Abstract
This chapter provides an introduction to moral psychology as a field of research that explores questions of moral perspectives, dispositions, and judgments by harnessing social scientific and empirical methodologies. The chapter focuses on several of the more prominent lines of inquiry into moral reasoning and moral judgments, which have produced important, widely used instruments and guiding theories. Three such theories discussed here are moral development, ethical ideology, and moral foundations. The chapter surveys other topics in the field, such as autonomous agency, perceptions of workplace climate, and moral ecology, and refers to instruments used in each area. A discussion of recent applications of moral psychology to media research illuminates important questions in journalism, public relations, and advertising. The chapter concludes by noting the burgeoning affinity between moral psychology theorizing and virtues ethics frameworks.
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Notes
- 1.
Darwell, Gibbard and Railton, Moral Discourse and Practice: Some Philosophical Approaches, 34–35.
- 2.
Doris and Stich, “As a Matter of Fact: Empirical Perspectives on Ethics,” 115.
- 3.
Doris and Stich, “As a Matter of Fact: Empirical Perspectives on Ethics,” 115.
- 4.
Cervone and Tripathi, “The Moral Functioning of the Persona as a Whole: On Moral Psychology and Personality Science,” 30.
- 5.
Rickman, “Introduction,” 30.
- 6.
Doris and Stich, “As a Matter of Fact: Empirical Perspectives on Ethics,” 115–116.
- 7.
For example, Cameron, “Motivating Empathy: Three Methodological Recommendations for Mapping Empathy;” and Carr, Jacoboni, Dubeau, Mazziotta and Lenzi, “Neural Mechanisms of Empathy in Humans: A Relay from Neural Systems for Imitation to Limbic Areas.”
- 8.
Tiberius, Moral Psychology: A Contemporary Introduction, 4.
- 9.
Tiberius, Moral Psychology: A Contemporary Introduction, 23.
- 10.
Kohlberg, The Philosophy of Moral Development.
- 11.
Rest, Development in Judging Moral Issues.
- 12.
Kish-Gephart, Harrison and Treviño, “Bad Applies, Bad Cases, and Bad Barrels: Meta-Analytic Evidence About Sources of Ethical Decisions at Work.”
- 13.
Haidt and Joseph, “The Moral Mind: How Five Sets of Innate Intuitions Guide the Development of Many Culture-Specific Virtues, and Perhaps Even Modules,” 381.
- 14.
Haidt and Joseph, “The Moral Mind: How Five Sets of Innate Intuitions Guide the Development of Many Culture-Specific Virtues, and Perhaps Even Modules,” 372.
- 15.
Haidt and Joseph, “The Moral Mind: How Five Sets of Innate Intuitions Guide the Development of Many Culture-Specific Virtues, and Perhaps Even Modules,” 373.
- 16.
For example, Blasi, “Moral Identity: Its Role in Moral Functioning;” Lapsley, “Moral Self-Identity as the Aim of Education;” and Maslow, The Farther Reaches of Human Nature.
- 17.
Colby and Damon, Some Do Care: Contemporary Lives of Moral Commitment.
- 18.
Kaplan and Tivnan, “Multiplicity of Emotions in Moral Judgment and Motivation,” 423.
- 19.
Chirkov, “Dialectical Relationships Among Human Autonomy, the Brain, and Culture,” 67.
- 20.
Bramwell, Ecology in the 20th Century: A History, 4.
- 21.
Huff, Barnard and Frey, “Good Computing: A Pedagogically Focused Model of Virtue in the Practice of Computing (Part 2),” 286.
- 22.
Victor and Cullen, “The Organizational Bases of Ethical Work Climates.”
- 23.
MacIntyre, After Virtue: A Study in Moral Theory.
- 24.
Victor and Cullen, “The Organizational Bases of Ethical Work Climates,” 101.
- 25.
Appiah, Experiments in Ethics.
- 26.
Huff, Barnard and Frey, “Good Computing: A Pedagogically Focused Model of Virtue in the Practice of Computing (Part 2),” 286.
- 27.
