Moral Expansiveness Around the World: The Role of Societal Factors Across 36 Countries

Kelly KIRKLAND; Charlie R. CRIMSTON; Jolanda JETTEN; Maksim RUDNEV; Cesar ACEVEDO-TRIANA; Catherine E. AMIOT; Liisi AUSMEES; Peter BAGUMA; Oumar BARRY; Maja BECKER; Michal BILEWICZ; Watcharaporn BOONYASIRIWAT; Thomas CASTELAIN; Giulio COSTANTINI; Girts DIMDINS; Agustín ESPINOSA; Gillian FINCHILESCU; Ronald FISCHER; Malte FRIESE; Maria Cecilia GASTARDO-CONACO; Ángel GÓMEZ; Roberto GONZÁLEZ; Nobuhiko GOTO; Peter HALAMA; Gabriela M. JIGA-BOY; Peter KUPPENS; Steve LOUGHNAN; Marijana MARKOVIK; Khairul A. MASTOR; Neil MCLATCHIE; Lindsay M. NOVAK; Blessing N. ONYEKACHI; Müjde PEKER; Muhammad RIZWAN; Mark SCHALLER; Eunkook M. SUH; Sanaz TALAIFAR; Eddie M. W. TONG; Ana TORRES; Rhiannon N. TURNER; Paul A. M. VAN LANGE; Christin-melanie VAUCLAIR; Alexander VINOGRADOV; Zhechen WANG; Victoria Wai Lan YEUNG; Brock BASTIAN

doi:10.1177/19485506221101767

Moral Expansiveness Around the World: The Role of Societal Factors Across 36 Countries

Kelly KIRKLAND^*
, Charlie R. CRIMSTON
, Jolanda JETTEN
, Maksim RUDNEV
, Cesar ACEVEDO-TRIANA
, Catherine E. AMIOT
, Liisi AUSMEES
, Peter BAGUMA
, Oumar BARRY
, Maja BECKER
, Michal BILEWICZ
, Watcharaporn BOONYASIRIWAT
, Thomas CASTELAIN
, Giulio COSTANTINI
, Girts DIMDINS
, Agustín ESPINOSA
, Gillian FINCHILESCU
, Ronald FISCHER
, Malte FRIESE
, Maria Cecilia GASTARDO-CONACO

Ángel GÓMEZ, Roberto GONZÁLEZ, Nobuhiko GOTO, Peter HALAMA, Gabriela M. JIGA-BOY, Peter KUPPENS, Steve LOUGHNAN, Marijana MARKOVIK, Khairul A. MASTOR, Neil MCLATCHIE, Lindsay M. NOVAK, Blessing N. ONYEKACHI, Müjde PEKER, Muhammad RIZWAN, Mark SCHALLER, Eunkook M. SUH, Sanaz TALAIFAR, Eddie M. W. TONG, Ana TORRES, Rhiannon N. TURNER, Paul A. M. VAN LANGE, Christin-melanie VAUCLAIR, Alexander VINOGRADOV, Zhechen WANG, Victoria Wai Lan YEUNG, Brock BASTIAN

^*Corresponding author for this work

Lingnan University

Research output: Journal Publications › Journal Article (refereed) › peer-review

30 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

What are the things that we think matter morally, and how do societal factors influence this? To date, research has explored several individual-level and historical factors that influence the size of our ‘moral circles.' There has, however, been less attention focused on which societal factors play a role. We present the first multi-national exploration of moral expansiveness—that is, the size of people’s moral circles across countries. We found low generalized trust, greater perceptions of a breakdown in the social fabric of society, and greater perceived economic inequality were associated with smaller moral circles. Generalized trust also helped explain the effects of perceived inequality on lower levels of moral inclusiveness. Other inequality indicators (i.e., Gini coefficients) were, however, unrelated to moral expansiveness. These findings suggest that societal factors, especially those associated with generalized trust, may influence the size of our moral circles.

Original language	English
Article number	194855062211017
Pages (from-to)	305-318
Number of pages	14
Journal	Social Psychological and Personality Science
Volume	14
Issue number	3
Early online date	5 Jul 2022
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1177/19485506221101767
Publication status	Published - Apr 2023

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2022.

Funding

The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: Brock Bastian was supported by the Australian Research Council (ARC) (grant number DP200101446), Steve Loughnan was supported by the Philip Leverhulme Prize, Roberto González was supported by the Center for Social Conflict and Cohesion Studies (ANID/FONDAP 15130009) and the Center for Intercultural and Indigenous Research (ANID/FONDAP 15110006), Nobuhiko Goto was supported by the JSPS KAKENHI (grant number 19KK0063), Girts Dimdins was supported by the Latvian Council of Science (grant number lzp-2018/1-0402), Michal Bilewicz was supported by the Polish National Science Center Grant Sonata Bis (grant number UMO-2017/26/E/HS6/00129). and Maksim Rudnev was supported by a research project implemented as part of the Basic Research Program at the National Research University Higher School of Economics (HSE University).

