The Mark of the Moral: Modelling the Moralisation as an Interaction of Group- and Individual-LevelProcesse

This project aims to improve our understanding of how people come to moralise behaviours that previously had no moral status; that is, how we come to see eating meat or wearing a mask as moral issues. What initiates such moralisation processes, and how does it spread through society? To date, moral psychology research has focused on how people make moral decisions, and the consequences of moralisation, (e.g., riots or altruistic behaviour). However, we know little about how behaviours initially become seen as moral, how social context affects this, and the additional consequences of combining factors affecting groups and individuals.
During my PhD, I will develop and test a framework of moralisation that combines exactly social and individual-level factors. First, I will conduct a systematic examination of existing research using the PRISMA framework to inform the framework and clarify unanswered questions. Secondly, I will develop a computational model of factors contributing to moralisation in two steps: (a) individual-level factors with probabilistic graph modelling and (b) social factors as an agent-based model. These models will make exact predictions about the processes of moralisation. I will subsequently test some of these predictions in an online experiment which isolates the effect of each component (social and individual-level factors) and their interaction.
This project will bridge individual- and group-focused approaches to studying morality, offering novel insights into the psychological processes of moralisation. This work will inform theories, helping to understand how and why moral status is assigned (and why not). Furthermore, this work may inform policymakers on how to curb moral polarisation and conflict, and how and when to anticipate sudden emergences of moral feelings (e.g., towards mask-wearing to ensure the safety of others).