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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Moral foundations and voting intention in Italy
Milesi, P. (2017) · Europe’s Journal of Psychology · doi:10.5964/ejop.v13i4.1391 · Cited by 28
“…are relevant to the audience’s prevailing ones, e.g. a Sanctity-framed pro-environmental message that highlights how contaminated the environment has become and how important it is to clean it, addressed to a right-wing audience, it turns out to be especially persuasive (Feinberg & Willer, 2013).”
Background
Community-oriented Motivational Interviewing (MI): A novel framework extending MI to address COVID-19 vaccine misinformation in online social media platforms
Scales, D. A., Gorman, J. M., DiCaprio, P., Hurth, L., Radhakrishnan, M., Windham, S., Akunne, A., Florman, J., Leininger, L. J., & Starks, T. J. (2022) · Computers in Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.chb.2022.107609 · Cited by 22
“For example, conservatives become more supportive of environmental legislation when framed in terms of traditional conservative priorities of purity and sanctity (Feinberg & Willer, 2013).”
Background
I could but I don't: What does it take to adopt pro-environmental behaviors in the United States?
Lamm, A. E., McCann, R. G. H. B., & Howe, P. D. (2022) · Energy Research & Social Science · doi:10.1016/j.erss.2022.102845 · Cited by 19
Two-Sided Messages Promote Openness for a Variety of Deeply Entrenched Attitudes
Xu, M., & Petty, R. E. (2022) · Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin · doi:10.1177/01461672221128113 · Cited by 21
“Some studies have suggested that an effective method of changing morally based attitudes is to present people with moral (versus practical) arguments (Luttrell et al., 2019) or arguments that match the particular moral foundations of the attitude (Feinberg & Willer, 2013, 2015).”
Bursting Filter Bubbles in a Digital Age:Opening Minds and Reducing Opinion Polarization Through Digital Platforms
Einav, G., Allen, O., Gur, T., Maaravi, Y., & Ravner, D. (2022) · Social Science Research Network · doi:10.2139/ssrn.4132351 · Cited by 20
The sanctity of life: The role of purity in attitudes towards abortion and euthanasia
Lockhart, C., Lee, C. H. J., Sibley, C., & Osborne, D. (2022) · International Journal of Psychology · doi:10.1002/ijop.12877 · Cited by 20
Polarized U.S. publics, Pope Francis, and climate change: Reviewing the studies and data collected around the 2015 Papal Encyclical
Landrum, A., & Vasquez, R. (2020) · WIREs Climate Change · doi:10.1002/wcc.674 · Cited by 20
“Studies such as those conducted by Feinberg and Willer (2015) bolster the claim that Conservatives are more likely to perceive environmental concerns as moral concerns when framed in messaging that resonates with their broader moral foundations (e.”
Background
Managing the transformation of the global commons into luxuries for all
Cristini, H., & Kauppinen‐Räisänen, H. (2019) · Journal of Business Research · doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2019.12.002 · Cited by 20
Bridging the political divide: Highlighting explanatory power mitigates biased evaluation of climate arguments
Johnson, D. R. (2017) · Journal of Environmental Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.jenvp.2017.04.008 · Cited by 42
Motivational Orientation Explains the Link between Political Ideology and Proenvironmental Behavior
Sherman, A. K., Rowe, A. J., Bird, S., Powers, S., & Legault, L. (2016) · Ecopsychology · doi:10.1089/eco.2016.0029 · Cited by 27
“In line with previous research (e.g., Dietz et al., 1998; Feinberg & Willer, 2013; Gromet et al., 2013), our proposed model expects that liber-alism should predict greater self-reported PEB.”
Influential
Climate media amidst technopolitical change: challenges, transformations, and new directions for research
Wetts, R., Morris, H., Boykoff, M., McNally, B., Painter, J., Sanford, M., Diamond, E. P., Esteve-del-Valle, M., Loy, L., Perry, K. E., et al. (2025) · Climatic Change · doi:10.1007/s10584-025-03936-1 · Cited by 19
“…useful concepts that could guide such work, such as cognitive-emotional currents, motivated reasoning, moral value framing, multiple varieties of cultural resonance, and more (Attari, et al. 2014; Bail, et al. 2017 ; Hoffman 2015; Feinberg and Willer 2013; McDonnell et al. 2017; Wetts 2023).”
Using General Messages to Persuade on a Politicized Scientific Issue
Green, J., Druckman, J., Baum, M., Lazer, D., Ognyanova, K., Simonson, M. D., Lin, J., Santillana, M., & Perlis, R. (2022) · British Journal of Political Science · doi:10.1017/s0007123422000424 · Cited by 19
Climate Change as a National Security Issue: Examining Framing Effects Across Party
Gainous, J., & Merry, M. K. (2021) · American Politics Research · doi:10.1177/1532673x211053213 · Cited by 29
Parasocial diffusion: K-pop fandoms help drive COVID-19 public health messaging on social media
Chang, H.-C. H., Pham, B., & Ferrara, E. (2023) · Online Social Networks and Media · doi:10.1016/j.osnem.2023.100267 · Cited by 34
“The dimension of loyalty is crucial as loyalty is not just a crucial element organizational behavior, but can spur and motivate political action especially in the context of polarization [43–45].”
