Perceptions of harm mediate multiple emotional responses and moral judgment

The role of emotion in moral judgment has received increased attention in the literature as contemporary moral psychology has suggested that moral judgment is largely understood as an intuitive process. Specifically, strong emotional responses are often associated with more severe moral condemnation. Previous research using the Dyadic Morality framework has found that the perceived harmfulness of a disgust-inducing behavior mediates the relationship between feelings of disgust and moral judgment. Using these findings as a reference, the present study investigated whether perceived harmfulness of a behavior mediates the relationship between multiple emotional responses and moral judgment. It was found that the perceived harmfulness of a behavior does indeed mediate the relationship between ten emotion items and moral judgment across various types of moral violations. It was also found that political affiliation and empathic concerns for others also predicts moral judgments for certain types of behaviors.

Perceptions of harm mediate multiple emotional responses and moral judgment

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