This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).
Moral judgment has always been a central component of social and political inquiry. Political philosophers have argued that attitudes guided by moral principles are intrinsically good and obligatory. But despite the vast literature on morality, empirical political scientists have shied away from studying the extent to which people use moral judgment in forming political attitudes. This project?s contribution is to develop a theory and methodology for identifying moral issues, observing moral judgments, and connecting moral judgment to political attitudes.
The general question of the moral public is addressed by answering three more specific questions: First, what criteria make political issues moral and to whom? Second, what underlies moral judgment and how does the moral mindset affect political attitudes? Third, what is the role of moral judgment in the formation of political attitudes? This study uses diverse samples, a matching-based nationally representative sample, alternative measures for moral judgment, and experimental as well as correlational designs.
The chief intellectual merit of this project lies in applying seminal theories from political philosophy as well as up-to-date theories in the social and life sciences to establish the theoretical and methodological foundations upon which morality can be integrated in subsequent political behavior research. The study has implications for key contemporary questions in political behavior and public opinion research, such as voting behavior, public opinion mobilization, campaign efficacy, and the functioning of democracies. For instance, if people use intuitive or emotions-based moral judgment, then they may form reasonable and efficient morally based political attitudes despite being ideologically unsophisticated and politically unknowledgeable.
This project has broader implications as well. First, the measures validated in this research program are applicable across various branches of political science, psychology, and empirical philosophy. By building on interdisciplinary research, this study advances a key scientific goal of increasing the consistency of that knowledge across scientific fields. Second, the validated scales and data will be made available on the co-PI's website for other researchers to further research into the important role played by morality and values in the American society. Finally, this project benefits society by identifying differences in the understanding of morality, and offering ways to a more productive and tolerant public discussion of politics.
