Cosmopolitan morality seperates contributing benefits and protecting from harm

Abstract

Moral cosmopolitanism prioritizes global welfare over national interest. Cosmopolitans, in contrast to moral patriots, bestow equitable benefit and security across borders. Participants from four continents (N = 5,772) endorsed degrees of belief in equitable benefit and security, which respectively predicted (a) making monetary donations to global rather than national organizations and (b) protecting an immigrant rather than citizens. Correlated with their decision making, cosmopolitans’ accessible concepts included the relevant group, impartiality, and concrete need construal. Manipulating the accessibility of these cosmopolitan thoughts increased global donations by 12%. We situate theories of morality without borders in diverse, real-world contexts, and provide large-scale empirical evidence regarding cognitive conditions for cosmopolitan thinking. Increasing moral cosmopolitanism through reasoning could be valuable for global decision-making in domains such as climate change, migration, poverty, trade, and public health.