Moralization of SelfControl Jesse Graham University of Southern

Moralization of Self-Control Jesse Graham University of Southern California April 25, 2016

Project Team Jesse Graham Marlon Mooijman John Monterosso Morteza Dehghani Daphna Oyserman John Doris Peter Meindl

Project Team Jesse Graham Marlon Mooijman John Monterosso Morteza Dehghani Daphna Oyserman John Doris Peter Meindl

Main Goals v Understand the multiple ways self-control goals can be moralized (e. g. , in terms of fairness or purity) v Determine which kinds of moralization can increase (or decrease) the likelihood of actually meeting those self-control goals

Self-control v Self-control principles can help improve moral behavior —Baumeister & Exline, 1999 v Self-control goals are also commonly moralized —Haidt & Hersh, 2001; Rozin, 2008; Rozin & Singh, 1999 v Moralization of self-control goals can help achieve them (e. g. , moral vegetarians) —Rozin, Markwith, & Stoess, 1997 v But which kinds of moralization help, or hinder, achievement of self-control goals?

Pluralisms, in Morality and Self-Control Moral Foundations Theory Care/harm Individualizing Fairness/cheating Loyalty/betrayal Authority/subversion Purity/degradation — Graham, Haidt, Koleva, Iyer, Motyl, Ditto, & Wojcik, 2013 Binding

Pluralisms, in Morality and Self-Control Moral Foundations Theory Self-Control Domains Care/harm Money Fairness/cheating Substances Food Loyalty/betrayal Exercise Authority/subversion Work Purity/degradation Relationships — Graham, Haidt, Koleva, Iyer, Motyl, Ditto, & Wojcik, 2013 — Tsukyama, Duckworth, & Kim, 2015

Question 1 How, when, and for whom do self-control goals become moralized, and what forms does this moralization take? Question 2 How can we use different kinds of moral concerns to affect self-control behavior? Question 3 For which person-situation combinations can moral values and concerns actually stand in the way of attaining selfcontrol goals?

Overview of Studies v Study 1: Which moral concerns predict self-control moralization? - N = 315, MTurk v Study 2: Replication including RWA, SDO, collectivism - N = 1, 145, Your. Morals. org v Study 3: Rule out self-interest - N = 104, USC students v Study 4: Linking changes in moral and self-control word use over time - N > 5 million books, Google Ngrams v Study 5: Association perceptions - N = 152, MTurk v Study 6: Sumerian warrior experiment - N = 141, MTurk v Study 7: Group morality experiment - N = 103, MTurk *Mooijman, *Meindl, Oyserman, Monterosso, Dehghani, Doris, & Graham, in prep

Study 1 N=315, MTurk v Moral Foundations Questionnaire (α =. 85): - Care/harm: “Compassion for those who are suffering is the most crucial virtue” - Fairness/cheating: “Justice is the most important requirement for a society” - Loyalty/betrayal: “It is more important to be a team player than to express oneself” - Authority/subversion: “If I were a soldier and disagreed with my commanding officers’ orders, I would obey anyway because it is my duty” - Purity/degradation: “People should not do things that are disgusting, even if no one is harmed” —Graham, Nosek, Haidt, Iyer, Koleva, & Ditto, 2011

Study 1 v Self-control moralization scale (α =. 97): “People often differ from one another in whether they attach moral significance to various activities. We would like to know which of the following activities you regard as being morally relevant” — Adapted from Tsukyama, Duckworth, & Kim, 2015

Study 1 v Self-control moralization scale (α =. 97): v 68 item-scale measuring self-control moralization in 6 domains: Money Substances Food Exercise Work Relationships v Examples: v “To what extent do you think putting off work is morally relevant? ” v “To what extent do you think spending a lot of money is morally relevant? ” — Adapted from Tsukyama, Duckworth, & Kim, 2015

Study 1 v Additional measures v Political Ideology - (1) very liberal, (7) very conservative —Jost, 2006; Graham, Haidt, & Nosek, 2009 v Religiosity - How often do you often attend religious services? - (1) never, (9) several times a week - How important is religion in your life? - (1) not important at all, (7) extremely important —De. Wall et al. , 2014 v Age v Gender

Study 1 Money Care/harm Substances Fairness/cheating Avg. r =. 26*** Food Exercise Work Relationships

Study 1 Money Avg. r =. 31*** Substances Food Loyalty/betrayal Exercise Authority/subversion Work Purity/degradation Relationships

Results Individualizing . 07 ns Self-control moralization Binding . 35***

Results . 05 Individualizing . 07 ns Self-control moralization Conservatism. 31*** Binding . 35*** . 09 ns (. 17**) 95% CI = [0. 03, 0. 10] 95% CI = [-0. 02, 0. 03]

Results . 12 Individualizing . 07 ns Self-control moralization Religiosity. 53*** Binding . 35*** . 11 ns (. 25**) 95% CI = [0. 03, 0. 10] 95% CI = [-0. 02, 0. 03]

Study 2 N=1, 145, Your. Morals. org v Moral Foundations Questionnaire (α =. 81): v Self-control moralization questionnaire (α =. 90): v Horizontal & Vertical Collectivism (α =. 75): —cf. Study 1 —Singelis et al. , 1995 v Right-Wing Authoritarianism (RWA; α =. 66): —Altemeyer, 1988 v Social Dominance Orientation (SDO; α =. 71): —Pratto & Sidanius, 1994

