title: Shifting liberal and conservative attitudes using moral foundations theory.
abstract: People's social and political opinions are grounded in their moral concerns about right and wrong. We examine whether five moral foundations--harm, fairness, ingroup, authority, and purity--can influence political attitudes of liberals and conservatives across a variety of issues. Framing issues using moral foundations may change political attitudes in at least two possible ways: (a) Entrenching: Relevant moral foundations will strengthen existing political attitudes when framing pro-attitudinal issues (e.g., conservatives exposed to a free-market economic stance) and (b) Persuasion: Mere presence of relevant moral foundations may also alter political attitudes in counter-attitudinal directions (e.g., conservatives exposed to an economic regulation stance). Studies 1 and 2 support the entrenching hypothesis. Relevant moral foundation-based frames bolstered political attitudes for conservatives (Study 1) and liberals (Study 2). Only Study 2 partially supports the persuasion hypothesis. Conservative-relevant moral frames of liberal issues increased conservatives' liberal attitudes.
authors.affiliation: Princeton University, NJ, USA mday@fas.harvard.edu.
authors.forename: Martin V
authors.initials: MV
authors.lastname: Day
authors.affiliation: Princeton University, NJ, USA.
authors.forename: Susan T
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: Fiske
authors.affiliation: Microsoft, Seattle, WA, USA.
authors.forename: Emily L
authors.initials: EL
authors.lastname: Downing
authors.affiliation: RAND Corporation, Arlington, VA, USA.
authors.forename: Thomas E
authors.initials: TE
authors.lastname: Trail
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001290:Attitude; D005260:Female; D006126:Group Processes; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009014:Morals; D010565:Persuasive Communication; D011057:Politics; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: attitudes; ideology; moral foundations; morality; politics