Moral Judgment Toward Individuals in Consensually Non-Monogamous Relationships as a Function of Moral Foundations and...

In two experiments we demonstrate how participants perceive individuals in consensually non-monogamous relationships (e.g., polyamory) more negatively compared to those in monogamous relationships, as a function of moral foundation variables and trait-level disgust sensitivity. In Study 1, we experimentally presented participants with vignettes depicting characters in one of two relationship types (monogamous or non-monogamous), after which participants completed character judgments (ethics) and relationship impressions. Participants viewed the characters in a monogamous relationship as more ethical and having higher relationship quality, and these associations were fully mediated by perceptions of the characters as pure, loyal, caring, fair, and honest. Participants high in sensitivity to disgust also perceived the consensually non-monogamous as less ethical and having lower relationship quality compared to participants low in disgust sensitivity. In Study 2, we utilized a victim-blaming paradigm with vignettes in which a character was killed, after which participants were asked to rate who was morally culpable. Participants viewed the non-monogamous character who was killed in the story as more morally culpable, and lower in loyalty and purity, compared to the control condition in which the killed character was monogamous. We discuss these findings in terms of implications for social perception and moral judgment towards consensually non-monogamous relationships.