The Relationship Between Moral Foundations and Emotions

Abstract

Moral foundations theory posits six moral foundations that guide moral judgment, namely, care, fairness, loyalty, authority, sanctity, and liberty. The theory states that the violation of fairness promotes anger, while doing so for sanctity elicits feelings of disgust. Meanwhile, violation of care is associated with anger toward the perpetrator and compassion for the victim. Only a few empirical studies test the propositions of the theory on the relationship between the violation of moral foundation and emotions, which were conducted in western culture. The current study investigates the relationships between moral transgressions and emotions in a nonwestern culture. It also examined feelings toward perpetrators and victims in the face of moral violation. In the pilot study conducted to determine the relevant scenarios to be used in the research, 187 participants evaluated whether or not the behaviors described in 52 scenarios were morally wrong and to report their feelings in these situations. The main study analyzed the participants’ moral judgment, feelings toward moral violations, emotional reaction toward victims and perpetrators, and decisions on the punishment of perpetrators using the 12 moral violation scenarios identified in the pilot study. Toward this end, data were collected from 72 participants. To test whether the emotion experienced during the violation of one moral foundation is higher than that experienced in the violation of another, the study conducted a 2(gender) × 6(moral foundations) factorial multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) of moral foundations that involved repeated measures. The result indicated that violations of the foundations of justice and care were morally viewed as more wrong than those of other foundations. However, the findings pointed out that emotions guide moral judgment, and feelings toward victims and perpetrators differ accorrding to the violated moral foundations.

Keywords

• Moral foundations
• emotions
• moral judgment

Duyguların Ahlaki Temeller ile İlişkisi

Abstract

Ahlaki Temeller Kuramı bireylerin ahlaki bir olay hakkındaki yargılarını belirleyen altı ahlaki temel bulunduğunu ileri sürmektedir. Bunlar; adalet, bakım verme, özgürlük, gruba sadakat, otoritelere itaat ve kutsallık (saflık) temelleridir. Adalet temelinin ihlali durumunda öfke, kutsallık temelinin ihlalinde iğrenme hissedileceği belirtilmektedir. Bakım temelinin ihlali faile öfke mağdura ise merhamet duyma ile ilişkilendirilmektedir. Kuramın ahlaki temel ihlallerinin duygular ile ilişkisi konusundaki önermeleri yalnızca Batı kültüründe yapılmış birkaç görgül çalışma ile test edilmiştir. Bu çalışmada batılı olmayan bir kültürde ahlaki temellerin ihlalinde, bireylerin hangi duyguları daha çok yaşayacakları sorusuna yanıt aranmıştır. Ayrıca ahlaki yargı ve duygular arasındaki ilişkilere odaklanan diğer çalışmalardan farklı olarak katılımcıların, ahlaki bir ihlal karşısında hissettikleri duyguların yanı sıra mağdura ve faile yönelik duyguları da incelenmiştir. Araştırmada kullanılan ahlaki ihlal senaryolarının belirlenmesi için yapılan ön çalışmada 187 katılımcıdan 52 senaryoda betimlenen davranışların ahlaki olarak yanlış olup olmadığını değerlendirmeleri ve bu durumda yaşayacakları duyguların neler olacağını yazmaları istenmiştir. Ana çalışmada ise ön çalışmada belirlenen 12 ahlaki temel senaryosu kullanılarak katılımcıların, ahlaki yargıları, ahlaki ihlal durumundaki duyguları, mağdura ve ihlali gerçekleştiren kişi ya da gruba karşı duygusal tepkileri ve ahlaki temeli ihlal eden kişinin cezalandırılmasına ilişkin görüşleri değerlendirilmiştir. Bu amaçla toplam 72 katılımcıdan veri toplanmıştır. Bir ahlaki temelin ihlali karşısında yaşanan duygunun bir diğerinin ihlalinde deneyimlenenden daha yüksek olup olmadığını test edebilmek için verilere 2 (cinsiyet) X 6 (ahlaki temel) faktörlü son faktörde tekrar ölçümlü çok değişkenli varyans analizleri (MANOVA) uygulanmıştır. Analiz sonuçları, adalet ve bakım temelleri ihlallerinin diğer temellerin ihlaline kıyasla ahlaki açıdan daha yanlış olarak değerlendirildiğini göstermiştir. Bununla birlikte bulgular, duyguların ahlaki yargılara rehberlik ettiğine ve ihlal edilen ahlaki temele, mağdura ve faile karşı hissedilen duyguların farklılaştığına işaret etmektedir.

Keywords

• Ahlaki temeller
• duygular
• ahlaki yargı

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