Anger and disgust shape judgments of social sanctions across cultures, especially in high individual autonomy societies

When someone violates a social norm, others may think that some sanction would be appropriate. We examine how the experience of emotions like anger and disgust relate to the judged appropriateness of sanctions, in a pre-registered analysis of data from a large-scale study in 56 societies. Across the world, we find that individuals who experience anger and disgust over a norm violation are more likely to endorse confrontation, ostracism and, to a smaller extent, gossip. Moreover, we find that the experience of anger is consistently the strongest predictor of judgments of confrontation, compared to other emotions. Although the link between state-based emotions and judgments may seem universal, its strength varies across countries. Aligned with theoretical predictions, this link is stronger in societies, and among individuals, that place higher value on individual autonomy. Thus, autonomy values may increase the role that emotions play in guiding judgments of social sanctions.

Evitar ou punir, eis a questão?

Buscou-se investigar a associação de tendências à ação frente a violações morais com códigos de ética e o nível de proximidade com o transgressor. Participaram 200 universitários (70% mulheres, idade M = 23 anos; DP = 6,62). Eles responderam questões sociodemográficas, a Escala de Comunidade, Autonomia e Divindade e a Lista de Tendências à Ação frente a Violações Morais. Análises mistas de variância sugeriram um efeito principal da ética, com a autonomia apresentando maiores escores; um efeito principal das violações, com transgressões de autonomia apresentando maiores escores; e um efeito principal do nível de proximidade com o transgressor, com maiores escores observados com desconhecidos. Uma interação foi observada da tendência à ação com o nível de proximidade, onde os participantes evitaram mais os amigos e puniram mais os desconhecidos. Pesquisas futuras sugerem a proximidade com o transgressor como uma variável relevante.

The Cultural Psychology of Religiosity, Spirituality, and Secularism in Adolescence

Cultural psychology has raised awareness of religiosity, spirituality, and secularism in people's psychological lives. This article takes a cultural-developmental approach by examining the development of religiosity, spirituality, and secularism among culturally diverse adolescents. At the outset, an explanation is provided as to why the valid study of peoples' psychological lives necessitates taking culture into account, and of key implications for theory and methodology. Throughout research on adolescent religiosity, spirituality, and secularism is described, including studies on conceptions of God, afterlife beliefs, the development of an Ethic of Divinity in moral reasoning, recent increases in spirituality and secularism, and the impact of globalization on worldviews and religiously-based puberty rituals. While the focus is on adolescents, the article includes relevant research with children and emerging adults. Concrete future research directions are proposed, including a call to address the extent to which effects of religion on adolescents are dependent on culture and globalization.

Sex differences in moral judgements across 67 countries

Most of the empirical research on sex differences and cultural variations in morality has relied on within-culture analyses or small-scale cross-cultural data. To further broaden the scientific understanding of sex differences in morality, the current research relies on two international samples to provide the first large-scale examination of sex differences in moral judgements nested within cultures. Using a sample from 67 countries (Study 1; n = 336 691), we found culturally variable sex differences in moral judgements, as conceptualized by Moral Foundations Theory. Women consistently scored higher than men on Care, Fairness, and Purity. By contrast, sex differences in Loyalty and Authority were negligible and highly variable across cultures. Country-level sex differences in moral judgements were also examined in relation to cultural, socioeconomic, and gender-equality indicators revealing that sex differences in moral judgements are larger in individualist, Western, and gender-equal societies. In Study 2 (19 countries; n = 11 969), these results were largely replicated using Bayesian multi-level modelling in a distinct sample. The findings were robust when incorporating cultural non-independence of countries into the models. Specifically, women consistently showed higher concerns for Care, Fairness, and Purity in their moral judgements than did men. Sex differences in moral judgements were larger in individualist and gender-equal societies with more flexible social norms. We discuss the implications of these findings for the ongoing debate about the origin of sex differences and cultural variations in moral judgements as well as theoretical and pragmatic implications for moral and evolutionary psychology.