Shiffman, Stone and Hufford, “Ecological Momentary Assessment,” 3.
- 28.
Hofmann, Wisneski, Brandt and Skitka, “Morality in Everyday Life.”
- 29.
Hofmann, Wisneski, Brandt and Skitka, “Morality in Everyday Life,” 1343.
- 30.
Wilkins and Coleman, The Moral Media: How Journalists Reason About Ethics; and Coleman and Wilkins, “The Moral Development of Public Relations Practitioners: A Comparison with Other Professions and Influences on Higher Quality Ethical Reasoning.”
- 31.
Coleman, “The Moral Judgment of Minority Journalists: Evidence from Asian American, Black, and Hispanic Professional Journalists.”
- 32.
Plaisance, “As Assessment of Media Ethics Education: Course Content and the Values and Ethical Ideologies of Media Ethics Students.”
- 33.
Kim and Choi, “Ethical Standards Appear to Change with Age and Ideology: A Survey of Practitioners.”
- 34.
Singhapakdi, Draft, Vitell and Rallapalli, “The Perceived Importance of Ethics and Social Responsibility on Organizational Effectiveness: A Survey of Marketers.”
- 35.
Plaisance, Hanitzsch and Skewes, “Ethical Orientations of Journalists Around the Globe: Implications from a Cross-National Survey.”
- 36.
Plaisance, Virtue in Media: The Moral Psychology of Excellence in News andPublic Relations.
- 37.
Meader, Knight, Coleman and Wilkins, “Ethics in the Digital Age: A Comparison of the Effects of Moving Images and Photographs on Moral Judgment.”
- 38.
Coleman, “Color Blind: Race and the Ethical Reasoning of Blacks on Journalism Dilemmas.”
- 39.
Maciejewski, “Is the Use of Sexual and Fear Appeals Ethical? A Moral Evaluation by Generation Y College Students.”
- 40.
MacIntyre, After Virtue: A Study in Moral Theory; Foot, Virtues and Vices; Foot, Natural Goodness; and Hursthouse, “Applying Virtue Ethics.”
- 41.
Haidt and Joseph, “The Moral Mind: How Five Sets of Innate Intuitions Guide the Development of Many Culture-Specific Virtues, and Perhaps Even Modules,” 368, 387.
- 42.
MacIntyre, “Moral Dilemmas,” 371.
- 43.
Foot, Natural Goodness, 35.
- 44.
Pappas, John Dewey’s Ethics: Democracy as Experience, 44.
- 45.
Vallor, Technology and the Virtues: A Philosophical Guide to a Future Worth Wanting, 28.
- 46.
Vallor, Technology and the Virtues: A Philosophical Guide to a Future Worth Wanting, 33.
- 47.
Klaidman and Beauchamp, The Virtuous Journalist.
- 48.
Lambeth, “Waiting for a New St. Benedict: Alasdair MacIntyre and the Theory and Practice of Journalism.”
- 49.
Borden, Journalism as Practice: MacIntyre, Virtue Ethics and the Press.
- 50.
Couldry, “Living Well with and Through Media.”
- 51.
Plaisance, “Virtue Ethics and Digital ‘Flourishing’: An Application of Philippa Foot to Life Online;” and Plaisance and Tropman, “Moral Realism and Ethical Naturalism in Media Ethics Theory.”
- 52.
Plaisance, Virtue in Media: The Moral Psychology of Excellence in News andPublic Relations.
- 53.
Churchland, “Toward a Cognitive Neurobiology of the Moral Virtues.”
- 54.
Emmons, “Personal Goals, Life Meaning, and Virtue: Wellsprings of a Positive Life.”
- 55.
Haidt and Joseph, “Intuitive Ethics: How Innately Prepared Intuitions Generate Culturally Variable Virtues,” 62–63.
- 56.
Flanagan, Sarkissian and Wong, “What Is the Nature of Morality? A Response to Casebeer. Railton and Ruse,” 46.
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Plaisance, P.L. (2021). Moral Psychology in Media. In: Ward, S.J.A. (eds) Handbook of Global Media Ethics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-32103-5_15
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