Moralities, cultural fit and life satisfaction

The study aims to contribute to the literature by investigating the relationships among moralities, cultural fit and life satisfaction. Data are drawn from a representative sample of Türkiye, a country with a permanent record of low well-being scores and indications of polarisation over moral values. Consistent with the hypotheses, binding morality is found to have a strong overall positive effect on life satisfaction, both directly and indirectly via cultural fit. Additionally, results substantiate the prediction that individualising morality will be associated with diminished life satisfaction. Nonetheless, analyses regarding cultural fit exhibit mixed results and should be interpreted with caution. Findings are discussed within the context of the literature and in relation to sociopolitical leanings currently observed in Türkiye.

The Dimensionality of the Moral Foundations: Contributions from the Moral Foundations Sacredness Scale in Four Societies

Moral Foundations Theory proposes that five innate modules offer an intuitive response that drives our moral judgments. Various instruments were developed to measure the five moral foundations, including the MFV and the MFQ-30 which focus on deliberative moral reasoning. This approach is limited because intuitions are more basic and affect-laden. The Moral Foundations Sacredness Scale (MFSS) was designed to elicit responses that more closely resemble these phenomena. However, studies have not converged on a factorial structure for the MFSS, and measurement invariance has never been assessed. Our study sought to evaluate these properties across four adult samples, via Exploratory Structural Equation Modeling, and the associations between the MFSS's scales and relevant constructs. We found that a two-factor solution, reflecting the individualizing and binding foundations, had a reasonable fit, and had invariance (configural, metric, and scalar) across gender, age groups, and (configural) four international samples. The scales were reliable, had construct validity with the MFQ-30, and criterion-related validity with the binding moderately predicting belief in God/spirit and religious behaviors. The convergence we found regarding the MFSS's factorial structure across groups has important implications for the dimensionality of these constructs, and - ultimately - for the development of Moral Foundations Theory.

Moral foundations are better predictors of belief in COVID-19 conspiracy theories than the Big Five personality traits

Upon the sudden outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, various conspiracy theories regarding the virus proliferated in the social media. This study focused on the sociodemographic, personality, and moral predictors of these beliefs. More specifically, we asked whether moral values predict belief in COVID-19 conspiracy theories over and above sociodemographic variables and the Big Five personality traits. According to Moral Foundations Theory, five cross-cultural moral foundations are more broadly categorized under individualizing (Care & Fairness) and binding (Loyalty, Authority, & Sanctity) foundations. A sixth moral foundation was Liberty which we included along with binding and individualizing foundations. Participants were 227 Iranians (mean age = 31.43, SD = 12.61, 75.3% female) who responded to Moral Foundations Questionnaire and Liberty items, a range of COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs, and the 10-Item Personality Measure of the Big Five. Among demographic variables, religiosity and socioeconomic status were the strongest determinants of conspiracy beliefs regarding the origin of Coronavirus. Among the Big Five, only extraversion predicted these beliefs in a positive direction. Moral foundations, most notably Authority and Sanctity, showed incremental predictive power over both demographic variables and the Big Five personality traits. Findings are discussed in light of the role of social media in dissemination of conspiracy beliefs regarding the pandemic. They point to the more relevance of moral foundations, particularly binding foundations, than the Big Five in the context of pandemic-related conspiracy beliefs, and add to the literature on the unique contribution of moral foundations to socio-political attitudes across cultures.

Do left-wingers discriminate? A cross-country study on the links between political orientation, values, moral foundations, and the Covid-19 passport

To increase Covid-19 vaccine uptake and protect vulnerable people, many countries have introduced a Covid-19 passport in 2021, allowing vaccinated individuals to access indoor facilities more freely and travel to foreign countries. However, the passport has had unintended consequences as it discriminates against those who do not want to get vaccinated for medical, religious, or political reasons, or those who do not have access to vaccines. The present study (N = 678) assessed across Brazil, UK, USA, and a group of other countries, the links between political orientation, human values, and moral foundations, and attitudes towards the Covid-19 passport and whether people perceive it as a discriminatory measure. Results showed that left-wingers, typically more inclined to recognize discrimination, favor the passport more and perceive it as less discriminatory than right-wingers. This pattern remains consistent even after controlling for human values and moral foundations, independently predicting attitudes towards the passport. Overall, our findings provide novel insights into a context in which left-wingers support measures that involuntarily discriminate against certain groups.

Supplementary information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12144-023-04554-9.

