Abstract
Public discourse is often caustic and conflict-filled. This trend seems to be particularly evident when the content of such discourse is around moral issues (broadly defined) and when the discourse occurs on social media. Several explanatory mechanisms for such conflict have been explored in recent psychological and social-science literatures. The present work sought to examine a potentially novel explanatory mechanism defined in philosophical literature: Moral Grandstanding. According to philosophical accounts, Moral Grandstanding is the use of moral talk to seek social status. For the present work, we conducted six studies, using two undergraduate samples (Study 1, N = 361; Study 2, N = 356); a sample matched to U.S. norms for age, gender, race, income, Census region (Study 3, N = 1,063); a YouGov sample matched to U.S. demographic norms (Study 4, N = 2,000); and a brief, one-month longitudinal study of Mechanical Turk workers in the U.S. (Study 5, Baseline N = 499, follow-up n = 296), and a large, one-week YouGov sample matched to U.S. demographic norms (Baseline N = 2,519, follow-up n = 1,776). Across studies, we found initial support for the validity of Moral Grandstanding as a construct. Specifically, moral grandstanding motivation was associated with status-seeking personality traits, as well as greater political and moral conflict in daily life.
Highlights
Public discourse is often fraught with controversy, when the focus of such discourse is related to issues of morality or political belief [1]
Public discourse regarding morally charged topics is prone to conflict and polarization, on social media platforms that tend to facilitate ideological echo chambers
Moral grandstanding in public discourse study introduces an interdisciplinary construct called Moral Grandstanding as possible a contributing factor to this phenomenon
Summary
Public discourse is often fraught with controversy, when the focus of such discourse is related to issues of morality or political belief [1]. Value-based discussions are prone to conflict, as individuals engaged in such conversations are often passionately invested in their beliefs and positions [2,3,4,5]. A body of research has noted that, in the context of social media environments and electronic communication methods, public discussion of controversial topics has become even more volatile over recent years [6,7,8,9]. A number of reasons for such conflicts have been suggested in recent literatures, many of which have shown. Moral grandstanding in public discourse study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
