Moral foundation violation effects on felt emotions, perceptions of moral intensity, and ethical decision-making

Abstract

Moral Foundation Theory (Graham et al., 2013) posits how individuals may decide what behaviors are morally transgressive and how to then make ethical decisions regarding situations containing ethical elements. Despite the inclusion of specific discrete emotions into MFT, relatively little research has empirically examined what discrete emotions are associated with various moral foundations or the differential effects of these emotions on related processes such as perceived moral intensity or ethical decision-making (Kligyte et al., 2013; Johnson & Connelly, 2016; Higgs et al., 2020). To test this, two studies were employed. The first study conceptually replicates previous research (Landmann & Hess, 2018) and establishes the emotional profiles that are elicited by experiencing violations to different moral foundations. This is done by experimentally manipulating moral violations present in an ethical dilemma between subjects, measuring an array of emotions felt by participants, and examining the patterns of felt emotions to establish the emotional profiles. Results showed partial support for the theoretical pattern of emotions elicited from moral foundation violations. However, there was little overlap in this pattern across studies. Violations to the care and fairness foundation resulted in greater perceptions of the moral intensity of a situation. Unique patterns of results between moral foundation violations and ethical decision-making emerged but receiving a violation to a moral foundation generally increased the usages of ethical sensemaking processes and resulted in more ethical decisions. Theoretical and practical implications, limitations, and future directions are discussed.