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Social Science & Medicine (1982) Sep 2019Weight stigma is prevalent in Western society and has numerous negative effects on people with obesity. There remains a strong and currently unmet need to understand why...
RATIONALE
Weight stigma is prevalent in Western society and has numerous negative effects on people with obesity. There remains a strong and currently unmet need to understand why anti-fat attitudes are tenacious and what intervention strategies might best produce lasting attitude change.
OBJECTIVE
Many negative effects of weight stigma can be integrated by noting that people differ in the extent to which they see obesity as a moral failing. Drawing from moral psychology and weight stigma literature, we hypothesized that greater moral disapproval of obesity would be linked to greater control attributions and disgust towards obese people, stronger endorsement of discrimination, perception of greater health risks associated with obesity, resistance to attitude change, and negative perceptions of people who have bariatric surgery.
METHOD
Three studies were conducted with U.S.-based online samples in 2017-2018, and were analyzed with correlational, analysis of variance, and linear regression models.
RESULTS
In Study 1, greater moralization of obesity predicted stronger belief in the controllability of obesity, greater disgust towards obese people, stronger endorsement of discrimination against obese individuals, and the perception of greater health risks associated with obesity. In Study 2, people with stronger moralized obesity attitudes rated arguments for classifying obesity as a disease as less convincing, demonstrating that moralized obesity attitudes are more resistant to persuasion than nonmoral attitudes. In Study 3, greater moralization predicted more negative responses to an individual who had bariatric surgery, even when the individual exerted strong diet and exercise-related effort to make the surgery successful.
CONCLUSION
A moral view of obesity explains why control attributions and disgust are essential components of weight stigma, and why antifat attitudes are resistant to change. We conclude with suggestions for future research and consideration of the implications of obesity moralization for other chronic health conditions.
Topics: Adult; Attitude to Health; Bariatric Surgery; Female; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; Humans; Male; Morals; Obesity; Social Stigma
PubMed: 31377501
DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2019.112399 -
Cognition Mar 2022Moral judgments have a very prominent social nature, and in everyday life, they are continually shaped by discussions with others. Psychological investigations of these...
Moral judgments have a very prominent social nature, and in everyday life, they are continually shaped by discussions with others. Psychological investigations of these judgments, however, have rarely addressed the impact of social interactions. To examine the role of social interaction on moral judgments within small groups, we had groups of 4 to 5 participants judge moral dilemmas first individually and privately, then collectively and interactively, and finally individually a second time. We employed both real-life and sacrificial moral dilemmas in which the character's action or inaction violated a moral principle to benefit the greatest number of people. Participants decided if these utilitarian decisions were morally acceptable or not. In Experiment 1, we found that collective judgments in face-to-face interactions were more utilitarian than the statistical aggregate of their members compared to both first and second individual judgments. This observation supported the hypothesis that deliberation and consensus within a group transiently reduce the emotional burden of norm violation. In Experiment 2, we tested this hypothesis more directly: measuring participants' state anxiety in addition to their moral judgments before, during, and after online interactions, we found again that collectives were more utilitarian than those of individuals and that state anxiety level was reduced during and after social interaction. The utilitarian boost in collective moral judgments is probably due to the reduction of stress in the social setting.
Topics: Decision Making; Emotions; Ethical Theory; Humans; Judgment; Morals
PubMed: 34872034
DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2021.104965 -
Psychonomic Bulletin & Review Aug 2023To manage conflicts between temptation and commitment, people use self-control. The process model of self-control outlines different strategies for managing the onset...
To manage conflicts between temptation and commitment, people use self-control. The process model of self-control outlines different strategies for managing the onset and experience of temptation. However, little is known about the decision-making factors underlying strategy selection. Across three experiments (N = 317), we tested whether the moral valence of a commitment predicts how people advise attentional self-control strategies. In Experiments 1 and 2, people rated attentional focus strategies as significantly more effective for people tempted to break moral relative to immoral commitments, even when controlling for perceived temptation and trait self-control. Experiment 3 showed that as people perceived commitments to have more positive moral valence, they judged attentional focus strategies to be significantly more effective relative to attentional distraction strategies. Moreover, this effect was partly mediated by perceived differences in motivation. These results indicate that moralization informs decision-making processes related to self-control strategy selection.
