title: The moral ties that bind . . . Even to out-groups: the interactive effect of moral identity and the binding moral foundations.
abstract: Throughout history, principles such as obedience, loyalty, and purity have been instrumental in binding people together and helping them thrive as groups, tribes, and nations. However, these same principles have also led to in-group favoritism, war, and even genocide. Does adhering to the binding moral foundations that underlie such principles unavoidably lead to the derogation of out-group members? We demonstrated that for people with a strong moral identity, the answer is "no," because they are more likely than those with a weak moral identity to extend moral concern to people belonging to a perceived out-group. Across three studies, strongly endorsing the binding moral foundations indeed predicted support for the torture of out-group members (Studies 1a and 1b) and withholding of necessary help from out-group members (Study 2), but this relationship was attenuated among participants who also had a strong moral identity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Management, University of Utah isaac.smith@cornell.edu.
authors.forename: Isaac H
authors.initials: IH
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.affiliation: Marketing and Behavioural Science Division, Sauder School of Business, University of British Columbia.
authors.forename: Karl
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Aquino
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Southern California.
authors.forename: Spassena
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Koleva
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Southern California.
authors.forename: Jesse
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Graham
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D003469:Culture; D005260:Female; D006126:Group Processes; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D009014:Morals; D012933:Social Identification; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: binding foundations; circle of moral regard; moral identity; moral-foundations theory