The Twenty Item Values Inventory (TwIVI) in Portuguese Adults: Factorial Structure, Internal Consistency, and Criterion-Related Validity

The Schwartz Model of Basic Values is an influential framework that describes what people find important and worth pursuing in life. The model proposes that ten human values are found cross-culturally, and so significant efforts have gone into empirically testing these claims. While instruments such as the Portrait Values Questionnaire-40 (PVQ-40) reliably discriminated the full set of theorized values, briefer versions have either suffered from a lack of construct validity (PVQ-21) or from not having been put through a rigorous statistical test of its underlying structure (Twenty Item Values Inventory [TwIVI]) via confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The present study, using a Portuguese sample of adults (n = 524), is the first to examine the factorial structure of the TwIVI via CFA. We apply a magnifying glass approach by testing two separate models, each covering five values, which reflect the Growth and Self-protective dimensions. Moreover, we provide evidences that the TwIVI is reliable and capable of capturing the theorized quasi-circumplex structure, and the cross-cultural gender differences and relative hierarchical importance of values. Finally, we establish criterion-related validity, with values correlating with political identity and social and economic issues.

Linking primary emotional traits to ideological attitudes and personal value types

The present study aimed at investigating associations of both ideological attitudes and personal value types with the personality traits derived from the Affective Neuroscience Theory (ANT). For that, data of N = 626 (n = 403 men, n = 220 women, n = 3 identifying as neither a man nor a woman) participants of an online survey in the German language were analyzed. Relations of primary emotional traits derived from the ANT with Right-Wing Authoritarianism (RWA), Social Dominance Orientation (SDO), and personal value types, such as the higher-order value type dimensions "Conservation-Openness to Change" and "Self-Enhancement-Self-Transcendence", were examined by means of correlational analyses and structural equation modeling. Results revealed among others relations between low SEEKING, high ANGER and high RWA. Low CARE and high ANGER were associated with high SDO. Moreover, FEAR was related to the higher-order value type dimension ranging from Conservation to Openness to Change. ANGER was associated with the higher-order value type dimension ranging from Self-Enhancement to Self-Transcendence. The present results do not only expand knowledge on the personality traits associated with ideological attitudes and personal value types. Beyond this, considering the neuroanatomical, functional, and neurochemical correlates of the primary emotional traits SEEKING, ANGER, CARE, and FEAR, the present results may provide a roadmap for forthcoming studies aiming at examining biological correlates of ideological attitudes and personal value types, such as those works in the field of political neuroscience.

Moral foundations, values, and judgments in extraordinary altruists

Donating a kidney to a stranger is a rare act of extraordinary altruism that appears to reflect a moral commitment to helping others. Yet little is known about patterns of moral cognition associated with extraordinary altruism. In this preregistered study, we compared the moral foundations, values, and patterns of utilitarian moral judgments in altruistic kidney donors (n = 61) and demographically matched controls (n = 58). Altruists expressed more concern only about the moral foundation of harm, but no other moral foundations. Consistent with this, altruists endorsed utilitarian concerns related to impartial beneficence, but not instrumental harm. Contrary to our predictions, we did not find group differences between altruists and controls in basic values. Extraordinary altruism generally reflected opposite patterns of moral cognition as those seen in individuals with psychopathy, a personality construct characterized by callousness and insensitivity to harm and suffering. Results link real-world, costly, impartial altruism primarily to moral cognitions related to alleviating harm and suffering in others rather than to basic values, fairness concerns, or strict utilitarian decision-making.

Market mindset reduces endorsement of individualizing moral foundations, but not in liberals

People with a market mindset attend to ratios and rates, and allocate rewards adequately to costs but are less sensitive to feelings. In this project, we demonstrate that activating a market mindset also affects people’s acceptance of free-market principles and their endorsement of individualizing moral dimensions—care/harm and fairness/cheating. Experiment 1 documented that a market mindset positively impacted people’s endorsement of fair market ideology. Experiments 2 and 3 showed that the salience of such a market mindset hampered the importance of individualizing moral dimensions. Importantly, we found that political orientation moderated the negative effect of a market mindset on the endorsement of individualizing moral foundations—this effect held for participants who declared moderate and conservative political orientations, but not for liberals.

