Pers Soc Psychol Bull. 2014 Oct 6. pii: 0146167214551152. [Epub ahead of print]
Shifting Liberal and Conservative Attitudes Using Moral Foundations Theory.
Author information
- 1Princeton University, NJ, USA mday@fas.harvard.edu.
- 2Princeton University, NJ, USA.
- 3Microsoft, Seattle, WA, USA.
- 4RAND Corporation, Arlington, VA, USA.
Abstract
People's social and political opinions are grounded in their moral concerns about right and wrong. We examine whether five moral foundations-harm, fairness, ingroup, authority, and purity-can influence political attitudes of liberals and conservatives across a variety of issues. Framing issues using moral foundations may change political attitudes in at least two possible ways: (a) Entrenching: Relevant moral foundations will strengthen existing political attitudes when framing pro-attitudinal issues (e.g., conservatives exposed to a free-market economic stance) and (b) Persuasion: Mere presence of relevant moral foundations may also alter political attitudes in counter-attitudinal directions (e.g., conservatives exposed to an economic regulation stance). Studies 1 and 2 support the entrenching hypothesis. Relevant moral foundation-based frames bolstered political attitudes for conservatives (Study 1) and liberals (Study 2). Only Study 2 partially supports the persuasion hypothesis. Conservative-relevant moral frames of liberal issues increased conservatives' liberal attitudes.
No comments:
Post a Comment