Basic value orientations and moral foundations: Convergent or discriminant constructs?

The importance of moral fit to expectations of academic and professional wellbeing

What impact does moral fit have on expectations and engagement in higher education? We conducted two studies with college and university students in the U.S. In Study 1 (N = 151), we manipulated the moral fit of a hypothetical student, assessing its impact on anticipated academic, social, and professional outcomes. Study 2 (N = 201) involved manipulating moral values within a course description to investigate whether alignment with participants' values influenced their interest in the course and expected outcomes. Both studies demonstrate that students are aware of moral fit in higher education, associating it with more positive expectations.

Moralities, cultural fit and life satisfaction

The study aims to contribute to the literature by investigating the relationships among moralities, cultural fit and life satisfaction. Data are drawn from a representative sample of Türkiye, a country with a permanent record of low well-being scores and indications of polarisation over moral values. Consistent with the hypotheses, binding morality is found to have a strong overall positive effect on life satisfaction, both directly and indirectly via cultural fit. Additionally, results substantiate the prediction that individualising morality will be associated with diminished life satisfaction. Nonetheless, analyses regarding cultural fit exhibit mixed results and should be interpreted with caution. Findings are discussed within the context of the literature and in relation to sociopolitical leanings currently observed in Türkiye.

Broad and narrow environmental and genetic sources of personality differences: An extended twin family study

OBJECTIVE

Several personality theories distinguish between rather genetically rooted, universal dispositional traits (DTs) and rather environmentally shaped, more contextualized characteristic adaptations (CAs). However, no study so far has compared different measures of theoretically postulated DTs and CAs regarding their environmental and genetic components while considering differences in measurement abstraction and reliability. This study aims to bridge this gap by testing the assumed differences in the sensitivity to environmental influences based on representative sets of DTs (Big Five and HEXACO domains and facets) and CAs (goals, interests, value priorities, religiousness, and self-schemas).

METHOD

Using intra-class correlations and running extended twin family and spouses-of-twins model analyses, we analyzed a large data set (N = 1967) encompassing 636 twin pairs, 787 parent-offspring dyads, and 325 spouses/partners.

RESULTS

Findings consistently support lower environmentality of DTs compared to CAs. On average, more than half of reliable variance in DTs was genetic, whereas the reverse was found for CAs. Larger environmental components in CAs were primarily attributable to larger individual-specific effects (beyond error of measurement) and factors shared by spouses.

CONCLUSIONS

Findings are discussed against the background of the definitional distinction between DTs and CAs and the value of extended twin family data.

People act when they feel obliged. Prosocial intentions toward Ukrainian refugees in Poland during the first two weeks of the war in Ukraine

BACKGROUND

In February 2022, Poland became one of the most engaged countries in accepting Ukrainian refugees. Based on the norm activation model, the study, performed during the first two weeks of the war, examined the prosocial intentions of Poles toward Ukrainians in relation to the individualizing moral foundations (harm/care and fairness/reciprocity), as well as beliefs about the obligation of individual citizens to help.

PARTICIPANTS AND PROCEDURE

The study was designed to investigate the views of Poles on helping Ukrainians in times of tension. On the second day of data collection, the war in Ukraine began. Therefore, the study shows the intentions of Poles to help refugees from Ukraine in the first days of full-scale war. A total of 139 people aged 18-71 years from the general public participated (102 females) in an online survey distributed through social media channels.

RESULTS

The results show that individual obligation belief fully mediates the effect of individualizing moral foundations on prosocial behavior intentions.

CONCLUSIONS

Based on the results, it could be concluded that during a refugee crisis, in line with the norm activation model, highlighting the personal obligation to provide support can be important to motivate people to help others in need. The effect of a sense of personal obligation is more important than the effect of an underlying individualizing morality.

Do left-wingers discriminate? A cross-country study on the links between political orientation, values, moral foundations, and the Covid-19 passport

To increase Covid-19 vaccine uptake and protect vulnerable people, many countries have introduced a Covid-19 passport in 2021, allowing vaccinated individuals to access indoor facilities more freely and travel to foreign countries. However, the passport has had unintended consequences as it discriminates against those who do not want to get vaccinated for medical, religious, or political reasons, or those who do not have access to vaccines. The present study (N = 678) assessed across Brazil, UK, USA, and a group of other countries, the links between political orientation, human values, and moral foundations, and attitudes towards the Covid-19 passport and whether people perceive it as a discriminatory measure. Results showed that left-wingers, typically more inclined to recognize discrimination, favor the passport more and perceive it as less discriminatory than right-wingers. This pattern remains consistent even after controlling for human values and moral foundations, independently predicting attitudes towards the passport. Overall, our findings provide novel insights into a context in which left-wingers support measures that involuntarily discriminate against certain groups.

Supplementary information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12144-023-04554-9.