Cross-Cultural Values: A Meta-Analysis of Major Quantitative Studies in the Last Decade (2010–2020)

Since 2010, scholars have made major contributions to cross-cultural research, especially regarding similarities and differences across world regions and countries in people’s values, beliefs, and morality. This paper accumulates and analyzes extant multi-national and quantitative studies of these facets of global culture. The paper begins with a summary of the modern history of cross-cultural research, then systematically reviews major empirical studies published since 2010, and next analyzes extant approaches to interpret how the constructs of belief, morality, and values have been theorized and operationalized. The analysis reveals that the field of cross-cultural studies remains dominated by Western approaches, especially studies developed and deployed from the United States and Western Europe. While numerous surveys have been translated and employed for data collection in countries beyond the U.S. and Western Europe, several countries remain under-studied, and the field lacks approaches that were developed within the countries of interest. The paper concludes by outlining future directions for the study of cross-cultural research. To progress from the colonialist past embedded within cross-cultural research, in which scholars from the U.S. and Western Europe export research tools to other world regions, the field needs to expand to include studies locally developed and deployed within more countries and world regions.

Beyond Autonomy? Moral Socialization Goals of German and Indonesian Preschool Teachers

The moral socialization of preschool children has so far mostly been investigated in the informal context of family, but with an increasing institutionalization of early childhood education worldwide, preschool teachers now play a prominent role as moral socialization agents. Accordingly, we investigated the institutional moral socialization of the three ethics of Autonomy, Community, and Divinity in two different cultural contexts. Preschool teachers (PTs) from urban German ( n = 73) and Indonesian ( n = 135) contexts completed a paper–pencil survey assessing their moral socialization goals for preschool children concerning the three ethics via the Ethical Values Assessment (EVA_S). Confirmatory factor analyses were carried out separately for the German and Indonesian samples and confirmed the proposed three-factor structure. Measurement invariance tests for the EVA_S indicated metric, but not scalar invariance. Thus, subsequent intra- and cross-cultural analyses were conducted with centered values. The results indicate that German PTs emphasized the ethic of Autonomy for moral socialization, while Indonesian PTs promoted the ethic of Divinity. Across cultures, Autonomy and Divinity socialization goals correlated with the PTs’ preference of the ethics in their moral reasoning. Furthermore, Divinity socialization goals were related to the PTs’ religiosity and their preschools having a religious affiliation in both cultural contexts. These findings contribute to our understanding of institutional moral socialization and cultural as well as subcultural contextual influences.

The Psychology of Morality: A Review and Analysis of Empirical Studies Published From 1940 Through 2017

We review empirical research on (social) psychology of morality to identify which issues and relations are well documented by existing data and which areas of inquiry are in need of further empirical evidence. An electronic literature search yielded a total of 1,278 relevant research articles published from 1940 through 2017. These were subjected to expert content analysis and standardized bibliometric analysis to classify research questions and relate these to (trends in) empirical approaches that characterize research on morality. We categorize the research questions addressed in this literature into five different themes and consider how empirical approaches within each of these themes have addressed psychological antecedents and implications of moral behavior. We conclude that some key features of theoretical questions relating to human morality are not systematically captured in empirical research and are in need of further investigation.

From Autonomy to Divinity: The Cultural Socialization of Moral Reasoning in an Evangelical Christian Community

This study examined moral reasoning in parent-child conversations within a U.S. evangelical Christian community. The goal was to identify social-communicative processes that may promote the development of Divinity in children's moral reasoning. Sixteen parent-child dyads (6-9 years old) discussed hypothetical moral vignettes about failures to help peers in need. Analyses revealed that Divinity typically co-occurred with Autonomy in these conversations and that such co-occurrences typically happened through three distinct social-communicative processes, labeled "align," "scaffold," and "counter." Findings are used to explain the shifting priority of Autonomy and Divinity over the life course among members of evangelical Christian faiths that previous research has documented. More broadly, findings highlight socialization processes through which children can rationalize their developing moral outlooks in culturally distinct ways.

Strengthening Purity: Moral Purity as a Mediator of Direct and Extended Cross-Group Friendships on Sexual Prejudice

The present research investigated whether enhanced perceptions of moral purity drive the effects of intergroup cross-group friendships on the intentions to interact with homosexuals. High-school students (N = 639) reported their direct and extended cross-group friendships with homosexuals as well as their beliefs regarding the moral character of the sexual minority. Participants further reported their desire to interact with homosexuals in the future. Results showed that both face-to-face encounters and extended contact with homosexuals increased their perceived moral purity, which in turn fostered more positive behavioral intentions. Results further revealed the specific role of moral purity in this sense, as differential perceptions along other moral domains (autonomy and community) had no mediation effects on behavioral tendencies toward homosexuals. The importance of these findings for improving intergroup relations is discussed, together with the importance of integrating research on intergroup contact and morality.

