Moral Emotions Research Articles

Expressions of moral disgust reflect both disgust and anger

ABSTRACT People often appear to conflate anger and disgust, seemingly using expressions of both emotions interchangeably in response to moral violations. Yet, anger and moral disgust differ in their antecedents and consequences. These empirical observations are associated with two broad theoretical perspectives: one describes expressions of moral disgust as metaphors for anger, whereas the other describes moral disgust as functionally distinct from anger. Both accounts have received empirical support from separate and seemingly inconsistent literatures. The present study seeks to resolve this inconsistency by focusing on the different ways moral emotions have been measured. We formalise three theoretical models of moral emotions: one in which expressions of disgust are purely associated with anger (but not physiological disgust), one in which disgust and anger are fully separated and have distinct functions, and an integrative model that accommodates both metaphorical use in language and distinctive function. We test these models on responses to moral violations (four studies; N = 1608). Our results suggest that moral disgust has distinct functions, but that expressions of moral disgust are sometimes used to convey moralistic anger. These findings have implications for the theoretical status and measurement of moral emotions.

Double-Edged Care: Toward a Politics of Care Justice

In American political culture, care is double-edged. In everyday struggles over power, some political actors deploy care in ways that advance social justice, while others mobilize care in ways that hinder it. Feminist scholarship itself grapples with this double-edged-ness: Some scholars argue for care (Joan Tronto, Martha Fineman), while others push against it, asserting that care ideology is oppressive and should be “troubled” (Michelle Murphy, Lisa Lowe). I suggest that a discerning politics of care justice helps to resolve this tension. My study is comparative: I uphold Black Lives Matter, Black feminism, and the Domestic Workers Alliance as advancing varying forms of transformative politics that join care with justice. I also show that deployments of care by white political actors often counter or constrain social justice progress. To discern and analyze care’s double-edged-ness, I delineate three meanings of care—moral value, emotion, and labor—and I trace these meanings in political-cultural moments from the Trump era.

Multiplicity of moral emotions in educational dark tourism

Tourism experiences are often mediated by morality and imbued with emotions. This study draws on worksheets associated with a field trip to the War Remnants Museum in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, to examine moral emotions in educational dark tourism. Thematic analysis of children's field trip narratives revealed a multiplicity of moral emotions in the positioning of ‘self’ and ‘other’. Moral emotions are discussed in reference to acts of violating or upholding the moral standards of victims and transgressors. The War Remnants Museum as a dark tourism site provides a morally relevant context, evoking moral emotions, influencing moral judgments, and persuading moral actional tendencies which all have important implications for theorising emotion and ingroup/outgroup relations in educational dark tourism experiences.

Decolonising Reactions to Material Traces of the European Past: The Case of an Italian Colonial Food

European capital cities are replete with material traces of colonial times, not only institutional reminders but also ephemeral objects, created to glorify colonial domination. Reactions of descendants of former colonisers to these traces suggest that colonial tropes are still present in their contemporary imaginary about the past. A comprehensive effort of decolonisation, therefore, needs to aim not only at including previously despised minorities, but also at raising majorities’ awareness about the aggressive side of leaving the permanence of material traces of colonialism unquestioned. Moreover, this awareness of implications of material traces could help to redesign European physical contexts to become more welcoming places for descendants of former colonised groups. Our research explores reactions of different generations of descendants of Italian colonisers when presented with an ephemeral trace of past violence—a candy still sold with a colonial wrapping. About 175 participants were presented with the image of the candy, either wrapped in its original colonial package or a neutral one. The image was followed either by a brief explanation of its colonial meaning or not. Reactions to such an apparently inconspicuous reminder of the Italian colonial crimes—still self-censored in the social representations of the Italian national past—proved to vary across experimental conditions and different ages of respondents. In particular, when questioning these ephemeral traces of adult participants show more intense group-based negative moral emotions. Relations between the generational renewal of former colonisers’ group and collective elaboration of intergroup violence are discussed.

A Review of Neurocognitive Interpretations of Australian Literature: Criticism in the Age of Neuroawareness

A Review of <i>Neurocognitive Interpretations of Australian Literature: Criticism in the Age of Neuroawareness</i>

Technology moral sense: Development, reliability, and validity of the TMS scale in Chinese version.

The aggregation of intelligent technologies such as big data, algorithms, and biometrics poses new moral risks to humanity and has raised awareness of technology ethics. Based on the research on moral issues in the fields of ethics and psychology, we built the concept of technology moral sense (TMS) by investigating three dimensions-technology moral consensus, cognition, and emotion. We focused on the field of intelligent surveillance technology, adopted a scale, and conducted a questionnaire survey with more than 1,000 respondents. We used exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis to test two different samples. First, by combining item analysis and Cronbach's alpha coefficient, we established that all three dimensions are reliable. Our results indicated a Cronbach's alpha coefficient of 0.944, 0.891 and 0.938 for technology moral consensus, emotion, and cognition. Second, exploratory factor analysis verified that there were three factors, the eigenvalues were all greater than one, and the cumulative variance explanation rate was 74.953%, and the factor loading coefficient of the 18 items are greater than 0.5. Finally, we used confirmatory factor analysis to test the fit of the model. The test shows that RMSEA = 0.078, CFI and TLI are greater than 0.9, which indicating the fit was suitable and the construct validity was good. Our findings demonstrated that the new scale is a reliable tool for assessing the technology moral sense in China. The results support the reliability and validity of the Technology Moral Sense (TMS) scale, and explain the existence of the concept of technology moral sense through three dimensions.

도덕감정 : 분류와 혁신연구에 적용

본 연구는 도덕감정과 자본주의와의 관계를 탐구하면서 시작한다. 기업과 소비자와의 관계에서 도덕감정이 중요하게 작용하면서 공동체를 형성하고 있음을 제기한다. 오늘날 다양한 혁신이 나타나 자본주의를 변화시키고 있 지만, 혁신을 수용하는 인간 사회에는 공동체 위기가 일어나고 있다는 데 문 제를 제기한다. 타인과 공동체를 생각하는 감정을 도덕감정의 영역으로 보 고, 도덕감정이 자본주의 속에서 공동체를 지키기 위해 작용한다고 본다. 기 독교인으로 살고 있다는 것은 쉬지않고 이웃의 안녕에 귀를 기울이는 삶이 며, 이를 위해 도덕감정이 작용하고 있다는 것을 전제한다. 도덕감정과 자본 주의와의 관계를 시작점으로 감정연구에서 도덕감정이 어떻게 분류되며 도 덕행위와 어떻게 연결되는가를 탐구하고, 혁신에 도덕감정이 어떻게 작용하 는가를 탐구하고자 한다. 다가오는 혁신을 슘페터의 혁신이론과 그 이후 발 전된 혁신 개념을 제시하면서 이러한 혁신이 소비자들에게 어떻게 다가오는 가를 중심으로 도덕감정이 작용하는 과정을 탐구한다. 다가오는 혁신을 지 각하고 위협인가 기회인가를 판단하면서 감정이 뒤따르며, 여기서 도덕감정 의 영역이 어떻게 작용하는가를 제시한다. 그리고 경영학적인 사례들을 제 시하여 도덕감정이 혁신 수용에 영향을 미침을 보여주고자 한다. 본 연구의 차별점은 혁신에 대한 소비자 반응을 보여주는 데 있어서 공동체를 위한 도 덕감정의 역할에 집중하였다는 데 있다. 다시 도덕감정과 관련된 문헌들을 탐색하여 네 가지 도덕감정을 분류(자기의식적 감정, 타인을 칭찬하는 감정, 타인을 비난하는 감정, 타인의 고통에 가슴 아파하는 감정)하고 적용될 수 있는 경영 사례들을 제시하였다. 본 연구는 도덕감정과 혁신연구를 연결하 여 바라본 최초의 연구이다. 분류한 도덕감정과 관련된 본 연구를 확장하여 공동체의 발전을 위한 여러 미래연구를 자극할 수 있기를 기대한다.

