Moral foundations theory

Moral foundations theory is a social psychological theory intended to explain the origins of and variation in human moral reasoning on the basis of innate, modular foundations.^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4] It was first proposed by the psychologists Jonathan Haidt, Craig Joseph, and Jesse Graham, building on the work of cultural anthropologist Richard Shweder.^[5] More recently, Mohammad Atari, Jesse Graham, and Jonathan Haidt have revised some aspects of the theory and developed new measurement tools.^[6] The theory has been developed by a diverse group of collaborators and popularized in Haidt's book The Righteous Mind.^[7] The theory proposes that morality is "more than one thing", first arguing for five foundations, and later expanding for six foundations (adding Liberty/Oppression):

Care/Harm
Fairness/Cheating
Loyalty/Betrayal
Authority/Subversion
Sanctity/Degradation
Liberty/Oppression.^[8]^[7]

Its authors remain open to the addition, subtraction, or modification of the set of foundations.^[2]

Although the initial development of moral foundations theory focused on cultural differences, subsequent work with the theory has largely focused on political ideology. Various scholars have offered moral foundations theory as an explanation of differences among political progressives (liberals in the American sense), conservatives, and right-libertarians (libertarians in the American sense),^[9] and have suggested that it can explain variation in opinion on politically charged issues such as same-sex marriage, abortion,^[10] and even vaccination.^[11]^[12]

^ Haidt, Jonathan; Craig Joseph (Fall 2004). "Intuitive ethics: how innately prepared intuitions generate culturally variable virtues" (PDF). Daedalus. 133 (4): 55–66. doi:10.1162/0011526042365555. S2CID 1574243. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-09-09. Retrieved 2012-10-13.
^ ^a ^b Graham, J.; Haidt, J.; Koleva, S.; Motyl, M.; Iyer, R.; Wojcik, S.; Ditto, P.H. (2013). Moral Foundations Theory: The pragmatic validity of moral pluralism (PDF). Advances in Experimental Social Psychology. Vol. 47. pp. 55–130 [103–104, 107. doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-407236-7.00002-4. ISBN 9780124072367. S2CID 2570757. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-07-31. Retrieved 2017-03-08.
^ Graham, Jesse; Haidt, Jonathan; Motyl, Matt; Meindl, Peter; Iskiwitch, Carol; Mooijman, Marlon (2018). "Moral Foundations Theory: On the advantages of moral pluralism over moral monism". In Gray, Kurt; Graham, Jesse (eds.). The Atlas of Moral Psychology: Mapping Good and Evil in the Mind. New York: Guilford Press. pp. 211–222.
^ Graham, Jesse; Nosek, Brian A.; Haidt, Jonathan; Iyer, Ravi; Koleva, Spassena; Ditto, Peter H. (2011). "Mapping the moral domain" (PDF). Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 101 (2): 366–385. doi:10.1037/a0021847. PMC 3116962. PMID 21244182. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-08-09. Retrieved 2017-03-08.
^ Shweder, Richard; Much, Nancy; Mahapatra, Manamohan; Park, Lawrence (1997). "The "big three" of morality (autonomy, community, divinity) and the "big three" explanations of suffering.". In Brandt, Allan; Rozin, Paul (eds.). Morality and Health. Routledge. pp. 119–169.
^ "Moral Foundations Theory | moralfoundations.org". Retrieved 2023-12-10.
^ ^a ^b Haidt, Jonathan (2012). The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided By Politics and Religion. New York: Pantheon Books. pp. 9–11. ISBN 9780307377906.
^ Iyer, Ravi; Koleva, Spassena; Graham, Jesse; Ditto, Peter; Haidt, Jonathan (2012). "Understanding Libertarian Morality: The Psychological Dispositions of Self-Identified Libertarians". PLOS ONE. 7 (8): e42366. Bibcode:2012PLoSO...742366I. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0042366. PMC 3424229. PMID 22927928.
^ Cite error: The named reference Graham2009 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Koleva, Spassena P.; Graham, Jesse; Iyer, Ravi; Ditto, Peter H.; Haidt, Jonathan (April 2012). "Tracing the threads: How five moral concerns (especially Purity) help explain culture war attitudes". Journal of Research in Personality. 46 (2): 184–194. doi:10.1016/j.jrp.2012.01.006. S2CID 6786293.
^ Reimer, Nils Karl; Atari, Mohammad; Karimi-Malekabadi, Farzan; Trager, Jackson; Kennedy, Brendan; Graham, Jesse; Dehghani, Morteza (September 2022). "Moral values predict county-level COVID-19 vaccination rates in the United States". American Psychologist. 77 (6): 743–759. doi:10.1037/amp0001020. ISSN 1935-990X.
^ Amin, Avnika B.; Bednarczyk, Robert A.; Ray, Cara E.; Melchiori, Kala J.; Graham, Jesse; Huntsinger, Jeffrey R.; Omer, Saad B. (December 2017). "Association of moral values with vaccine hesitancy". Nature Human Behaviour. 1 (12): 873–880. doi:10.1038/s41562-017-0256-5. ISSN 2397-3374.

