Cited by 928Pro-Environmental Behavior and AttitudesPsychology of Moral and Emotional JudgmentClimate Change Communication and Perception

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The Moral Roots of Environmental Attitudes

Feinberg, Matthew, Willer, Robb·2013·Psychological Science

DOI 10.1177/0956797612449177

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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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“Specifically, we examine the effectiveness of a technique called “moral reframing” (Feinberg & Willer, 2013, 2015) in the context of the United States 2016 presidential election.”
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Authors: Feinberg, M., & Willer, R.
Affiliations: Stanford University (US)
University of California, Berkeley (US)
Corresponding author: Feinberg, Matthew
ORCID: Feinberg, Matthew
Willer, Robb
Venue: Psychological Science
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Published: 2012-12-10
Volume: 24
Issue: 1
Pages: 56-62
ISSN: 0956-7976 (ISSN-L)
1467-9280
DOI: 10.1177/0956797612449177
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
Licence: journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license (tdm)
Locations: Psychological Science (publishedVersion)
PubMed (publishedVersion)
Topics: Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law › Pro-Environmental Behavior and Attitudes
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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The Moral Roots of Environmental Attitudes

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