Conservatives' Moral Foundations Are More Densely Connected Than Liberals' Moral Foundations. 2021

Felicity M Turner-Zwinkels, and Branden B Johnson, and Chris G Sibley, and Mark J Brandt
Tilburg University, The Netherlands.

We use network psychometrics to map a subsection of moral belief systems predicted by moral foundations theory (MFT). This approach conceptualizes moral systems as networks, with moral beliefs represented as nodes connected by direct relations. As such, it advances a novel test of MFT's claim that liberals and conservatives have different systems of foundational moral values, which we test in three large datasets (NSample1 = 854; NSample2 = 679; NSample3 = 2,572), from two countries (the United States and New Zealand). Results supported our first hypothesis that liberals' moral systems show more segregation between individualizing and binding foundations than conservatives. Results showed only weak support for our second hypothesis, that this pattern would be more typical of higher educated than less educated liberals/conservatives. Findings support a systems approach to MFT and show the value of modeling moral belief systems as networks.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries
D008297 Male Males
D009014 Morals Standards of conduct that distinguish right from wrong. Morality
D009520 New Zealand A group of islands in the southwest Pacific. Its capital is Wellington. It was discovered by the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman in 1642 and circumnavigated by Cook in 1769. Colonized in 1840 by the New Zealand Company, it became a British crown colony in 1840 until 1907 when colonial status was terminated. New Zealand is a partly anglicized form of the original Dutch name Nieuw Zeeland, new sea land, possibly with reference to the Dutch province of Zeeland. (From Webster's New Geographical Dictionary, 1988, p842 & Room, Brewer's Dictionary of Names, 1992, p378)
D011057 Politics Activities concerned with governmental policies, functions, etc. Political Activity,Conservatism,Decentralization,Liberalism,Political Factors,Activities, Political,Activity, Political,Factor, Political,Factors, Political,Political Activities,Political Factor
D011594 Psychometrics Assessment of psychological variables by the application of mathematical procedures. Psychometric
D005260 Female Females
D006801 Humans Members of the species Homo sapiens. Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D014481 United States A country in NORTH AMERICA between CANADA and MEXICO.
D028663 Ethical Theory A philosophically coherent set of propositions (for example, utilitarianism) which attempts to provide general norms for the guidance and evaluation of moral conduct. (from Beauchamp and Childress, Principles of Biomedical Ethics, 4th ed) Consequentialism,Deontological Ethics,Ethics, Deontological,Ethics, Teleological,Normative Ethics,Teleological Ethics,Utilitarianism,Deontological Ethic,Ethic, Deontological,Ethic, Normative,Ethic, Teleological,Ethical Theories,Ethics, Normative,Normative Ethic,Teleological Ethic,Theories, Ethical,Theory, Ethical,Utilitarianisms

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