Two Sides of the Same Coin: The Role of Aggression Proneness and Disgust in the Prediction of Homophobic and Transphobic Attitudes

The LGBTQ+ community is at a disproportionately higher risk of experiencing identity-driven harassment and violence. Such victimization has profound deleterious effects on social and psychological well-being. Therefore, enhancing understanding of the mechanisms of anti-LGBTQ+ prejudice could inform risk management and intervention strategies to prevent homophobic and transphobic violence and mitigate its detrimental effects. Prior literature suggests disgust and aggression proneness are value-based emotions associated with sexual and gender prejudice. To date, few studies have examined the differential role of moral emotions in the development of homophobia and transphobia. Thus, this study sought to address this gap in the literature by examining the roles of disgust and aggression proneness in the prediction of transphobic and homophobic attitudes. A total of 1842 undergraduate students completed a battery of psychological measures assessing prejudicial attitudes and negative emotions. Multivariate linear regressions indicated disgust sensitivity was uniquely associated with homophobic attitudes, whereas aggression proneness was associated with transphobic attitudes. This has significant implications for the development of violence management and prevention strategies to address homophobic and transphobic violence.

The Role of Connectedness in Pro-Environmental Consumption of Fashionable Commodities

A call for human-nature reconnection echoes among scholars to move consumers towards pro-environmental consumption. When addressing products that are deeply entangled with unconscious human desires and addictive behaviour and that are also part of one of the most toxic industries—such as fashionables—the need for consumer awareness is key. Studies both on connectedness to nature and moral emotions like guilt have consistently shown linkages with pro-environmental behaviour. However, deeper scrutiny regarding this pro-environmental behaviour is needed to grasp these variables’ sphere of action. This research aims to explore the first linkages between connectedness and pro-environmental consumption. We present findings from a literature review on the impact of connectedness in consumption, particularly fashionables, following an integrative approach of a semi-systematic keyword search and snowball sampling. We present a first indication of possible drivers for connectedness and their impact on pro-environmental choices.

Differential associations of rumination and cognitive flexibility with guilt and shame following potentially morally injurious events

BackgroundGuilt and shame are common moral emotions following potentially morally injurious events (PMIEs), which involve events that violate one's deeply held moral values. However, not all individuals will experience guilt and shame following PMIEs and the mechanisms by which PMIEs lead to guilt and shame are not well understood. This study set out to examine the role of event-related intrusive rumination, event-related deliberate rumination, cognitive flexibility, and their interactions, in predicting PMIE-related guilt and shame. MethodsA subsample of undergraduate participants exposed to an objective PMIE and endorsing a subjective PMIE (N = 323) completed self-report assessments. ResultsHigher levels of event-related intrusive rumination and event-related deliberate rumination and lower levels of cognitive flexibility were associated with higher levels of PMIE-related shame. Only higher levels of event-related deliberate rumination were associated with greater PMIE-related guilt. Moreover, the predictors explained much greater variance in PMIE-related shame (R2Adj = 0.44) than PMIE-related guilt (R2Adj = 0.05). There was no significant interaction between event-related rumination and cognitive flexibility in predicting PMIE-related guilt or shame. LimitationsThis study was cross-sectional, the sample was mostly female, and all data was collected via self-report. Longitudinal studies are needed to explore these potential mechanistic processes. ConclusionsOur findings suggest that differential pathways may affect whether individuals experience guilt or shame following PMIEs. Rumination and cognitive flexibility may be valuable clinical targets for interventions aimed at addressing PMIE-related shame.

Moral emotions underlie puritanical morality.

Fitouchi et al. illustrate the cognitive and evolutionary foundations of puritanical morality, while leave the emotional foundation unclear. We complement their theory by proposing moral emotions (e.g., guilt and shame) as characteristic emotions underlying puritanical morality. Our proposition is based on the findings that these moral emotions emerge after violations of puritanical norms and promote self-control and cooperation.