Study 2 Care Fairness r =. 03 Self-control moralization

Study 2 r =. 40*** Loyalty Authority Purity Self-control moralization

Results Individualizing Binding . 20 ns. 68*** Self-control moralization

Results SDO. -. 17 ns Individualizing Binding . 04 ns Self-control moralization . 54*** RWA . 12 ns. 15* Collectivism

Study 3 N = 104, USC students v Rule out self-interest explanation v Included self-control self-interest scale v Money, substances, food, exercise, work, relationships v Modify self-control moralization DV v Rate self-control failures as immoral (direct moral judgment) rather than just morally relevant

Results Individualizing Binding SC self-interest -. 25*. 35*** . 17 ns Self-control moralization

Study 4 200 years of text in > 5 million books analyzed on ngram (google) v Using Moral Foundations LIWC Dictionary words —Graham, Haidt, & Nosek, 2009 v Eight words most relevant to each moral foundation - Care, harm, suffer, fair, equal, loyal, obey, pious, etc. v 6 words related to self-control - Willpower, self-control, discipline, temptations, tempting.

Study 4 – ngram example

Results Indivualizing words Binding words . 09 ns Self-control words. 56***

Future Text Analysis plans 1. Time-lag models 2. Use word proximity within texts to pinpoint when different behaviors became moralized or de-moralized Cf. Rozin’s claim on food eclipsing sex as the big moral topic 3. Machine learning techniques to distinguish self-control failures from successes 4. Content analysis of how people spontaneously moralize their self-control goals

Study 5 N=152, MTurk v “Which of these words do you associate more strongly with selfcontrol? ” v 80 word pairs, contrasting group morality (e. g. loyalty, respect, authority) with individual morality (e. g. compassion, rights, kindness) v Group morality more associated with self-control overall v M = 0. 63, SD = 0. 22; t(151) = 7. 01, p <. 001, d = 1. 14 Contrast M SD t p d Loyalty vs. Harm 0. 60 0. 23 5. 39 <. 001 0. 88 Loyalty vs. Fairness 0. 64 0. 27 6. 48 <. 001 1. 05 Purity vs. Harm 0. 57 0. 32 2. 57 =. 011 0. 42 Purity vs. Fairness 0. 54 0. 29 1. 82 =. 071 0. 30 Authority vs. Harm 0. 70 0. 26 9. 59 <. 001 1. 56 Authority vs. Fairness 0. 69 0. 31 11. 09 <. 001 1. 80

Study 6 N=141, MTurk v Sumerian warrior manipulation v Oyserman & Lee, 2008 v DV: Self-control moralization v How immoral is it for the warrior to fail to self-control in work, money, food, etc.

Sumerian Samurai • BINDING - Sostoras was a great cultural hero of ancient Sumer. More than from anything else, Sostoras’s fame derived from his reputation as a man of exceptional character. Throughout his life, Sostoras showed unwavering loyalty and patriotism, as well as a ceaseless respect for the traditions of his society. He was also considered a true holy man on account of his deep and lasting piousness and chasteness. As a result of his superior moral standing, Sostoras was eventually awarded a small kingdom of his own to rule. For 50 years, Sostoras worked tirelessly to purify his kingdom by cultivating the character and virtuousness of his citizens. When Sostoras finally died, his kingdom was known throughout Sumer as a bastion for purity, respect for tradition, and extraordinary loyalty. • INDIVIDUALIZING - Sostoras was a great cultural hero of ancient Sumer. More than from anything else, Sostora’s fame derived from his reputation as a man of exceptional character. Throughout his life, Sostoras showed unwavering concern for the well-being of others, as well as a ceaseless commitment to justice and fairness. As a result of his superior moral standing, Sostoras was eventually awarded a small kingdom of his own to rule. For 50 years, Sostoras worked tirelessly to improve his kingdom by cultivating the character and virtuousness of his citizens. When Sostoras finally died, his kingdom was known throughout Sumer as a bastion for compassion, fairness, and equality. • CONTROL - Sostoras was a man who lived in ancient Sumer. Sostoras was a pottery producer. Throughout his life, Sostoras enjoyed talking about the events of the day with other people. As a result of living in Sumer, Sostoras was a Sumerian citizen. This gave him the right to own, and cultivate, land. It is unclear to historians whether Sostoras took advantage of this right. When Sostoras died, he left behind a lot of pottery.

Results Self-control moralization 4 *** * † 3. 5 3 2. 5 2 Binding condition Individualizing condition Control

Study 7 N=103, MTurk v Binding versus Individualizing manipulation […. . ] morality is ultimately about what is good for [society as a whole / individuals within society]. Though we naturally feel good when we do a nice thing for [a specific individual / society as a whole] , if this action does not help [our society as a whole / specific individuals] then it cannot be considered good, moral, and ethical. Please write why you agree with this statement v DV: Self-control moralization questionnaire

Results Self-control moralization 4 3. 5 3 2. 5 2 Group morality condition Individual morality condition t(93) = 2. 51, p =. 01, d = 0. 53

Results Self-control moralization 4 3. 5 Work Relationship 3 Substance Food Exercise 2. 5 Money 2 Group morality condition Individual morality condition

Conclusions, Future Directions v Group-oriented morality, but not individual-oriented morality, increases self-control moralization v This group-oriented morality helps explain why conservatives and religious people are more likely to moralize self-control v Future work: Focus on link between self-control moralization and self-control behavior Question 2 How can we use different kinds of moral concerns to affect selfcontrol behavior?

Thanks! And now… LADIES AND GENTLEMEN… MORTEZA DEHGHANI