The integration of subgroups at the supranational level: The relation between social identity, national threat, and perceived legitimacy of the EU

Previous research suggests that social identity influences public attitudes about the European Union, but little is known about the role of social identity for perceived legitimacy of the EU. This article explores the relation between different forms of identification (national, EU, dual) and EU legitimacy perceptions, and the moderation of this relationship by experienced threat to national power and sociocultural identity. A survey was conducted in six countries (N = 1136). A factor analysis of legitimacy items resulted in two subscales (institutional trust and duty to obey). Separate regression analyses were therefore run on these subscales. All forms of identification were positively related to perceived EU legitimacy, while threat was a strong and universal negative predictor. However, the results suggest that national identification only positively predicted legitimacy when participants experienced no threat to their nation by the EU, while dual identification positively predicted legitimacy even when participants experienced threat. Overall, respect for national identities and their values may offer opportunities to safeguard and improve the perceived legitimacy of the EU. Findings are discussed in terms of the literature on the ingroup projection model and the common ingroup model.

How Personal Values Count in Misleading News Sharing with Moral Content

The present study investigates the personal factors underlying online sharing of moral misleading news by observing the interaction between personal values, communication bias, credibility evaluations, and moral emotions. Specifically, we hypothesized that self-transcendence and conservation values may differently influence the sharing of misleading news depending on which moral domain is activated and that these are more likely to be shared when moral emotions and perceived credibility increase. In a sample of 132 participants (65% female), we tested SEMs on misleading news regarding violations in five different moral domains. The results suggest that self-transcendence values hinder online sharing of misleading news, while conservation values promote it; moreover, news written with a less blatantly biased linguistic frame are consistently rated as more credible. Lastly, more credible and emotionally activating news is more likely to be shared online.

The psychometric properties of the Persian version of the moral injury symptoms scale-health care professionals version

Background

Health care professionals face a number of problems during crises, such as the COVID-19. Studies addressed the prevalence of moral injury among healthcare professionals during the COVID-19 outbreak. Lack of a valid standard of moral injury among health care professionals is one of the factors that has made it difficult to identify and treat this complication. This study aimed to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Moral Injury Symptoms Scale-Health Care Professionals (MISS-HP) among health care professionals in Iran.

Methods

This study was conducted to evaluate the validity and reliability of the MISS-HP. The sample included 455 healthcare professionals working in four teaching hospitals in Kerman, who were in direct contact with patients. In this study, face validity, content validity, construct validity (structural and convergent), and internal reliability of the MISS-HP were evaluated. Demographic information questionnaire, the Moral Injury Symptoms Scale-HealthCare Professionals (MISS-HP), General Health Questionnaire (GHQ), and Impact of Event Scale (IES) were administered to study participants.

Results

The MISS-HP was evaluated using translation-back translation technique. The content validity index of the items (I-CVI) and the scale (S-CVI) were 0.9 and 0.99, respectively. Exploratory factor analysis showed a three-factor structure in the MISS-HP that explained 57.49% of the variance. Confirmatory factor analysis indices were acceptable. The cut-off point of the questionnaire was 36.5. There was a positive and moderate correlation between the Persian version of MISS-HP, GHQ (r = 0.34), and IES-R (r = 0.40). The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of the Persian version of MISS-HP was 0.70.

Conclusion

This study found that the MISS-HP is a concise, comprehensive, valid and reliable scale for assessing moral injury among health care professionals in clinical or research settings. This scale will be helpful for managers and researchers to identify and plan health policies and improve the psychological state of health care professionals.

Exploring inclusiveness towards immigrants as related to basic values: A network approach

Using the 9th round of European Social Survey (ESS), we explored the relationship between Europeans' basic values and their attitudes towards immigrants. Employing a latent class analysis (LCA), we classified the respondents based on three items capturing the extent to which participants would support allowing three groups of immigrants to enter and live in their countries: immigrants of same ethnic groups, immigrants of different ethnic groups, and immigrants from poorer countries outside Europe. Four classes of Europeans with mutually exclusive response patterns with respect to their inclusive attitudes towards immigrants were found. The classes were named Inclusive (highly inclusive), Some (selective), Few (highly selective), and Exclusive (highly exclusive). Next, using a network technique, a partial correlation network of 10 basic human values was estimated for each class of participants. The four networks were compared to each other based on three network properties namely: global connectivity, community detection, and assortativity coefficient. The global connectivity (the overall level of interconnections) between the 10 basic values was found to be mostly invariant across the four networks. However, results of the community detection analysis revealed a more complex value structure among the most inclusive class of Europeans. Further, according to the assortativity analysis, as expected, for the most inclusive Europeans, values with similar motivational backgrounds were found to be interconnected most strongly to one another. We further discussed the theoretical and practical implications of our findings.