Identity is the lens through which moral values predict action

2014-08-28Research on moral convictions has shown that moral (vs. nonmoral) attitudes are uniquely resistant to persuasion attempts and predictive of behavior (Bauman & Skitka, 2009). Further, the moral values individuals hold are strongly tied to their cultural and familial backgrounds, and help bind individuals into communities of shared values (Graham & Haidt, 2010). Three studies directly investigate the relationship between social influences and moral convictions as part of a broader effort to integrate individual‐ and group‐level processes underlying moral convictions. In Study 1, the tendency to identify with social groups was associated with moralization across multiple moral domains. In Study 2, social group identification was associated with increased moralization of political issues and higher levels of reported voting behavior in a nationally representative sample. More specifically, political identification—but not overall group identification—explained the relationship between moralization of political issues and voting behavior. In Study 3, invoking superordinate identities (e.g., school identity) had a motivating impact on energy‐saving purchase intentions. Social identities provide contextual information through which people identify moral concerns and decide how to act to pursue moral and social goals