The Great Divide: Neither Fairness Nor Kindness Eliminates Moral Derogation of People With Opposing Political Beliefs

People increasingly view those with opposing political beliefs as less moral than those with shared political beliefs. Across two experiments, using a U.S. undergraduate sample (n = 1,070) and a U.S. resident online sample through Prolific (n = 402), we employed the Ultimatum Game (UG) to investigat...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inSocial psychological & personality science Vol. 15; no. 6; pp. 650 - 658
Main Authors McGarry, Phillip P., Shteynberg, Garriy, Hulsey, Timothy L., Heim, Andrew S.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01.08.2024
SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
Subjects
Beliefs
Conflict
Fairness
Kindness
Morality
Political attitudes
Political discourse
fairness
moral derogation
out-group hostility
political polarization
political extremity
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Summary:People increasingly view those with opposing political beliefs as less moral than those with shared political beliefs. Across two experiments, using a U.S. undergraduate sample (n = 1,070) and a U.S. resident online sample through Prolific (n = 402), we employed the Ultimatum Game (UG) to investigate whether acts of fairness, or even kindness, by persons with out-party political beliefs would mitigate moral derogation toward them. In neither experiment, did fairness or kindness by persons with opposite political beliefs moderate moral derogation. More extreme partisans engaged in even greater moral derogation of out-party (versus in-party) individuals, regardless of their acts of fairness or kindness. However, even self-identified moderate partisans engage in out-party moral derogation. The implications of these findings for political discourse and resolution for political conflict are discussed.
ISSN:1948-5506
1948-5514
DOI:10.1177/19485506231194279