Expanding the range of environmental values: Political orientation, moral foundations, and the common ingroup

Abstract

Resolving widespread political polarization on environmental issues, particularly in the U.S., remains an intractable problem. Data from a pair of experiments illuminate a way forward in which a range of different moral and political values may be affirmed under the rubric of a common environmental destiny. Findings from Experiment 1 demonstrated that conservatives’ pro-environmental attitudes substantially increased after an appeal to binding and liberty moral concerns. In Experiment 2, drawing from work on the common ingroup identity model in intergroup relations, a second experiment demonstrated the enhanced efficacy of an appeal that affirmed diverse ideological and moral values in the context of a shared concern for the health of the natural environment. Discussion focuses on the social identity processes responsible for such effects, the resistance to change of some environmental attitudes such as climate change skepticism, and strategies to achieve common moral ground across the political spectrum.