Psychology Assessment 1: An Analysis of Moral Foundations and Politics

This psychology assessment delves into the intricate relationship between moral foundations and political orientation. The report begins with an introduction to the concept of political orientation and its focus on societal welfare, followed by an overview of moral foundation theory, which identifies key areas influenced by political views. The literature review explores the five foundations of the theory: Care/Harm, Fairness/Cheating, Loyalty/Betrayal, Authority/Subversion, and Sanctity/Degradation, and their connections to liberal and conservative ideologies. The report then examines the correlation between political orientation and moral foundations, highlighting the importance of this connection in shaping political ideologies. The hypothesis section presents two questions to assess the relationship between moral foundations and liberal/conservative political orientations. Finally, the conclusion summarizes the findings, emphasizing the significant impact of moral foundations on political activities and offering insights into the interplay between these two concepts. The report utilizes various scholarly sources to support its arguments and conclusions.

Psychology Assessment 1

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
LITERATURE REVIEW................................................................................................................1
Moral foundation theory and its foundation...........................................................................1
Relation between political orientation and moral foundation and its importance:.................2
HYPOTHESIS.................................................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................3
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................4

INTRODUCTION
Political orientation refers to the thinking of a group of people, region and nation. It
mainly focuses on the welfare of the society from democracy, corruption etc. Moral foundation
theory was developed to identify the key areas which highly affected with political orientation as
investigated by Godwin (2015). The study is mainly concerns on the moral foundation theory
and its relationship with liberal and conservative political orientation. The research study will
test the hypothesis to assess that whether there is any relationship between moral foundation and
liberal or conservative political orientation or not. It includes all the virtues, narratives and
institutions which create social active programmes by which values can be developed in the
society. This report basically depends on preparing literature review of relationship between
political orientation and moral foundation.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Moral foundation theory and its foundation
According to Graham, Nosek & Haidt (2012) moral foundation theory is developed to
identify the moral content areas which are highly affected in a wide level. It mainly focuses on
identifying and understanding the reasons of various kinds of human behaviour. This theory is
mainly divided into five foundations such as Care/Harm, Fairness/Cheating, Loyalty/Betrayal,
Authority/Subversion and Sanctity/Degradation. As per Graham, Nosek & Haidt (2012) point of
view, the first two foundations such as harm/care and fairness/cheating are highly concerned
with protection and providing fair treatment to individual. On contrast to this, they also
considered as binding foundations because people are bound to perform as per the approach in a
larger group. Rest of the three foundations such as in group, authority and purity do not focuses
on the individual and group. It is totally based on the welfare of society. It also found that two
foundations are based on liberal orientation approach whereas rest of three are totally based on
conservative political orientation. The main reason for developing this theory was to analysis the
differences in culture which makes great impact on the political ideology. As per Janoff-Bulman
& Carnes (2013) there are various scholars which provide difference kinds of moral theory in
order to analyse the future progress of political works. By the use of conservatives, libertarians;
different kinds of variation related to opinion have been discussed in this theory. It also refers the
position of liberal which consider as more conservative to make any fair arguments and more
concerned with various principles like care and equality. According to Janoff-Bulman & Carnes
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(2013) Moral foundation theory can be classified into five parts. The first foundation refers the
care/harm in which people are to be protecting by others due to some harm which they are faced
in working place. Fairness/Cheating refers to providing justice as per the described rules which
protect people from cheating.
In the study of Godwin (2015), Loyal/Betrayal refers to taking action or standing for the
group, family, nation which helps to make complete support from betrayal. Authority or respect
also refers to the providing tradition and legitimate authority which is totally different or
opposite from subversion. At last, sanctity includes purity which means providing complete
security in foods, actions in order to protect the people from degradation.
Relation between political orientation and moral foundation and its importance:
As per Feinberg & Willer (2013) point of view, Moral foundation theory is highly related
to the political orientation and it can be measured by two single item such as "liberal-
conservative" or "left-right". In which high conservative represents the great binding foundations
in the form of loyalty, sanctity and authority. In addition to this, individual foundation is related
to the harm and fairness. Whereas, a left-right measure does not relate with sanctity but it is
associated with all other foundations in moral foundation theory. According to Graham, Haidt &
Nosek (2009) in case of political orientation, it can be measured on the basis of fairness and
harm. Furthermore, all the binding foundations are highly associated with liberal-conservative
measures. Whereas, some areas adopt purity, in group and authority which is based on
conservative measures. Hence, many authors do not consider liberal-conservative and left-right
measures as they are interchangeable in nature.
According to Cronin & De Greiff (2015) moral foundation theory is important in making
good political orientation because this theory provides accurate results and suggest systematic
difference between liberals and conservatives activity. It is also helpful to make relationship
between conservative and mental rigidity. It is analysed that conservatives are more reliable and
accurate by using moral foundation theory. It also provides a complete understanding of various
political issues and activity in order to protect people from any uncertain events and harms. It
also gives suggestion so that moral stereotypes & philosophy can be understood by the
intergroup for segregating their process.
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HYPOTHESIS
Question 1
H0: All the moral foundations are rated equally by persons with liberal political orientation.
H1: All the moral foundations are not rated equally by the persons with liberal political
orientation.
Question 2
H0: All the moral foundations are rated equally by person with conservative political
orientations.
H1: All the moral foundations are not rated equally by person with conservative political
orientation.
CONCLUSION
From the above detailed report, it can be concluded that Moral foundations and political
orientation both are related with each other. This report discovered the various factors which
highly relates to the moral foundation theory. By taking the hypothesis, it can be concluded that
conservative political oriented approach is highly used by the parties as compare tom liberal. It
also explained the relationship between moral foundations and political orientation. By analysing
this, it can be concluded that moral foundations make positive and negative impact political
parties acrtivity.
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REFERENCES
Journals and Books
Cronin, C. & De Greiff, P. (Eds.). (2015). Inclusion of the other: Studies in political theory. John
Wiley & Sons.
Feinberg, M. & Willer, R. (2013). The moral roots of environmental attitudes. Psychological
Science. 24(1). 56-62.
Godwin, W. (2015). Enquiry concerning political justice: and its influence on morals and
happiness. Penguin UK.
Graham, J., Haidt, J., & Nosek, B. A. (2009). Liberals and conservatives rely on different sets of
moral foundations. Journal of personality and social psychology. 96(5). 1029.
Graham, J., Nosek, B. A., & Haidt, J. (2012). The moral stereotypes of liberals and
conservatives: Exaggeration of differences across the political spectrum. PloS one.
7(12). e50092.
Janoff-Bulman, R. & Carnes, N. C. (2013). Surveying the moral landscape: Moral motives and
group-based moralities. Personality and Social Psychology Review. 17(3). 219-236
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