Kartografirovanie bazovykh i moralnykh emotsiy pozhilykh zhiteley “depressivnykh” territoriy kak odin iz instrumentov preduprezhdeniya emotsionalnykh konfliktov

The article presents an overview of the main theoretical approaches to the origins of the notions of “basic” and “moral” emotions, and the correlation of emotions and space in such scientific fields as cultural anthropology, sociology, and psychology, starting from the 1980s. Also, the article provides examples of contemporary research which utilizes the visualization of basic and moral emotions by means of applications and computer software as a method of studying the emotional image of the city (cities). In 2017–2022, the author created emotion maps of semi-abandoned Vorzogory and Maloshuika villages and Komsomolsky settlement of the Arkhangelsk region (northern Russia), based on anonymous questionnaires among their permanent senior residents. Mapping of emotions made it possible to visualize problem emotional loci, to reveal the existence of emotional segregation and places of mixed emotions, and to determine the borders of emotional environments. As a result of field observations and analysis of travel blogs, the author concludes that there is a “a conflict of emotions”, i.e. a contradiction between the basic and moral emotions. Not only places of basic emotions, such as anxiety and disgust, but also places of moral emotions, such as pride and shame, require preventive work, aimed at avoiding potential community conflicts, as well as conflicts between the local populations and tourists/migrants, preserving emotional health of senior citizens, and in the end, promoting sustainable development of local communities.

A Study on the Structural Elements of the Educational Philosophy “Establishing Morality and Cultivating Students” in English Teaching in Middle School Based the Process of Moral Formation

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the structural elements of the moral education when applying the educational philosophy “establishing morality and cultivating students” in English teaching in middle school in the process of the middle school students’ moral formation from the perspective of three analyses. The first is to interpret four levels of moral education from the moral awareness, the moral emotion and the moral will. The second is to interpret the moral behavior based on the moral levels. The third on the structural elements of applying “establishing morality and cultivating students” to English teaching in middle school is to interpret the division of setting the structural elements of the middle school students’ moral education in English teaching based on the first and the second analyses in combination with the middle school students’ characteristics of moral education.

Moral psychology biases toward individual, not systemic, representations.

We expand Chater & Loewenstein's discussion of barriers to s-frames by highlighting moral psychological mechanisms. Systemic aspects of moralized social issues can be neglected because of (a) the individualistic frame through which we perceive moral transgressions; (b) the desire to punish elicited by moral emotions; and (c) the motivation to attribute agency and moral responsibility to transgressors.

Contextualization of a Radical Language Detection System Through Moral Values and Emotions

Contextualization of a Radical Language Detection System Through Moral Values and Emotions

Primary social emotions toward a non-player character: an examination of moral decision-making in video games

This exploratory study examines the emotional responses toward non-player characters (NPCs) when challenged with an in-game moral decision (i.e. justified versus unjustified killing) and when exposed to game statistics on whether their moral choice aligned with the majority public. Using Buck et al.’s (2014) social and moral emotions (SAME) scale, participants (n = 301) completed an online experiment measuring their primary social emotions after being presented with a written scenario and screenshots from a popular video game that required participants to make a moral decision. Findings provide overall support for the interdependent connections in primary social emotions and revealed that embarrassment and shame were higher towards the NPC in the unjustified choice. Study results provide practical health implications for video game developers to develop and design more elaborate narrative paths that delve into the ethical tendencies of video game players.

The Role of Social Value Orientation in Chinese Adolescents' Moral Emotion Attribution.

Previous studies have explored the role of cognitive factors and sympathy in children's development of moral emotion attribution, but the effect of personal dispositional factors on adolescents' moral emotion expectancy has been neglected. In this study, we address this issue by testing adolescents' moral emotion attribution with different social value orientation (SVO). Eight hundred and eighty Chinese adolescents were classified into proselfs, prosocials and mixed types in SVO and asked to indicate their moral emotions in four moral contexts (prosocial, antisocial, failing to act prosocially (FAP) and resisting antisocial impulse (RAI)). The findings revealed an obvious contextual effect in adolescents' moral emotion attribution and the effect depends on SVO. Prosocials evaluated more positively than proselfs and mixed types in the prosocial and RAI contexts, but proselfs evaluated more positively than prosocials and mixed types in the antisocial and FAP contexts. The findings indicate that individual differences of adolescents' moral emotion attribution have roots in their social value orientation, and suggest the role of dispositional factors in the processing of moral emotion.

