Abstract
Prior work has established robust diversity in the extent to which different moral values are endorsed. Some people focus on values related to caring and fairness, whereas others assign additional moral weight to ingroup loyalty, respect for authority and established hierarchies, and purity concerns. Five studies explore associations between endorsement of distinct moral values and a suite of interpersonal orientations: Machiavellianism, prosocial resource distribution, Social Dominance Orientation, and reported likelihood of helping and not helping kin and close friends versus acquaintances and neighbors. We found that Machiavellianism (Studies 1, 3, 4, 5) (e.g., amorality, controlling and status-seeking behaviors) and Social Dominance Orientation (Study 4) were negatively associated with caring values, and positively associated with valuation of authority. Those higher in caring values were more likely to choose prosocial resource distributions (Studies 2, 3, 4) and to report reduced likelihood of failing to help kin/close friends or acquaintances (Study 4). Finally, greater likelihood of helping acquaintances was positively associated with all moral values tested except authority values (Study 4). The current work offers a novel approach to characterizing moral values and reveals a striking divergence between two kinds of moral values in particular: caring values and authority values. Caring values were positively linked with prosociality and negatively associated with Machiavellianism, whereas authority values were positively associated with Machiavellianism and Social Dominance Orientation.
Highlights
Across cultures and around the world people differ in what they take to be right or wrong but even in what they count as morally relevant at all [1,2,3,4,5,6,7]
We found that the significant zero-order and partial correlations observed in Study 1 between Machiavellianism and ingroup loyalty and authority values emerged as non-significant trends in Study 3
We added a measure of Social Dominance Orientation (SDO) [21], an interpersonal orientation that, like Machiavellianism, involves pursuit of dominance over others and rejection of equality
Summary
Across cultures and around the world people differ in what they take to be right or wrong but even in what they count as morally relevant at all [1,2,3,4,5,6,7]. Some people focus on the importance of individual rights, including the rights to be treated fairly and not harmed, whereas others focus on moral norms that serve not lone individuals necessarily but entire communities. Concerns about caring for and not hurting or taking advantage of others are often designated as ‘‘individualizing’’ values [1,2,8]. These norms are aimed at ensuring that each individual is protected. Concerns about being loyal to one’s group, showing adequate respect for authority (and extant social structures, i.e. hierarchies), and maintaining bodily or spiritual purity often serve a different purpose – to maintain cohesive communities. ‘‘binding’’ values are thought to ‘‘bind and build’’ groups of people [1,2,3,8]
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