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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“On the issue of climate change specifically, moralization is arguably a cause for the wide - spread political polarization (Feinberg and Willer 2013).”
How Moral Reframing Enhances Political Persuasion: The Role of Processing Fluency and Self-Affirmation
Suh, Y. J., & Kim, H. S. (2024) · Communication Research · doi:10.1177/00936502241263941 · Cited by 7
“…messages, including single sentences advocating policy positions (Day et al., 2014), newspaper op-eds encouraging pro-environ-mental behaviors (Feinberg & Willer, 2013), transcripts of presidential speeches (Miles, 2016), messages recommending mask-wearing in public during the COVID-19…”
CEO moral foundations and firms’ environmental, social, and governance performance
Ng, E., Phang, R., & Kang, E. (2024) · Strategic Organization · doi:10.1177/14761270241265553 · Cited by 6
“Yet, existing ESG narratives largely leverage harm-and justice-based moral arguments (i.e., based on individuals’ needs) to appeal for corporate action (Feinberg and Willer, 2013).”
Influential
Morality of vaccination: the influence of moral conviction on vaccination decisions
Aignesberger, V., & Greitemeyer, T. (2023) · Ethics & Behavior · doi:10.1080/10508422.2023.2285750 · Cited by 5
“Polarization and conflicts with dissenters emerged as possible consequences (Ditto & Koleva, 2011; Feinberg & Willer, 2013; Greitemeyer, 2023).”
Moral foundations and future pro‐environmental lifestyles choices in the Finnish population
Silfver, M., Niva, M., Salmivaara, L., & Vainio, A. (2023) · Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology · doi:10.1002/casp.2687 · Cited by 5
Understanding political bias in climate change belief: A public perception study from South East Queensland
Mortoja, M. G., & Yigitcanlar, T. (2022) · Land Use Policy · doi:10.1016/j.landusepol.2022.106350 · Cited by 5
Values and tourists' sustainable behaviours: An overview of studies and discussion of some theoretical, methodological and management issues
Passafaro, P., & Vecchione, M. (2022) · Tourism Management Perspectives · doi:10.1016/j.tmp.2022.101038 · Cited by 5
Multidimensional Model of Environmental Attitudes: Evidence Supporting an Abbreviated Measure in Spanish
Andrade, E., Seoane, G., Velay, L., & Sabucedo, J.-M. (2021) · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · doi:10.3390/ijerph18094438 · Cited by 5
“From a theoretical perspective, they agree with the traditional association between conservative ideology and dominance over the environment [35], which seem to condition people’s decisions in essential aspects such as energy consumption [36], as well as for those who have explanatory hypotheses such as those connecti…”
Background
The Influence of Prevailing Regional Political Narratives on Intuitions Featured in Religious Messages
Klebig, B., Hahn, L., Tamborini, R., Aley, M. R., Goble, H., & Baldwin, J. A. (2021) · Communication Reports · doi:10.1080/08934215.2020.1869281 · Cited by 8
“For example, Feinberg and Willer (2013) found that only liberals considered recycling a moral issue, while Haidt and Hersh (2001) found that only conservatives perceived gay marriage to be a moral issue. In related work, research on terrorist groups provided evidence suggesting that left-wing terrorist groups’ activit…”
Background
Exploring the Role of Incidental and Integral Compassion and Anger in Health Communication about Pollution
Lu, H. (2020) · Health Communication · doi:10.1080/10410236.2019.1582313 · Cited by 5
“Therefore, messages promoting environmental protection, especially ones framed in terms of harm and care, may be perceived as pro-attitudinal to liberals and counter-attitudinal to conservatives (Feinberg & Willer, 2013).”
Background
Planet or pocketbook? Environmental motives complement financial motives for energy efficiency across the political spectrum in the United States
Forster, H. A., Kunreuther, H. C., & Weber, E. U. (2021) · Energy Research & Social Science · doi:10.1016/j.erss.2021.101938 · Cited by 8
The Maui's Dolphin Challenge: Lessons From a School-Based Litter Reduction Project
Townrow, C. S., Laurence, N., Blythe, C., Long, J., & Harré, N. (2016) · Australian Journal of Environmental Education · doi:10.1017/aee.2016.27 · Cited by 5
Are we at all liberal at heart? High-powered tests find no effect of intuitive thinking on moral foundations
Isler, O., Yılmaz, O., & Doğruyol, B. (2021) · Journal of Experimental Social Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2020.104050 · Cited by 5
Developing a Climate Literacy Framework for Upper Secondary Students
Harker-Schuch, I., & Watson, M. (2019) · Climate change management · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-32898-6_17 · Cited by 14
Framing Moral Evaluations: Moral Foundations in U.S. Newspaper Coverage of Mosque Controversies
Bowe, B. (2014) · Western CEDAR (Western Washington University) · doi:10.25710/1q2y-x302 · Cited by 5
“For example, liberals tend to look at the environment as an issue of morality based on the care/harm moral foundation (Feinberg & Willer, 2013).”
Background
Determinants of willingness to bear the costs for environmental protection: Insights from cross-country survey data
Doganoglu, T., Grzybowski, L., & Rachubik, J. (2026) · Ecological Economics · doi:10.1016/j.ecolecon.2025.108876 · Cited by 4
A megastudy of behavioral interventions to catalyze public, political, and financial climate advocacy
Goldwert, D., Constantino, S. M., Patel, Y., Sabherwal, A. C., Semken, C., Brick, C., Castiglione, A., Debnath, R., Doell, K. C., Dubey, R., et al. (2026) · PNAS Nexus · doi:10.1093/pnasnexus/pgaf400 · Cited by 7
“This finding advances previous research suggesting that appealing to moral obligations can influence climate beliefs (30).”