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 1 No Poverty
SDG 10 Reduced Inequalities

Keywords

moral circles
moral expansiveness
economic inquality
trust
anomie
economic inequality

Access to Document

10.1177/19485506221101767

https://pure.qub.ac.uk/en/publications/moral-expansiveness-around-the-world-the-role-of-societal-factorsLicence: Unspecified

Cite this

KIRKLAND, K., CRIMSTON, C. R., JETTEN, J., RUDNEV, M., ACEVEDO-TRIANA, C., AMIOT, C. E., AUSMEES, L., BAGUMA, P., BARRY, O., BECKER, M., BILEWICZ, M., BOONYASIRIWAT, W., CASTELAIN, T., COSTANTINI, G., DIMDINS, G., ESPINOSA, A., FINCHILESCU, G., FISCHER, R., FRIESE, M., ... BASTIAN, B. (2023). Moral Expansiveness Around the World: The Role of Societal Factors Across 36 Countries. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 14(3), 305-318. Article 194855062211017. https://doi.org/10.1177/19485506221101767

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title = "Moral Expansiveness Around the World: The Role of Societal Factors Across 36 Countries",

abstract = "What are the things that we think matter morally, and how do societal factors influence this? To date, research has explored several individual-level and historical factors that influence the size of our {\textquoteleft}moral circles.' There has, however, been less attention focused on which societal factors play a role. We present the first multi-national exploration of moral expansiveness{\textemdash}that is, the size of people{\textquoteright}s moral circles across countries. We found low generalized trust, greater perceptions of a breakdown in the social fabric of society, and greater perceived economic inequality were associated with smaller moral circles. Generalized trust also helped explain the effects of perceived inequality on lower levels of moral inclusiveness. Other inequality indicators (i.e., Gini coefficients) were, however, unrelated to moral expansiveness. These findings suggest that societal factors, especially those associated with generalized trust, may influence the size of our moral circles.",

keywords = "moral circles, moral expansiveness, economic inquality, trust, anomie, economic inequality",

author = "Kelly KIRKLAND and CRIMSTON, \{Charlie R.\} and Jolanda JETTEN and Maksim RUDNEV and Cesar ACEVEDO-TRIANA and AMIOT, \{Catherine E.\} and Liisi AUSMEES and Peter BAGUMA and Oumar BARRY and Maja BECKER and Michal BILEWICZ and Watcharaporn BOONYASIRIWAT and Thomas CASTELAIN and Giulio COSTANTINI and Girts DIMDINS and Agust{\'i}n ESPINOSA and Gillian FINCHILESCU and Ronald FISCHER and Malte FRIESE and GASTARDO-CONACO, \{Maria Cecilia\} and {\'A}ngel G{\'O}MEZ and Roberto GONZ{\'A}LEZ and Nobuhiko GOTO and Peter HALAMA and JIGA-BOY, \{Gabriela M.\} and Peter KUPPENS and Steve LOUGHNAN and Marijana MARKOVIK and MASTOR, \{Khairul A.\} and Neil MCLATCHIE and NOVAK, \{Lindsay M.\} and ONYEKACHI, \{Blessing N.\} and M{\"u}jde PEKER and Muhammad RIZWAN and Mark SCHALLER and SUH, \{Eunkook M.\} and Sanaz TALAIFAR and TONG, \{Eddie M. W.\} and Ana TORRES and TURNER, \{Rhiannon N.\} and \{VAN LANGE\}, \{Paul A. M.\} and Christin-melanie VAUCLAIR and Alexander VINOGRADOV and Zhechen WANG and YEUNG, \{Victoria Wai Lan\} and Brock BASTIAN",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} The Author(s) 2022.",

year = "2023",

month = apr,

doi = "10.1177/19485506221101767",

language = "English",

volume = "14",

pages = "305--318",

journal = "Social Psychological and Personality Science",

issn = "1948-5506",

publisher = "Sage Periodicals Press",

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KIRKLAND, K, CRIMSTON, CR, JETTEN, J, RUDNEV, M, ACEVEDO-TRIANA, C, AMIOT, CE, AUSMEES, L, BAGUMA, P, BARRY, O, BECKER, M, BILEWICZ, M, BOONYASIRIWAT, W, CASTELAIN, T, COSTANTINI, G, DIMDINS, G, ESPINOSA, A, FINCHILESCU, G, FISCHER, R, FRIESE, M, GASTARDO-CONACO, MC, GÓMEZ, Á, GONZÁLEZ, R, GOTO, N, HALAMA, P, JIGA-BOY, GM, KUPPENS, P, LOUGHNAN, S, MARKOVIK, M, MASTOR, KA, MCLATCHIE, N, NOVAK, LM, ONYEKACHI, BN, PEKER, M, RIZWAN, M, SCHALLER, M, SUH, EM, TALAIFAR, S, TONG, EMW, TORRES, A, TURNER, RN, VAN LANGE, PAM, VAUCLAIR, C, VINOGRADOV, A, WANG, Z, YEUNG, VWL & BASTIAN, B 2023, 'Moral Expansiveness Around the World: The Role of Societal Factors Across 36 Countries', Social Psychological and Personality Science, vol. 14, no. 3, 194855062211017, pp. 305-318. https://doi.org/10.1177/19485506221101767