[Haidt2004-1] Haidt, Jonathan; Craig Joseph (Fall 2004). "Intuitive ethics: how innately prepared intuitions generate culturally variable virtues" (PDF). Daedalus. 133 (4): 55–66. doi:10.1162/0011526042365555. S2CID 1574243. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-09-09. Retrieved 2012-10-13.

[Graham2013-2] Graham, J.; Haidt, J.; Koleva, S.; Motyl, M.; Iyer, R.; Wojcik, S.; Ditto, P.H. (2013). Moral Foundations Theory: The pragmatic validity of moral pluralism (PDF). Advances in Experimental Social Psychology. Vol. 47. pp. 55–130 [103–104, 107. doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-407236-7.00002-4. ISBN 9780124072367. S2CID 2570757. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-07-31. Retrieved 2017-03-08.

[Graham2018-3] Graham, Jesse; Haidt, Jonathan; Motyl, Matt; Meindl, Peter; Iskiwitch, Carol; Mooijman, Marlon (2018). "Moral Foundations Theory: On the advantages of moral pluralism over moral monism". In Gray, Kurt; Graham, Jesse (eds.). The Atlas of Moral Psychology: Mapping Good and Evil in the Mind. New York: Guilford Press. pp. 211–222.

[Graham2011-4] Graham, Jesse; Nosek, Brian A.; Haidt, Jonathan; Iyer, Ravi; Koleva, Spassena; Ditto, Peter H. (2011). "Mapping the moral domain" (PDF). Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 101 (2): 366–385. doi:10.1037/a0021847. PMC 3116962. PMID 21244182. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-08-09. Retrieved 2017-03-08.

[Shweder1997-5] Shweder, Richard; Much, Nancy; Mahapatra, Manamohan; Park, Lawrence (1997). "The "big three" of morality (autonomy, community, divinity) and the "big three" explanations of suffering.". In Brandt, Allan; Rozin, Paul (eds.). Morality and Health. Routledge. pp. 119–169.

[6] "Moral Foundations Theory | moralfoundations.org". Retrieved 2023-12-10.

[Haidt-7] Haidt, Jonathan (2012). The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided By Politics and Religion. New York: Pantheon Books. pp. 9–11. ISBN 9780307377906.

[Iyer2012-8] Iyer, Ravi; Koleva, Spassena; Graham, Jesse; Ditto, Peter; Haidt, Jonathan (2012). "Understanding Libertarian Morality: The Psychological Dispositions of Self-Identified Libertarians". PLOS ONE. 7 (8): e42366. Bibcode:2012PLoSO...742366I. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0042366. PMC 3424229. PMID 22927928.

[Graham2009-9] Cite error: The named reference Graham2009 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[Koleva2012-10] Koleva, Spassena P.; Graham, Jesse; Iyer, Ravi; Ditto, Peter H.; Haidt, Jonathan (April 2012). "Tracing the threads: How five moral concerns (especially Purity) help explain culture war attitudes". Journal of Research in Personality. 46 (2): 184–194. doi:10.1016/j.jrp.2012.01.006. S2CID 6786293.

[11] Reimer, Nils Karl; Atari, Mohammad; Karimi-Malekabadi, Farzan; Trager, Jackson; Kennedy, Brendan; Graham, Jesse; Dehghani, Morteza (September 2022). "Moral values predict county-level COVID-19 vaccination rates in the United States". American Psychologist. 77 (6): 743–759. doi:10.1037/amp0001020. ISSN 1935-990X.

[12] Amin, Avnika B.; Bednarczyk, Robert A.; Ray, Cara E.; Melchiori, Kala J.; Graham, Jesse; Huntsinger, Jeffrey R.; Omer, Saad B. (December 2017). "Association of moral values with vaccine hesitancy". Nature Human Behaviour. 1 (12): 873–880. doi:10.1038/s41562-017-0256-5. ISSN 2397-3374.

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