The Moral Public: Moral Judgment and Political Attitudes

Abstract

Notwithstanding the vast political philosophy literature on morality, empirical political scientists have shied away from studying the extent to which people use moral judgment in forming political attitudes. Currently, morality is either altogether neglected, or is integrated in an a-theoretical manner. This project builds on literature from philosophy and psychology to conceptualize moral judgment as bi-dimensional, and experimentally tests this conceptualization by varying the accessibility of harm cues and the moral emotion of disgust prior to moral appraisal of politics. Next, the moderating effect of ideology and the role of moral judgment in attitude strength, political engagement and political intolerance are examined.