Topics: Morals; Self-Control; Humans; Motivation; Decision Making; Male; Female; Adult; Attention
PubMed: 36849699
DOI: 10.3758/s13423-023-02257-7 -
Medicine, Health Care, and Philosophy Dec 2022Moralization is a social-psychological process through which morally neutral issues take on moral significance. Often linked to health and disease, moralization may...
Moralization is a social-psychological process through which morally neutral issues take on moral significance. Often linked to health and disease, moralization may sometimes lead to good outcomes; yet moralization is often detrimental to individuals and to society as a whole. It is therefore important to be able to identify when moralization is inappropriate. In this paper, we offer a systematic normative approach to the evaluation of moralization. We introduce and develop the concept of 'mismoralization', which is when moralization is metaethically unjustified. In order to identify mismoralization, we argue that one must engage in metaethical analysis of moralization processes while paying close attention to the relevant facts. We briefly discuss one historical example (tuberculosis) and two contemporary cases related to COVID-19 (infection and vaccination status) that we contend to have been mismoralized in public health. We propose a remedy of de-moralization that begins by identifying mismoralization and that proceeds by neutralizing inapt moral content. De-moralization calls for epistemic and moral humility. It should lead us to pull away from our tendency to moralize-as individuals and as social groups-whenever and wherever moralization is unjustified.
Topics: Humans; Public Health; COVID-19; Morals
PubMed: 36045179
DOI: 10.1007/s11019-022-10103-1 -
The New Bioethics : a Multidisciplinary... Mar 2021The recent case of the Glasgow midwives, Mary Doogan and Concepta Wood, highlighted again the scope of the 'conscience clause' relating to the 1967, and to which tasks...
The recent case of the Glasgow midwives, Mary Doogan and Concepta Wood, highlighted again the scope of the 'conscience clause' relating to the 1967, and to which tasks it could be applied in relation specifically to their role as Labour Ward Co-ordinators. However, as members of the Catholic Church, this case had specific resonances for them in relation to their beliefs, both from a moral-theological and canonical perspective, the latter of which carries potential ecclesiastical penalties. This article looks at the decisions handed down by the courts, and analyses the issues arising in relation to principles of Catholic morality and the relevant canons in the 1983 Code of Canon Law.
Topics: Abortion, Induced; Conscience; Female; Humans; Morals; Pregnancy
PubMed: 33395375
DOI: 10.1080/20502877.2020.1865023 -
Annals of the New York Academy of... Nov 2016This is my critical commentary on Michael Shermer's paper "Morality is real, objective, and natural." Shermer and I agree that morality is both real and objective. Here... (Review)
Review
This is my critical commentary on Michael Shermer's paper "Morality is real, objective, and natural." Shermer and I agree that morality is both real and objective. Here I raise serious reservations about both Shermer's account of where morality comes from and his account of what morality tells us to do. His approach to the foundations of morality would allow some very disturbing behaviors to count as moral, and his approach to what morality says does not provide the action guidance we need from a moral theory.
Topics: Ethical Theory; Humans; Morals; Social Justice
PubMed: 27199206
DOI: 10.1111/nyas.13076 -
Geriatric Nursing (New York, N.Y.) 2022Studies that objectively investigate patterns of everyday physical activity in relation to well-being and that use measures specific to older adults are scarce. This...
