What Makes it Moral? Measuring Objectivity in Moral and Non-Moral Attitudes Ciara K. Kidder* & Stephen L. Crites, Jr. University of Texas at El Paso METHOD Pre-screen Participants completed an online survey measuring morality and attitudes towards 17 social issues. Moral conviction (MC), attitude valence, and attitude strength were recorded for each issues Issues were categorized as moral if MC ≥ 20 Issues were categorized as non-moral if MC ≤ 12 Participants were required to hold three moral and three non- moral attitudes to complete the experiment. Participants: 73 (52 Female) recruited from eligible pre-screen participants Average age = 21 Similar to local population, 74% identified as Hispanic, 55% reported Catholic affiliation, and average “slightly liberal” political affiliation Measures: Attitude, Attitude Importance, and Attitude Certainty were measured (see supplement for complete descriptions of measures) Idiosyncratic IATs consisted of practice blocks with fact or opinion categorizations and moral and non-moral categorization. Critical blocks consisted of mixed stimuli. * *participants also completed an IAT to measure the association between morality and universality. Results were non-significant. INTRODUCTION Defining Moral Attitudes Characterized by strong convictions related to core beliefs and vary across individuals and cultures [1] Proposed as theoretically and behaviorally different from non-moral attitudes Behavioral Preference for greater physical and social distance from attitudinally dissimilar others [2] In group settings, conflict resolution decreases when the issue is morally dividing Theoretical Morality leads to greater sense of universality; belief that one’s moral stance should apply to everyone, regardless of location or culture [1] Morality leads to greater sense of objectivity; my belief is true [4,5] Morality is more affectively based; violations of morals leads to more intense emotion [5,6] Current Study & Hypotheses The goal of the current study is to use an IAT to measure associations between attitudes and objectivity. H1. There will be a congruity effect with faster reaction times for expected associations (e.g., fact/moral) than for unexpected associations (e.g., fact/non-moral). H2. Morality will impact the congruity effect such that differences between expected associations and unexpected associations would be greater when making judgments about moral attitudes. REFERENCES 1.Skitka, Linda J. (2010). The psychology of moral conviction. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 4(4), 267–281. doi:10.111/j x 2.Skitka, L. J., Bauman, C. W., & Sargis, E. G. (2005). Moral conviction: Another contributor to attitude strength or something more? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 88(6), 895–917. doi: / Skitka, L. J., Bauman, C. W., & Lytle, B. L. (2009). Limits on legitimacy: Moral and religious convictions as constraints on deference to authority. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 97(4), 567–578. doi: /a Goodwin, G. P., & Darley, J. M. (2008). The psychology of meta-ethics: Exploring objectivism. Cognition, 106, 1339–1366. doi: /j.cognition Haidt, J. (2001). The emotional dog and its rational tail: A social intuitionist approach to moral judgment. Psychological Review, 108(4), 814–834. doi: // X Haidt, J. (2003). The moral emotions. In R. J. Davidson, K. R. Scherer, & H. H. Goldsmith (Eds.), Handbook of affective sciences (pp. 852–870). New York, New York: Oxford University Press. RESULTS H1- Congruity Effect: Calculated the effect using the D600 Algorithm Significant association between objectivity and morality, D = 0.225, SD = 0.478, 95% CI = 0.106, The Fact/Moral and Opinion/Non-Moral block (M = 1064ms, SD = 357ms) had faster reaction times than the Fact/Non-Moral and Opinion/Moral block (M = 1166ms, SD = 363ms), M difference = 101ms, SD = 298ms. H2- Morality Effects: Tested using a 2x2x2 Mixed ANOVA examining congruity, morality, and block order. The dependent variable was RT. No significant effects of morality. Moral stimuli (M = 1155ms, SD = 406ms) were categorized equally as fast as non-moral stimuli (M = 1152ms, SD = 423ms), F(1,63) = 0.004, p = 0.951). No significant congruity by morality interaction, F(2,63) = 0.264, p = DISCUSSION Objectivity is more associated with moral than non-moral attitudes IAT can be used with complex stimuli Limitations and Future Directions : Follow-up study confirmed association of objectivity and morality Examine this association under other paradigms such as sequential priming Poster presented at the 16 th Annual Meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology. *Author contact: