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Wice, Matthew; Takagi, Yoko; Hankour, Kamil; John, Aaron
doi: 10.1177/00220221241283918pmid: N/A
In the current study, we analyzed prosocial content in children’s picture books in the United States (N = 40) and Japan (N = 40). Results revealed cultural commonality and differences in the nature of the prosocial behaviors depicted. While acts involving characters helping others fulfill goals were frequent in both cultures, children’s books in the United States were more likely than those in Japan to contain depictions of characters providing emotional comfort. Japanese children’s books, on the contrary, were more likely to involve mutual collaboration and sharing. The findings demonstrate how valued forms of prosocial behavior are reflected in cultural products that are geared toward children.
Akaliyski, Plamen; Tormos, Raül
doi: 10.1177/00220221241258463pmid: N/A
Post–Cold War Europe has become a scene of a grueling contestation over questions of morality, with key players being the EU and Russia. The legacy of the Cold War on the moral beliefs of European nations and their transformation over the last three decades requires an examination. We advance theory toward the potential role of development, institutions, and identity, associated with the Cold War division and continued differentiation at present. We use the Morally Debatable Behaviors Scale fielded in the World Value Survey and the European Values Study (1981–2021) to analyze the variation in the long-term dynamics of two moral dimensions: (a) dishonest-illegal issues (DII) and (b) personal-sexual issues (PSI). An age-period-cohort analysis reveals that old EU-members, post-communist EU-members, and post-communist non-EU countries have experienced distinct evolutions in both moral domains. The identity approach was supported: old EU members have increased their leniency on PSI and decreased it on DII; new EU members followed the same trends but slower on PSI and faster on DII; non-EU nations experienced no change on either issue. These trends are only partly attributable to the changes in the quality of institutions. Economic development has the expected positive effect only in old EU members, while its impact on PSI dwindles and even reverses as one moves away from Brussels’ sphere of influence. Furthermore, contrary to previous evidence, we find that economic development predicts changes in DII, potentially due to the expansion of moral concern to unknown others.
Vishkin, Allon; Bigman, Yochanan E.; Ginges, Jeremy
doi: 10.1177/00220221241279222pmid: N/A
Moral foundations theory proposes that there are two types of moral domains: the individualizing domain, which relates to individual welfare (comprising harm and fairness foundations), and the binding domain, which relates to communal and spiritual welfare (comprising loyalty, authority, and purity foundations). In this investigation, we demonstrate that this distinction is not universal. Specifically, across five studies (total N = 1,211) conducted among Jews in Israel and Christians in the United States, we show that the core religious belief that people are created in the image of God is associated not only with purity/divinity values that are typically considered to be part of the binding domain but also with the individualizing moral domain. In two correlational studies, we find that this belief is highly correlated with religiosity but that it predicts greater endorsement of the individualizing moral domain (Studies 1–2). Two experimental studies further establish that this belief is associated with endorsing the individualizing moral domain and the moral foundation of purity, but not the communal foundations (Studies 3–4). Finally, in Study 5, we demonstrate that these experimental findings are not driven by belief in God. We conclude that the distinction between individualizing and binding moral domains is more culturally contingent than previously believed. We discuss the broader implications of the belief in creation in the image of God for understanding moral judgments pertaining to human dignity.
Xu, Liying; Zhang, Yuyan; Liao, Lingyu; Peng, Kaiping
doi: 10.1177/00220221241283438pmid: N/A
Globalization has contributed to an increase of culture mixing. Prior research has shown that culture mixing may evoke disgust responses, and disgust can lead to harsher moral judgments. Whether and how culture mixing influences moral judgments, however, remains unknown. Therefore, the present research examines the effect of culture mixing on moral judgments and explores the underlying psychological mechanism. Across three studies, our findings demonstrate that exposure to culture mixing leads to harsher moral judgments. Specifically, participants exposed to culture-mixing images demonstrated harsher moral judgments of actions in impurity-relevant moral scenarios (Study 1). In addition, mediation analysis indicates that the effect of culture mixing on moral judgments is mediated by disgust (Study 2), with this mediating effect being observed exclusively in impurity-relevant moral scenarios (Study 3). Implications of the current research for understanding the relationship between culture mixing and morality are discussed, and recommendations for future research avenues are provided.
Li, Wanyue; Sedikides, Constantine; Zhou, Xinyue; Du, Feng; Gregg, Aiden P.
doi: 10.1177/00220221241273442pmid: N/A
Converging evidence points toward the COVID-19 pandemic having amplified lingering anti-Asian prejudice and discrimination, including the virus’s geographical origin being highlighted on social media. This amplification is consistent with theoretical frameworks and empirical findings that connect moral disapproval to biological aversion. Furthermore, experimental literature suggests that prejudicial stereotypes (e.g., of Black criminality) can prompt behavioral discrimination (e.g., disproportionate aggression in shoot/don’t-shoot simulation tasks). Hence, we tested across four experiments (N = 2,844) whether prejudicial stereotypes of Asian infectivity, prominent during the COVID-19 era, might analogously trigger disproportionate avoidance. White participants (Experiments 1 and 2, United Kingdom and United States, crowdsourced) cross-culturally exhibited a pattern of Asian evasion on a custom-made approach-avoidance simulation task: they more readily avoided infected targets when Asian and more readily approached uninfected targets when White. However, Asian evasion waned after exposure to both associative pairings unsupportive of the stereotype and explicit media critique of the stereotype (Experiments 3 and 4: United States, crowdsourced). Our findings highlight how, even if the threat of COVID-19 induced anti-Asian aversions consistent with historical hatreds (i.e., “yellow peril”), some of those aversions may be readily remediated.
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