The cognitive and cultural foundations of moral behavior

Evolution and Human Behavior Vol/Iss. 39 Elsevier Published In Pages: 490-501
By Pisor, Anne C., Apicella, Coren, Atkinson, Quentin D., Cohen, Emma, Henrich, Joseph, McElreath, Richard L., McNamara, Rita A., Norenzayan, Ara, Willard, Aiyan K., Xygalatas, Dimitris

Hypothesis

Participants will use cooperative descriptors when asked to list 5 behaviors that makes someone good/virtuous/moral, and will use non-cooperative descriptors when asked to list 5 behaviors that makes someone bad/immoral.

Note

All questions were translated and participants who could not demonstrate a comprehension of the question were excluded from the results. "Fairness/reciprocity" and "honesty" were the main responses for moral behavior. "Theft," "deceit," and "violence" were the main responses for immoral behavior.

Test

Test NameSupportSignificanceCoefficientTail
Cognitive salience and mean salience scoreSupportedUNKNOWNUNKNOWNUNKNOWN