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How social relationships shape moral wrongness judgments.
Brian D Earp1, Killian L McLoughlin2, Joshua T Monrad2
1Department of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA. brian.earp@yale.edu.
Nature Communications
|October 2, 2021
Summary
Social relationships significantly shape our moral judgments. This study reveals that specific expectations within relationships (relational norms) accurately predict how morally wrong actions are perceived, highlighting the importance of social context in morality.
Area of Science:
- Social Psychology
- Moral Psychology
- Relationship Science
Background:
- Moral judgments are influenced by social context, yet the precise mechanisms remain unclear.
- Understanding how relationship dynamics shape perceptions of moral wrongness is crucial for social cognition research.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how social relationships influence moral judgments.
- To test the 'relational norms' model in predicting moral wrongness judgments across different relationship types.
Main Methods:
- Two pre-registered studies involving U.S. participants (N=423 and N=1,320).
- Measured cooperative expectations (relational norms) and moral wrongness judgments within various social relationships (e.g., romantic partners, siblings).
Main Results:
- People hold distinct normative expectations for cooperation (care, reciprocity, etc.) across different social relationships.
- Relational norms accurately predicted perceived moral wrongness of actions within specific relationships, outperforming alternative models.
Conclusions:
- Moral judgments are context-dependent, significantly influenced by the specific social relationship involved.
- The 'relational norms' model provides a robust framework for understanding how relationship dynamics shape morality.
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