Intuitive Ethics and Political Orientations: Testing Moral Foundations as a Theory of Political Ideology

Abstract

Originally developed to explain cultural variation in moral judgments, moral foundations theory (MFT) has become widely adopted as a theory of political ideology. MFT posits that political attitudes are rooted in instinctual evaluations generated by innate psychological modules evolved to solve social dilemmas. If this is correct, moral foundations must be relatively stable dispositional traits, changes in moral foundations should systematically predict consequent changes in political orientations, and, at least in part, moral foundations must be heritable. We test these hypotheses and find substantial variability in individual-level moral foundations across time, and little evidence that these changes account for changes in political attitudes. We also find little evidence that moral foundations are heritable. These findings raise questions about the future of MFT as a theory of ideology.

Moralizing to the Choir: The Moral Foundations of American Clergy*

“…That interpretation begs the question of just how foundational the Foundations are. Asking that question is consistent with emerging research that shows instability across time (Smith et al 2016) and generations (citation omitted for review). Of course, only longitudinal research of clergy across congregations can reveal whether clergy do truly adapt to new circumstances through a shift in their moral worldviews or attempt to self-select contexts congenial to their preferred moral approach.…”

Ideology Justifies Morality: Political Beliefs Predict Moral Foundations

“…; Weber and Federico ). Yet we are aware of only one study that has empirically explored the causal and longitudinal relationship between the two; Smith and colleagues’ () tests of relationship spuriousness found no evidence of a causal relationship between Moral Foundations and ideology…”

“…While this correlation is well established, the causal direction has been assumed rather than empirically supported (a partial exception is Smith et al. ), and a mounting body of scholarship across disciplines has voiced doubts about MFT's explanatory underpinnings (Gray and Keeney ; Schein and Gray ; Sinn and Hayes ; Suhler and Churchland ). Indeed, the correlational evidence used to support MFT as an explanation of ideology is also consistent with an established counter‐theoretical position that suggests causality runs in the opposite direction, or is at least reciprocal.…”

Voters’ Partisan Responses to Politicians’ Immoral Behavior

“…Although moral foundation theory is a prominent theory, it is not uncontroversial. Various scholars criticize the assumptions underlying MFT, such as the innateness and stability of moral foundations (Smith, Alford, Hibbing, Martin, & Hatemi, 2017), the existence of five or six distinct moral foundations underlying moral judgment (Schein & Gray, 2018), and the strength and direction of the relationship between moral foundations and political predispositions (Ciuk, 2018;Smith et al, 2017). Most recently, Connors (2019) reports that political values-like moral foundations thought by most scholars to be core beliefs-are readily influence by the social environment.…”