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Morality by Consensus

Bloom, Dorian L.
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1426927930

Abstract Details

2015, Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, Experimental Psychology (Arts and Sciences).
Morality by consensus refers to the idea that morality is influenced greatly by peer consensus information, specifically when the consensus information counters individuals’ initial moral beliefs. Broadly, morality refers to anything related to the topics of right and wrong (DeScioli & Kurzban, 2009). Such an ambiguous definition emphasizes the variations in people’s moral values, which they follow and use to make evaluations of others. As a result, moral beliefs are not consistent across individuals but unique to an individual or group with many personal attitudes simply representing socially accepted norms instead of developed individual preferences (Sherif, 1936). Nevertheless, people often overlook the personal nature of their moral values. They expect everyone to hold similar views and judge others negatively for having distinct moral beliefs (e.g. Hare, 1952; Haidt, Rosenberg, & Hom, 2003). People also overestimate the stability of their moral beliefs, assuming that they are resistant to change. In relation to morality, social consensus can be construed as the degree of social agreement about an action’s goodness or badness (Jones, 1991), while more generally referring to the proportion of a population that supports a specific behavior or attitudinal position (Hodson, Maio, & Esses, 2001). The current studies sought to analyze the relationship between one’s own preferences, perceived moral quality, and consensus information. They further examined the possibility that consensus information can influence ratings of moral acceptability more than one’s own explicitly preferred course of action. The introduction more thoroughly examines the idea of morality by consensus and its related theories, beginning with a general discussion of morality and its real world application. It then segues into the conceptualizations of consensus and research related to moral identity, particularly how individual differences and deviations from moral behavior impact moral identity. The next section explains two ethical mindsets, deontology and consequentialism, and their relationship to moral viewpoints. In addition to an understanding of morality, this paper addresses the effect consensus information has on attitudes and opinions. As a result, the third section of the introduction describes the persuasiveness of consensus information. The literature review ends with a brief discussion of the relationship between morality and the legal system. With the theoretical background in place, a pilot study, using 17 moral dilemmas, was conducted to initially demonstrate that consensus has an influence on ratings of perceived moral quality. Overall, participants rated the same alternatives as being morally better when seen as the majority opinion compared to the minority opinion. The pilot study indicates that moral beliefs are swayed by consensus information, while Studies 1 and 2 investigated whether moral beliefs were actually changeable. To demonstrate the changeability of moral judgments, Study 1 incorporated a within subjects factor that allowed for the assessment of individual change over time as well as conditions where consensus information ran directly counterattitudinal to the chosen course of action for participants. Study 1 found that consensus information did influence ratings of perceived moral quality toward the majority option. Study 2 expanded on Study 1 by adding a second manipulated factor, the behavior of the target character, while still manipulating consensus information. The addition of target behavior complicated the effect of consensus, as it appeared that in the presence of both, people were more influenced by an individual target.
Mark Alicke (Advisor)
135 p.
Experimental Psychology; Social Psychology
morality; consensus; moral judgments

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Bloom, D. L. (2015). Morality by Consensus [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1426927930

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Bloom, Dorian. Morality by Consensus. 2015. Ohio University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1426927930.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Bloom, Dorian. "Morality by Consensus." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio University, 2015. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1426927930

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

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This open access ETD is published by Ohio University and OhioLINK.