Implementation of Teaching and Learning (PdP) of Moral Education in Preschool

Appreciation of the pure values of preschool students can be applied through the introduction of scientific disciplines, especially in Teaching and Learning (PdP) of Moral Education. For some country, the goal of Moral Education is focused on the shaping of virtuous people in three domains, namely (i) moral reasoning, (ii) moral emotions and (iii) moral behaviour toward non-Muslim students by implementing the National Preschool Curriculum Standard (KSPK) based on 14 universal values by preschool teachers. This paper is to study the implementation of teaching and learning by them as one of the reason to build citizen in the community with good moral behavior and reduce the immoral culture among individual. However, based on the review of the previous ideas, there are various issues related to the implementation of Moral Education at the preschool level. The study reviews by an analysis systematic method uses one databases from Google Scholar and the Google search engine. The search finding is to identify issues and suggestions to improve the teaching practice of Moral Education. As a result, there are five issues involved to the implementation of Moral Education include the aspect of teacher pedagogical skills dan parental involvement. Each section is discussed in detail to get an overview of the issues that occur both in the country and abroad. In addition, this paper also provides some suggestions such as narrative and habituation method in teaching sessions to improve the teaching practice of Moral Education to be more effective. Further research on this topic is expected to enlighten people involved such as the ministry, schools and the community about the importance of implementing Moral Education for preschool students.

Are ‘Dirty Hands’ Possible?

This paper argues that ‘dirty hands’ (DH) scenarios, where an agent is forced to do wrong in order to do right, are conceptually coherent. The charge of incoherence is a widespread and common criticism made by deontologists and consequentialists alike. They argue that DH theorists erroneously assume the existence of real moral dilemmas and then compound this error by claiming that it is possible to engage in justified moral wrongdoing. However, such critics argue that there are only prima facie moral dilemmas and hence it is not only irrational and obtuse to argue for DH scenarios, but also undermines our search for sound moral judgments in very difficult situations. Given the gravity of these charges, surprisingly little has been written in defence of DH as a coherent and necessary part of our moral vocabulary. If there can be no successful defence of the possibility of DH, then all talk of such scenarios become futile. This paper responds to two influential and what initially appear to be strongly plausible arguments used by critics of DH. I call these the ‘Arguments from Deontic Logic’ and the ‘All-Things-Considered Argument’. I present three responses which seek to raise serious doubts about their efficacy. I then support the possibility of DH by exploring what we can learn about our moral reality from the moral emotion of ‘tragic remorse’. This approach endorses the role of emotions in determining moral knowledge. It also rejects the view that ethical theories ought to dismiss DH experiences as incoherent in favour of questionable theoretical a priori assumptions, which seek a reductionist account of our moral reality.

The impact of breast cancer on social cognition in female Colombian patients

BackgroundThe high prevalence of female breast cancer is a global health concern. Breast cancer and its treatments have been associated with impairments in general cognition, as well as structural and functional brain changes. Considering the social challenges that some of these patients face, it is important to understand the socio-emotional effects of breast cancer as well. Nevertheless, the impact of breast cancer on social cognition has remained underexplored. The objective of this study was to assess social cognition domains and other relevant cognitive and emotional variables (executive functions, anxiety, or depression) in females with breast cancer.MethodsThe participants were 29 female patients diagnosed with breast cancer and 29 female healthy controls. We assessed emotion recognition, theory of mind, empathy, and moral emotions. We also included measures of general cognitive functioning, quality of life, anxiety, and depression. Linear multiple regressions were performed to assess whether the group (patients or controls), GAD-7 scores, emotional and social subscales of EORTC QLQ-C30, and IFS scores predicted the social cognition variables (EET, RMET, MSAT).ResultsPatients with breast cancer showed impairments in emotion recognition and in affective theory of mind. In addition, patients had lower scores in some executive functions. Only theory of mind between group differences remained significant after Bonferroni correction. Emotion recognition was associated with executive functioning, but anxiety levels were not a significant predictor of the changes in social cognition.ConclusionsSocial cognition impairments, especially in theory of mind, may be present in breast cancer, which can be relevant to understanding the social challenges that these patients encounter. This could indicate the need for therapeutic interventions to preserve social cognition skills in patients with breast cancer.