Background
Instrumental use erodes sacred values.
Ruttan, R. L., & Nordgren, L. (2021) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/pspi0000343 · Cited by 19
Wanted: Heroic leaders to drive the transition to “business beyond usual”
Walls, J. L., Salaiz, A., & Chiu, S. (2020) · Strategic Organization · doi:10.1177/1476127020973379 · Cited by 29
We have a steak in it: Eliciting interventions to reduce beef consumption and its impact on biodiversity
Selinske, M., Fidler, F., Gordon, A., Garrard, G., Kusmanoff, A., & Bekessy, S. (2020) · Conservation Letters · doi:10.1111/conl.12721 · Cited by 19
Cooperative conservation: Seven ways to save the world
Curry, O. S., Hare, D., Hepburn, C. J., JOHNSON, D. D. P., Buhrmester, M. D., Whitehouse, H., & Macdonald, D. W. (2019) · Conservation Science and Practice · doi:10.1111/csp2.123 · Cited by 33
Measuring Morality in Political Attitude Expression
Kraft, P. (2018) · Journal of Politics · doi:10.1086/696862 · Cited by 19
“Research further suggests that moral framing in elite communication can elicit attitude change (e.g., Clifford et al. 2015; Feinberg and Willer 2013).”
Background
Presidential Appeals to Moral Foundations: How Modern Presidents Persuade Cross‐Ideologues
Miles, M. R. (2016) · Policy Studies Journal · doi:10.1111/psj.12151 · Cited by 21
Ray of Hope
Dong, P., Huang, X., & Zhong, C. (2014) · Social Psychological and Personality Science · doi:10.1177/1948550614542344 · Cited by 24
“Previous research mainly focuses on demographic factors such as political view (Feinberg & Willer, 2013), race, and age as well as socioeconomic factors (Anderson & Cunningham, 1972; Webster, 1975) in predicting people’s environmental protection behavior.”
Background
Climate Change Advocacy and Engagement on Social Media
Hart, P. S., Feldman, L., Choi, S., Chinn, S., & Hiaeshutter-Rice, D. (2024) · Science Communication · doi:10.1177/10755470241284934 · Cited by 22
“Moral framing has been linked to pro-environmental attitudes and behaviors (Feinberg & Willer, 2013), although a justice-focused moral frame is more effective for liberals than conservatives (Wolsko et al., 2016).”
Open-mindedness: An integrative review of interventions.
Dolbier, S. Y., Dieffenbach, M. C., & Lieberman, M. D. (2024) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/rev0000491 · Cited by 17
“” Conversely, dominant group members tentatively bene ﬁ ted more from hearing their partners ’ perspectives than from perspective-giving ( d = 0.33, Study 2 n.s.).”
Influential
Exploring and steering the moral compass of Large Language ModelsPreprint
Tlaie, A. (2024) · International Conference on Pattern Recognition · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2405.17345 · Cited by 18
“Consistent with these moral values, individuals fitting this profile were also more actively engaged in social causes (40), such as environmen-talism, human rights advocacy, and animal welfare, reflecting their moral priorities through concrete actions.”
Background
Dismantling Gender Blindness in Online Discussion of a Crime/Gender Dichotomy
Qin, Y., Duan, W., Wu, Q., & Lu, Z. (2024) · Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction · doi:10.1145/3653686 · Cited by 19
“The closer it is between the framing and the persuasion target’s morality, the more likely the persuasion will succeed [39, 40].”
Background
Advocating for Mask-Wearing Across the Aisle: Applying Moral Reframing in Health Communication
Luttrell, A., & Trentadue, J. T. (2023) · Health Communication · doi:10.1080/10410236.2022.2163535 · Cited by 18
“…and using language such as “disease” and infection by a “foreign virus,” this message mirrors prior successful appeals to purity (e.g., Feinberg & Willer, 2013) and connects to an established relationship between political conservatism, disgust sensitivity (Terrizzi et al., 2013), and…”
Background
An Examination of Expertise, Caring and Salient Value Similarity as Source Factors that Garner Support for Advocated Climate Policies
Geiger, N., Sarge, M. A., & Comfort, R. N. (2022) · Environmental Communication · doi:10.1080/17524032.2022.2080242 · Cited by 26
Hunt–Vitell’s General Theory of Marketing Ethics Predicts “Attitude-Behaviour” Gap in Pro-environmental Domain
Zaikauskaitė, L., Butler, G., Helmi, N. F. S., Robinson, C. L., Treglown, L., Tsivrikos, D., & Devlin, J. T. (2022) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2022.732661 · Cited by 34
“This led to (i) investigating developmental perspectives using Hoffman’s (1983) and Kohlberg’s (1984) theories, (ii) building in anthropocentric, biospheric, ecocentric, egoistic or non-environmental value orientations to experimental designs (Eckersley, 1992; Merchant, 1992; Thompson and Barton, 1994; Kortenkamp and…”
Method
Do consumers care about morality? A review and framework for understanding morality's marketplace influence
Philipp-Muller, A. Z., Teeny, J. D., & Petty, R. E. (2021) · Consumer Psychology Review · doi:10.1002/arcp.1072 · Cited by 25

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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