The Moral Reasoning of U.S. Evangelical and Mainline Protestant Children, Adolescents, and Adults: A Cultural-Developmental Study

This cultural-developmental interview study examined moral reasoning in relation to religious culture (evangelical, mainline Protestants), age (children, adolescents, adults), and moral issue (public, private; N = 120). Compared to adolescents and adults, children used more Ethic of Autonomy and less Ethic of Community reasoning. With age, differences between religious cultures became pronounced. Mainline adults invoked an Ethic of Divinity for private issues. Evangelical adolescents and adults used this ethic frequently, but more for public than private issues. These and other findings indicate that evangelical and mainline Protestants diverge on what should be society's moral lingua franca, and cast new and nuanced light on America's "culture wars." Results furthermore highlight comodulation of development and culture that requires life course research on moral reasoning.

TWO MEASURES FOR CROSS-CULTURAL RESEARCH ON MORALITY: COMPARISON AND REVISION

The current research assessed the reliability and validity of two Western measures of morality in a Chinese sample, namely the Community, Autonomy, and Divinity Scale (CADS) and the Moral Foundations Questionnaire (MFQ). Questionnaires were administered to 274 Chinese participants in Northern China (M age = 25.4 yr., SD = 8.50; 86% women). Confirmatory factor analysis using a structural equation model was conducted to evaluate the construct validity of the two scales. The results indicated a reasonable model fit of both the CADS and the MFQ after certain modifications. The revised versions of both measures had good internal consistency reliabilities. Correlation analysis indicated moderate correlations between the dimensions of the two scales. Regarding the content of morality, Chinese people endorsed more of the traditional ethics and foundations than people from Western cultures in other studies. In addition, participants who reported a religious affiliation scored higher on the Divinity subscale compared to those who claimed to be atheists.

The importance of honor concerns across eight countries

Honor concerns are considered an important part of one’s self-image, and strongly associated to cultural values. However, there is a lack of research studies that explore these concerns in more than two cultural communities. Across eight countries (Brazil, Israel, Japan, Macedonia, New Zealand, Spain, United Kingdom, and United States), participants (total N = 1098) answered the Honor Scale and the Community, Autonomy, and Divinity Scale. Individualistic cultures, such as the USA, were predominantly concerned with integrity honor, while Israel, Macedonia, and Japan (i.e., honor cultures) rated family honor closer to integrity in importance. Subscales measuring masculine and feminine honor showed gender differences, but not in all cultures; “masculine” honor items were often endorsed by both men and women alike. Regarding honor associations to moral codes, family concerns were closely related to community, integrity concerns were related to autonomy, and feminine concerns were related to divinity.

Believing, Bonding, Behaving, and Belonging

When approaching religion from a cross-cultural psychological perspective, one faces questions regarding the universals and the specifics of religions across cultural contexts. On the basis of previous theorization and research, the author proposes a model that posits four basic dimensions of religion and individual religiosity that are partially distinct although interconnected: believing, bonding, behaving, and belonging. These dimensions are presumably universally present across religions and cultural contexts and delimitate religion from other similar constructs. They reflect distinct psychological processes (cognitive, emotional, moral, and social), respective goals, conversion motives, types of self-transcendence, and mechanisms explaining the religion-health links. However, across cultural and religious groups, these dimensions may differ in content, salience, and ways in which they are interconnected or emphasized, leading to various forms of religiosity, including functional and dysfunctional ones. Within each dimension, there is additional universality (in structure) and cultural variability (in salience) regarding the way religious cognitions, emotions, morality, and identity are processed. This Big Four religious dimensions model may be a powerful tool for studying universals and cultural specifics of the psychological dimensions of religion.

Moral Anger Is More Flexible Than Moral Disgust

The research examines whether anger rather than disgust is more likely to be responsible for changes in moral judgment, after individuals consider potential circumstances. Participants first read a scenario that described a moral violation (harm or fairness vs. purity) and then gave their initial moral judgment and emotions toward the act. They were then asked to list things that could change their opinion and were provided with an opportunity to fill out the measures again, re-evaluating the scenario with these changes in mind. It was found that ratings of disgust did not change after generating potential circumstances; however, anger changed in differential ways for the two violation types. It was also found that anger but not disgust predicted change in moral judgment. These findings suggest that moral anger is a more flexible emotion than moral disgust because anger is more likely to respond to changes in circumstances.