Moral Foundations Theory

What are your morals?

Currently I am reading a book entitled, The Righteous Mind which at times is dry and at other times fantastic! I hope to write more about this in the future but in the meantime, I will share with you a site that is set up that asks you questions about your morality. Your responses are then compared to others who have taken the tests and you will begin to see what areas drive your morality.

Here is an excerpt from the book:

"Republicans don’t just aim to cause fear, as some Democrats charge. They trigger the full range of intuitions described by Moral Foundations Theory. Like Democrats, they can talk about innocent victims (of harmful Democratic policies) and about fairness (particularly the unfairness of taking tax money from hardworking and prudent people to support cheaters, slackers, and irresponsible fools). But Republicans since Nixon have had a near-monopoly on appeals to loyalty (particularly patriotism and military virtues) and authority (including respect for parents, teachers, elders, and the police, as well as for traditions). And after they embraced Christian conservatives during Ronald Reagan’s 1980 campaign and became the party of “family values,” Republicans inherited a powerful network of Christian ideas about sanctity and sexuality that allowed them to portray Democrats as the party of Sodom and Gomorrah."


His point in this is that conservatives generally have a larger pallet for making moral claims than liberals do. (Mind you the author is very liberal on all accounts). His point is that if liberals want to become proactive in helping others move toward a more liberal society, then liberals must tap into more than just concern for victims and fairness.