Moral Foundations Theory: An Exploratory Study of Politics and Decision-Making

Abstract

Although ethical decision-making has been researched for decades, much remains to be learned. Recently, the role of intuition has received increasing attention (e.g., Haidt, 2001; Sonenshein, 2007). We investigate the applicability of Haidt’s social intuitionist model to decisions made in response to two ethical dilemmas and the potential impact of politics on those decisions. Using path analysis, we find that the moral foundations from the Moral Foundations Theory (MFT) alone do not explain the decisions. However, when political affiliation is added, we find that the moral foundation(s) on which conservatives rely differ(s) from that on which liberals/moderates rely.