Citation

Smith CT, Ratliff KA, Redford L, Graham J. J. Res. Pers. 2019; 80: 23-29.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.jrp.2019.04.002

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

We combine recent theoretical advances in the study of morality with a growing interest in the predictive power of political ideology to test new hypotheses concerning impression formation. In two experiments (total N = 3881), newly-formed attitudes depended upon United States citizens' political ideology and the moral content of the attitude induction. Specifically, when forming impressions of a person violating moral foundations of Care/Fairness, political liberals disliked the person more than did conservatives. In contrast, when forming impressions of a person violating moral foundations of Loyalty/Authority/Purity, conservatives disliked the person more than did liberals. This work establishes that ideological differences are important not only for long-standing attitudes and judgments, but create attitudinal divides at the earliest stages of evaluation.

Language: en

Keywords

Attitudes; Impression formation; Moral Foundations Theory; Morality; Political ideology