The Moral Roots of Environmental Attitudes
Abstract
Americans' attitudes about the environment are highly polarized, but it is unclear why this is the case. We conducted five studies to examine this issue. Studies 1a and 1b demonstrated that liberals, but not conservatives, view the environment in moral terms and that this tendency partially explains the relation between political ideology and environmental attitudes. Content analyses of newspaper op-eds (Study 2a) and public-service announcements (Study 2b) found that contemporary environmental discourse is based largely on moral concerns related to harm and care, which are more deeply held by liberals than by conservatives. However, we found that reframing proenvironmental rhetoric in terms of purity, a moral value resonating primarily among conservatives, largely eliminated the difference between liberals' and conservatives' environmental attitudes (Study 3). These results establish the importance of moralization as a cause of polarization on environmental attitudes and suggest that reframing environmental discourse in different moral terms can reduce the gap between liberals and conservatives in environmental concern.
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Framing environmental issues in terms of conservative values such as purity, sanctity, commerce or patriotism might lead conservatives to express more support for pro-environmental legislation.
“framing environmental issues in terms of conservative values such as purity, sanctity, commerce or patriotism might lead conservatives to express more support for pro-environmental legislation275–279.”
From Cognitive–motivational mechanisms of political polarization in social-communicative contexts (2022) · cites this paper as [277]
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“…with conservative ideologies positively influences climate change attitudes and pro-environmental intentions and behavior among conservatives and skeptics (Bain et al. 2012; Campbell and Kay 2014; Feinberg and Willer 2013; Feygina et al. 2010; Kidwell et al. 2013; Wolsko 2017; Wolsko et al. 2016).”
BackgroundLeveraging Social Science to Generate Lasting Engagement with Climate Change Solutions
Goldberg, M. H., Gustafson, A., & van der Linden, S. (2020) · One Earth · doi:10.1016/j.oneear.2020.08.011 · Cited by 99 · see citing works
Webster, S. W. (2020) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108868303 · Cited by 128 · see citing works
Geiger, N., Swim, J. K., Gasper, K., Fraser, J., & Flinner, K. (2021) · Journal of Environmental Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.jenvp.2021.101649 · Cited by 91 · see citing works
Meat‐related cognitive dissonance: The social psychology of eating animals
Rothgerber, H., & Rosenfeld, D. L. (2021) · Social and Personality Psychology Compass · doi:10.1111/spc3.12592 · Cited by 102 · see citing works
How Emotional Frames Moralize and Polarize Political Attitudes
Clifford, S. (2018) · Political Psychology · doi:10.1111/pops.12507 · Cited by 90 · see citing works
Rossen, I., Hurlstone, M. J., & Lawrence, C. M. (2016) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01483 · Cited by 66 · see citing works
“For example, messages couched in terms of an individual’s preexisting beliefs and values are more likely to shift attitudes than those that are incongruent with their values (Kahan, 2010; Feinberg and Willer, 2013; Day et al., 2014).”
BackgroundMoral Concerns and Policy Attitudes: Investigating the Influence of Elite Rhetoric
Clifford, S., Jerit, J., Rainey, C., & Motyl, M. S. (2015) · Political Communication · doi:10.1080/10584609.2014.944320 · Cited by 83 · see citing works
“…liberals and conservatives, those differences all but vanish when the issue is reframed in terms of sanctity considerations, which resonate more with conservatives (Feinberg & Willer, 2013; also see Haider-Markel & Joslyn, 2001; Kidwell, Farmer, & Hardesty, 2013; Winterich, Zhang, & Mittal, 2012).”
BackgroundResultInfluentialWolsko, C. (2017) · Journal of Environmental Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.jenvp.2017.04.005 · Cited by 84 · see citing works
The Routledge Companion to Media Disinformation and Populism
Waisbord, S., Armitage, R., & Vaccari, C. (2021) · doi:10.4324/9781003004431 · Cited by 84
“Other studies report similar success using moral value frames that appeal to conservatives, such as in-group loyalty, purity, and respect for authority (Feinberg and Willer 2013; Wolsko et al. 2016).”
BackgroundThe Psychology of Framing: How Everyday Language Shapes the Way We Think, Feel, and Act
Flusberg, S. J., Holmes, K. J., Thibodeau, P. H., Nabi, R. L., & Matlock, T. (2024) · Gothic.net · doi:10.1177/15291006241246966 · Cited by 104 · see citing works
Bayes, R., Bolsen, T., & Druckman, J. N. (2020) · Environmental Communication · doi:10.1080/17524032.2020.1805343 · Cited by 113 · see citing works
Disgust Sensitivity and Public Demand for Protection
Kam, C. D., & Estes, B. A. (2016) · The Journal of Politics · doi:10.1086/684611 · Cited by 87 · see citing works
Joireman, J., & Liu, R. L. (2014) · Journal of Environmental Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.jenvp.2014.09.005 · Cited by 82 · see citing works
Preschoolers' moral judgments of environmental harm and the influence of perspective taking
Hahn, E. R., & Garrett, M. K. (2017) · Journal of Environmental Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.jenvp.2017.05.004 · Cited by 81 · see citing works
Moral Foundations Theory and the Psychology of Charitable Giving
Nilsson, A., Erlandsson, A., & Västfjäll, D. (2020) · European Journal of Personality · doi:10.1002/per.2256 · Cited by 91 · see citing works
“…foundations theory has generated a rapidly growing body of work spanning diverse research topics, such as political psychology, attitude change, environmental sustainability, and the psychology of law (Day, Fiske, Downing, & Trail, 2014; Feinberg & Willer, 2013; Graham et al., 2009; Silver, 2017).”
BackgroundVenhoeven, L. A., Bolderdijk, J., & Steg, L. (2020) · Journal of Environmental Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.jenvp.2020.101492 · Cited by 79 · see citing works
Understanding and countering the motivated roots of climate change denial
Wong‐Parodi, G., & Feygina, I. (2020) · Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability · doi:10.1016/j.cosust.2019.11.008 · Cited by 79 · see citing works
Understanding and Countering Misinformation About Climate Change
Cook, J. (2019) · Advances in media, entertainment and the arts (AMEA) book series · doi:10.4018/978-1-5225-8535-0.ch016 · Cited by 104 · see citing works
Barclay, P., & Barker, J. L. (2020) · Journal of Environmental Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.jenvp.2020.101441 · Cited by 77 · see citing works
- Authors
- Feinberg, M., & Willer, R.
- Affiliations
- Stanford University (US)
- University of California, Berkeley (US)
- Corresponding author
- Feinberg, Matthew
- Venue
- Psychological Science
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2012-12-10
- Volume
- 24
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 56-62
- ISSN
- 0956-7976 (ISSN-L)
- 1467-9280
- OpenAlex
- W2120107374
- Cited by
- 928
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 74 · 2025: 85 · 2024: 70 · 2023: 80 · 2022: 89 · 2021: 101 · 2020: 116 · 2019: 88 · 2018: 50 · 2017: 52 · 2016: 41 · 2015: 41 · 2014: 24 · 2013: 17
- FWCI
- 81.04
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Psychological Science (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law › Environmental Education and Sustainability
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Psychology of Moral and Emotional Judgment
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Climate Change Communication and Perception
- Keywords
- environmental attitudes, moralization, political ideology, moral foundations, purity, reframing, environmental discourse, public service announcements
- MeSH terms
- Attitude, Conservation of Natural Resources, Female, Humans, Male, Mass Media, Morals, Persuasive Communication, Politics, Public Policy, Surveys and Questionnaires, Students, Recycling
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