Studies that objectively investigate patterns of everyday physical activity in relation to well-being and that use measures specific to older adults are scarce. This study aimed to explore objectively measured everyday physical activity and sedentary behavior in relation to a morale measure specifically constructed for older adults. A total of 77 persons (42 women, 35 men) aged 80 years or older (84.3 ± 3.8) wore an accelerometer device for at least 5 days. Morale was measured with the Philadelphia Geriatric Center Morale Scale (PGCMS). PGCMS scores were significantly positively associated with number of steps, time spent stepping, and time spent stepping at >75 steps per minute. Sedentary behavior did not associate with PGCMS. Promoting PA in the form of walking at any intensity-or even spending time in an upright position-and in any quantity may be important for morale, or vice versa, or the influence may be bidirectional.
Topics: Male; Humans; Female; Aged; Sedentary Behavior; Exercise; Morale; Accelerometry
PubMed: 36099778
DOI: 10.1016/j.gerinurse.2022.08.007 -
Progress in Brain Research 2018There has been a controversy on the moral import of music and art in general. On the one hand, the moralist view contends that there is some sort of link between art and... (Review)
Review
There has been a controversy on the moral import of music and art in general. On the one hand, the moralist view contends that there is some sort of link between art and morality, even if the way to specify this link may be highly diverse. It comprises most of the classical views of art, from Schiller's view of the role of artistic education in moral development, to any view that declares a form of art as corrupt or degenerated, or enlightening. What it is assumed minimally in all of them is that the moral import of an artwork contributes to its aesthetic value. On the other hand, formalist views claim that the aesthetic value of an artwork is genuine and autonomous, and therefore it is independent of any other value. In this chapter we focus on music, as the most difficult case for the moralist standpoint, given the lack of representational content of music. We argue for a variety of the moralist's view according to which the moral import of a musical artwork is not derived from its content (obviously, as it lack any), but from its pragmatics: the context and the intentions that guide its composition and performance, by analogy with any other intentional action, and point to the emotional impact of music as the common ground that bridges moral and aesthetic values. As a provisional conclusion, we outline a research program for brain studies that follows from this proposal, as a way test its predictions, focusing both on the emotional grounds of valuation and their context-dependency.
Topics: Brain; Emotions; Esthetics; Humans; Morals; Music
PubMed: 29779750
DOI: 10.1016/bs.pbr.2018.03.015 -
Annals of the New York Academy of... Nov 2016The goal of this paper is to briefly introduce and defend the idea that God is the source of our moral obligations. In contrast to Michael Shermer's paper, which defends... (Review)
Review
The goal of this paper is to briefly introduce and defend the idea that God is the source of our moral obligations. In contrast to Michael Shermer's paper, which defends a naturalistic position about the foundations of morality, this approach is explicitly supernaturalistic. The paper begins by defining how "God" will be understood, and then spells out some of the details of how, on the proposed view, moral obligations are to depend upon God. The third section briefly reviews some of the leading arguments for this view, before the paper concludes with a discussion of the Euthyphro dilemma.
Topics: Humans; Moral Obligations; Morals; Religion
PubMed: 27198934
DOI: 10.1111/nyas.13074 -
Annals of the New York Academy of... Nov 2016In Leo Tolstoy's famous novella, The Death of Ivan Ilyich, a rich and meaningful inner life is sacrificed in pursuit of material rewards and social status. How can we... (Review)
Review
In Leo Tolstoy's famous novella, The Death of Ivan Ilyich, a rich and meaningful inner life is sacrificed in pursuit of material rewards and social status. How can we cultivate something intrinsic that transcends our worldly accomplishments? Assuming that a basic model or map of human nature is needed to navigate the road to the good life, what desires, tendencies, and aversions constitute our core nature? How has our evolutionary history shaped our moral impulses? Are we inherently good or fundamentally flawed? Steve Paulson, executive producer and host of To the Best of Our Knowledge, moderated a discussion with philosopher Christian Miller, neuroscientist Heather Berlin, and historian of science Michael Shermer to examine our moral ecology and its influence on our underlying assumptions about human nature.
Topics: Animals; Human Characteristics; Humans; Morals; Radio; Virtues
PubMed: 27248691
DOI: 10.1111/nyas.13067