Self-citation
Leveraging moral foundations theory in sociopolitical campaigns: an empirical investigation on how brands can persuade university-affiliated consumers with moral reframing
Rüger, T., Mücksch, J., & Siems, F. (2025) · Journal of Brand Management · doi:10.1057/s41262-025-00411-1 · Cited by 7
“For example, Feinberg and Willer (2013) point out that conservatives’ attitudes towards the environment could be changed by strengthening the purity foundation in the message.”
Influential
The Moral Foundations of Populist Communication: A Semantic Network Analysis of Political Parties’ Social Media Discourse in a Multiparty System
Wickenkamp, A., Hopp, F. R., Hameleers, M., & Bos, L. (2025) · Social Media + Society · doi:10.1177/20563051251357271 · Cited by 3
“Messages aligned with moral foundations resonate through heuristic processing, shaping attitudes and behaviors (Feinberg & Willer, 2012).”
Environmental attitudes as a hegemonic discourse? Towards decolonial epistemologies of environmental orientations
Jayasinghe, N., & Smiley, K. T. (2025) · Environmental Sociology · doi:10.1080/23251042.2025.2514431 · Cited by 3
“Similarly, theories on the value basis of environmental attitudes argue that individuals consider the costs of their actions on the environment when forming views (Feinberg and Willer 2013; Milfont and Gouveia 2006; Stern and Dietz 1994)).”
Moral perceptions about environmentalism across ideological groups: Negative moral stereotypes threaten rightists’ moral self and trigger polarization
Catena‐Fernández, C., & Fernández, S. (2025) · Group Processes & Intergroup Relations · doi:10.1177/13684302251330990 · Cited by 7
“This can be achieved by encouraging rightists to focus on other domains of the moral self that resonate with conservative values and align with environmental issues (Feinberg & Willer, 2013).”
Bridging the Ideological Divide: Communicating the Positive Economic Impact of Climate Policy to Persuade the Right
Bertolotti, M., & Catellani, P. (2025) · Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology · doi:10.1002/casp.70058 · Cited by 4
Moral Comments in Social Media: Analyzing the Role of Ideology-Matching Moral Framing and Impression Motivation in the Persuasive Effect of User Comments on YouTube
Hirschhäuser, V., & Winter, S. (2024) · Mass Communication & Society · doi:10.1080/15205436.2024.2415019 · Cited by 5
“Processes of attitude formation in social media are particularly relevant with regard to moral and societal debates when people are confronted with messages using morally framed arguments (Feinberg & Willer, 2013).”
Willingness to use moral reframing: Support comes from perceived effectiveness, opposition comes from integrity concerns
Isiminger, A., & Giner‐Sorolla, R. (2024) · Social Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.32872/spb.13053 · Cited by 4
“Fight like hell”: Projected moral polarisation predicts anticipated conflict and the perceived responsibility to overturn an election loss
Crimston, C. R., Jetten, J., & Selvanathan, H. P. (2024) · Group Processes & Intergroup Relations · doi:10.1177/13684302231223896 · Cited by 5
“…the current findings highlight the potential dangers of the amplification of divisive, moralised, aggressive, and existential rhetoric that has become part and parcel of political campaigns in polarised societies (Brady et al., 2019; Feinberg & Willer, 2013; Haslam et al., 2022; McWhorter, 2019).”
Building bipartisan support for pro-environmental water policy in a competitive communication environment: The effect of competing moral frames and political communicators
Hundemer, S., Monroe, M. C., & Adams, D. C. (2023) · Journal of Hydrology · doi:10.1016/j.jhydrol.2023.130379 · Cited by 4
Does framing climate change policies to fit with epistemic needs for predictability reduce conservatives’ opposition?
Lammers, J., Schulte, A., & Baldwin, M. W. (2023) · Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy · doi:10.1111/asap.12362 · Cited by 9
Evil Voices in Popular Fictions: The Case ofThe Exorcist
Kjeldgaard‐Christiansen, J., Hejná, M., Clasen, M., & Eaton, M. (2023) · The Journal of Popular Culture · doi:10.1111/jpcu.13234 · Cited by 4
Political value-congruent climate change communication: an efficacy study from Germany and Austria ( Congruencia de valores en la comunicación política del cambio climático: un estudio de eficacia de Alemania y Austria )
Ulmke, N., Klackl, J., Hansen, J., Lempe, P., Finsterwalder, V., Hagedorn, L., Rosenzweig, T., Ramstetter, L., Fowles, T., & Jonas, E. (2023) · PsyEcology Bilingual Journal of Environmental Psychology · doi:10.1080/21711976.2023.2204728 · Cited by 4
Concern about the human health implications of marine biodiversity loss is higher among less educated and poorer citizens: Results from a 14-country study in Europe
Davison, S., White, M., Pahl, S., Taylor, T., Borja, Á., McMeel, O., Kellett, P., Roberts, B., & Fleming, L. E. (2023) · Frontiers in Marine Science · doi:10.3389/fmars.2023.949263 · Cited by 4
“This information could be important in identifying which groups in society tend to have greater or lesser concern, which in turn may aid targeted communication efforts (Feinberg and Willer, 2013; Wolsko et al., 2016; Whitmarsh and Corner, 2017).”
Background
Persuasive ethical appeals and climate messaging: A survey of religious Americans’ philosophical preferences
DePalma, V. (2022) · Philosophical Psychology · doi:10.1080/09515089.2022.2097904 · Cited by 4
“Employing the appropriate frames in these environmental messages eliminated the gap between conservative and liberal attitudes and in effect created a more unified perspective on a traditionally “liberal” issue (Feinberg & Willer, 2013; Wolsko et al., 2016).”
Background

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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