The Psychology of Moral Conviction
Abstract
This paper reviews current theory and research that indicates that attitudes held with strong moral conviction (‘moral mandates’) represent something psychologically distinct from other constructs (e.g., attitude strength, partisanship, or religiosity), and that variance in moral conviction has important social and political consequences, such as increased intolerance of attitudinally dissimilar others, difficulties in conflict resolution, increased political participation, willingness to accept violent means to achieve preferred ends, strong ties to positive and negative emotions, and inoculation against the usual pressures to obey authorities, obey the law, or to conform to majority group influence. The normative implications of these findings are both reassuring (moral convictions can protect against obedience to potentially malevolent authorities) and terrifying (moral convictions are associated with rejection of the rule of law, and can provide a motivational foundation for violent protest and acts of terrorism). Implications and directions for future research are discussed.
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Status seeking via outrage expression is effective because people often equate moral outrage expressions with the speaker's own morality.
“Status seeking via outrage expression is effective because people often equate moral outrage expressions with the speaker's own morality (Skitka 2010, Tosi & Warmke 2016)”
From Social Media and Morality. (2024) · cites this paper as Skitka 2010
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How Do Rituals Affect Cooperation?: An Experimental Field Study Comparing Nine Ritual Types
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- Authors
- Skitka, L. J.
- Affiliations
- University of Illinois Chicago (US)
- Corresponding author
- Skitka, Linda J.
- ORCID
- Skitka, Linda J.
- Venue
- Social and Personality Psychology Compass
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2010-03-31
- Volume
- 4
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 267-281
- ISSN
- 1751-9004 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2135106825
- Cited by
- 503
- References
- 5
- Citations by year
- 2026: 40 · 2025: 58 · 2024: 39 · 2023: 53 · 2022: 68 · 2021: 53 · 2020: 43 · 2019: 30 · 2018: 24 · 2017: 16 · 2016: 18 · 2015: 17 · 2014: 16 · 2013: 13 · 2012: 8
- FWCI
- 29.11
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Social and Personality Psychology Compass (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social and Intergroup Psychology
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Psychology of Moral and Emotional Judgment
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Psychology of Social Influence
- Keywords
- moral conviction, moral attitudes, political participation, acceptance of violence, obedience to authority, rule of law, terrorism, political violence, conflict resolution, partisanship, religiosity, attitude strength
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