Shifting liberal and conservative attitudes using moral foundations theory.

Pers Soc Psychol Bull

RAND Corporation, Arlington, VA, USA.

Published: December 2014

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.

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http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4858184PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0146167214551152DOI Listing

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