Date of Award
2012-01-01
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy
Department
Psychology
Advisor(s)
Stephen Crites
Abstract
Our understanding of how moral attitudes influence behavior has been greatly expanded by recent research on moral conviction, but little has been done to identify factors that contribute to the formation of moral conviction. The primary purpose of the present research was therefore to identify antecedents to moral conviction. Across two studies, three potential antecedents were identified - reliance on the Harm moral foundation, personal relevance, and attitude intensity. In study 1 (N = 469), high individual reliance on the Harm moral foundation predicted stronger moral conviction. In study 2 (N = 460), high personal relevance and greater attitude intensity predicted stronger moral conviction. Study 2 also tested three separate hypotheses forwarded by the Integrated Theory of Moral Conviction (ITMC) - the universality, objectivity, and emotion hypotheses. While results offered support for the objectivity and emotion hypotheses, support for the universality hypothesis was equivocal. Future research is required to determine the mechanism by which personal relevance increases moral conviction and the directional links between emotion and moral conviction.
Language
en
Provenance
Received from ProQuest
Copyright Date
2012
File Size
101 pages
File Format
application/pdf
Rights Holder
Katherine White
Recommended Citation
White, Katherine, "Identifying the antecedents of moral conviction" (2012). Open Access Theses & Dissertations. 2216.
https://scholarworks.utep.edu/open_etd/2216