title: Moral parochialism and contextual contingency across seven societies.
abstract: Human moral judgement may have evolved to maximize the individual's welfare given parochial culturally constructed moral systems. If so, then moral condemnation should be more severe when transgressions are recent and local, and should be sensitive to the pronouncements of authority figures (who are often arbiters of moral norms), as the fitness pay-offs of moral disapproval will primarily derive from the ramifications of condemning actions that occur within the immediate social arena. Correspondingly, moral transgressions should be viewed as less objectionable if they occur in other places or times, or if local authorities deem them acceptable. These predictions contrast markedly with those derived from prevailing non-evolutionary perspectives on moral judgement. Both classes of theories predict purportedly species-typical patterns, yet to our knowledge, no study to date has investigated moral judgement across a diverse set of societies, including a range of small-scale communities that differ substantially from large highly urbanized nations. We tested these predictions in five small-scale societies and two large-scale societies, finding substantial evidence of moral parochialism and contextual contingency in adults' moral judgements. Results reveal an overarching pattern in which moral condemnation reflects a concern with immediate local considerations, a pattern consistent with a variety of evolutionary accounts of moral judgement.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anthropology and Center for Behavior, Evolution, and Culture, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1553, USA dfessler@anthro.ucla.edu.
authors.forename: Daniel M T
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Fessler
authors.affiliation: Department of Anthropology and Center for Behavior, Evolution, and Culture, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1553, USA.
authors.forename: H Clark
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Barrett
authors.affiliation: Institute of Social Anthropology, FSEV, Comenius University, 820 05 Bratislava 25, Slovakia.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kanovsky
authors.affiliation: Department of Philosophy and Center for Cognitive Science, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ 08901-1107, USA.
authors.forename: Stephen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Stich
authors.affiliation: Department of Anthropology and Center for Behavior, Evolution, and Culture, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1553, USA.
authors.forename: Colin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Holbrook
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada V6T 1Z4 Department of Economics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada V6T 1Z4.
authors.forename: Joseph
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Henrich
authors.affiliation: Social Sciences Subdivision, College of DuPage, Glen Ellyn, IL 60137-6599, USA.
authors.forename: Alexander H
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Bolyanatz
authors.affiliation: Department of Anthropology and Center for Behavior, Evolution, and Culture, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1553, USA.
authors.forename: Matthew M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Gervais
authors.affiliation: Department of Anthropology, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106-3210, USA.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gurven
authors.affiliation: School of Archaeology and Anthropology, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory 0200, Australia.
authors.forename: Geoff
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kushnick
authors.affiliation: Department of Anthropology, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106-3210, USA.
authors.forename: Anne C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Pisor
authors.affiliation: Jepson School of Leadership Studies, University of Richmond, Richmond, VA 23173, USA.
authors.forename: Christopher
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: von Rueden
authors.affiliation: Department of Philosophy and Hang Seng Centre for Cognitive Studies, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S3 7QB, UK.
authors.forename: Stephen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Laurence
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007600:Judgment; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009014:Morals; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: moral judgement; moral parochialism; morality