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

TLDR

Moral foundations theory was originally developed to explain cultural variation in moral judgments and has since been widely adopted as a theory of political ideology, positing that political attitudes arise from instinctual evaluations generated by innate psychological modules evolved to solve social dilemmas. The study aimed to test whether moral foundations are stable traits that predict changes in political orientations and are at least partially heritable. The results revealed substantial individual-level variability in moral foundations over time, little evidence that changes in these foundations predict changes in political attitudes, and little evidence of heritability, casting doubt on MFT as a theory of ideology.

Abstract

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.