TITLE:
Moral Considerations in Political Decision-Making: Differences by Political Orientation and Gender
AUTHORS:
Christina M. Frederick, Shawn Doherty
KEYWORDS:
Decision-Making, Political Orientation, Gender
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Social Sciences,
Vol.11 No.9,
September
18,
2023
ABSTRACT: There may be many factors determining the moral dimensions used by
individuals when making political decisions. Two important dimensions worthy of
examination are political orientation and gender. Based on Moral Foundation
Theory (Graham et al., 2009), the present study examined how both of the aforementioned factors influence
the moral dimensions used in political decisions. Participants (n = 338)
completed a demographic survey, rated their self-perceived political
orientation and then completed the Moral Relevance Scale (Graham, Haidt, &
Nosek, 2009) and the Ideological Consistency Scale (Pew Research Center, 2014),
which was used to place participants in liberal, moderate or conservative
political orientation groups. A MANOVA showed no differences in participants
based on gender, but significant differences in decision-making based on
political ideology. Discussion focused on how moderates differ in their views
from other ideologies, a relatively new finding.