TY - JOUR

T1 - Moral Expansiveness Around the World: The Role of Societal Factors Across 36 Countries

AU - KIRKLAND, Kelly

AU - CRIMSTON, Charlie R.

AU - JETTEN, Jolanda

AU - RUDNEV, Maksim

AU - ACEVEDO-TRIANA, Cesar

AU - AMIOT, Catherine E.

AU - AUSMEES, Liisi

AU - BAGUMA, Peter

AU - BARRY, Oumar

AU - BECKER, Maja

AU - BILEWICZ, Michal

AU - BOONYASIRIWAT, Watcharaporn

AU - CASTELAIN, Thomas

AU - COSTANTINI, Giulio

AU - DIMDINS, Girts

AU - ESPINOSA, Agustín

AU - FINCHILESCU, Gillian

AU - FISCHER, Ronald

AU - FRIESE, Malte

AU - GASTARDO-CONACO, Maria Cecilia

AU - GÓMEZ, Ángel

AU - GONZÁLEZ, Roberto

AU - GOTO, Nobuhiko

AU - HALAMA, Peter

AU - JIGA-BOY, Gabriela M.

AU - KUPPENS, Peter

AU - LOUGHNAN, Steve

AU - MARKOVIK, Marijana

AU - MASTOR, Khairul A.

AU - MCLATCHIE, Neil

AU - NOVAK, Lindsay M.

AU - ONYEKACHI, Blessing N.

AU - PEKER, Müjde

AU - RIZWAN, Muhammad

AU - SCHALLER, Mark

AU - SUH, Eunkook M.

AU - TALAIFAR, Sanaz

AU - TONG, Eddie M. W.

AU - TORRES, Ana

AU - TURNER, Rhiannon N.

AU - VAN LANGE, Paul A. M.

AU - VAUCLAIR, Christin-melanie

AU - VINOGRADOV, Alexander

AU - WANG, Zhechen

AU - YEUNG, Victoria Wai Lan

AU - BASTIAN, Brock

PY - 2023/4

Y1 - 2023/4

N2 - What are the things that we think matter morally, and how do societal factors influence this? To date, research has explored several individual-level and historical factors that influence the size of our ‘moral circles.' There has, however, been less attention focused on which societal factors play a role. We present the first multi-national exploration of moral expansiveness—that is, the size of people’s moral circles across countries. We found low generalized trust, greater perceptions of a breakdown in the social fabric of society, and greater perceived economic inequality were associated with smaller moral circles. Generalized trust also helped explain the effects of perceived inequality on lower levels of moral inclusiveness. Other inequality indicators (i.e., Gini coefficients) were, however, unrelated to moral expansiveness. These findings suggest that societal factors, especially those associated with generalized trust, may influence the size of our moral circles.

AB - What are the things that we think matter morally, and how do societal factors influence this? To date, research has explored several individual-level and historical factors that influence the size of our ‘moral circles.' There has, however, been less attention focused on which societal factors play a role. We present the first multi-national exploration of moral expansiveness—that is, the size of people’s moral circles across countries. We found low generalized trust, greater perceptions of a breakdown in the social fabric of society, and greater perceived economic inequality were associated with smaller moral circles. Generalized trust also helped explain the effects of perceived inequality on lower levels of moral inclusiveness. Other inequality indicators (i.e., Gini coefficients) were, however, unrelated to moral expansiveness. These findings suggest that societal factors, especially those associated with generalized trust, may influence the size of our moral circles.

KW - moral circles

KW - moral expansiveness

KW - economic inquality

KW - trust

KW - anomie

KW - economic inequality

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85133634722

U2 - 10.1177/19485506221101767

DO - 10.1177/19485506221101767

M3 - Journal Article (refereed)

SN - 1948-5506

VL - 14

SP - 305

EP - 318

JO - Social Psychological and Personality Science

JF - Social Psychological and Personality Science

IS - 3

M1 - 194855062211017

ER -

Moral Expansiveness Around the World: The Role of Societal Factors Across 36 Countries

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

UN SDGs

Keywords

Access to Document

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Cite this