted strong social ideologies such as authoritarianism (RWA) and social dominance orientation (SDO) as well as attitudes toward immigrants. Here, we demonstrated that more endorsement of individualizing moral foundations (average of harm and fairness) was related to less negative intergroup attitudes, which was mediated by SDO, and that more endorsement of binding moral foundations (the average of loyalty, authority, and purity) was related to more negative attitudes, which was mediated by RWA. Crucially, further analyses also suggested the importance of threat perceptions as an underlying explanatory variable. Study 2 (N = 388) replicated these findings and extended them by measuring attitudes toward a different group reflecting an ethnic minority in the United States, and by testing the ordering of variables while also replicating and confirming the threat effects. These studies have important implications for using MFT to understand strong ideologies, intergroup relations, and threat perceptions.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.869121/fullmoral foundations theoryideologythreatintergroup relationsauthoritarianismsocial dominance orientation |
| spellingShingle | David S. M. Morris Brandon D. Stewart Moral values, social ideologies and threat-based cognition: Implications for intergroup relations Frontiers in Psychology moral foundations theory ideology threat intergroup relations authoritarianism social dominance orientation |
| title | Moral values, social ideologies and threat-based cognition: Implications for intergroup relations |
| title_full | Moral values, social ideologies and threat-based cognition: Implications for intergroup relations |
| title_fullStr | Moral values, social ideologies and threat-based cognition: Implications for intergroup relations |
| title_full_unstemmed | Moral values, social ideologies and threat-based cognition: Implications for intergroup relations |
| title_short | Moral values, social ideologies and threat-based cognition: Implications for intergroup relations |
| title_sort | moral values social ideologies and threat based cognition implications for intergroup relations |
| topic | moral foundations theory ideology threat intergroup relations authoritarianism social dominance orientation |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.869121/full |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT davidsmmorris moralvaluessocialideologiesandthreatbasedcognitionimplicationsforintergrouprelations AT brandondstewart moralvaluessocialideologiesandthreatbasedcognitionimplicationsforintergrouprelations |