How important are each of Haight's Five Foundations of Morality to you?

[Whateverist]

I've made a poll to see how people on these forums self report in terms of Haidt's five foundations of morality.  This will be an ugly poll with a lot questions but the idea is you just rank the importance of each of five categories in terms of their importance within your own morality.  That means you should only choose five boxes, one for each of the categories.  If you would rather rank the five in a comment that would still be interesting.  Naturally it would also be on target to discuss and evaluate what you think of this way of analyzing morality.

For each of Haidt's five foundations of morality please say whether each one is:

A - Of the utmost importance representing a dimension that is central to your moral experience or ..

B - Of some importance or somewhat applicable to your moral experience but possibly not as commonly understood or ..

C - In the lowest tier of importance requiring a real stretch to find any application to your moral experience.



Description of the five moral dimensions.

---

From his TED video, Haidt’s five foundations of morality follow.

1. Care/harm. We’ve evolved to feel (and dislike) pain. This isn’t just true for ourselves; we also sense and dislike pain in others. From this comes kindness, nurturing, empathy, and so on.

2. Fairness/reciprocity. This is related to reciprocal altruism. From this foundation comes justice, rights, autonomy, and the Golden Rule.

3. Ingroup/loyalty. We have a long history as tribal creatures able to adapt to shifting coalitions. This foundation underlies patriotism, selflessness, and self-sacrifice for the group. It is active anytime people feel that it’s one for all, and all for one.

4. Authority/respect. As primates, we understand hierarchical social interactions. This foundation underlies the virtues of leadership and followership, including deference to legitimate authority and respect for traditions.

5. Purity/sanctity. This is shaped by the psychology of disgust and contamination. Being repulsed by things that look or smell bad can keep us from eating unsafe food. It also underlies religious notions of striving to live in an elevated, less carnal, and more noble way.

Haidt theorizes that the rise of civilization may have needed all five of the morality categories.

The poll will look like this:
[hide]
1A - "Care/harm" is of the utmost importance and central to my moral experience.
1B - "Care/harm" has some importance in my moral experience but plays a much less central role.
1C - "Care/harm" plays a nonstandard or small (if any) role in my moral experience.

2A - "Fairness/reciprocity" is of the utmost importance and central to my moral experience.
2B - "Fairness/reciprocity" has some importance in my moral experience but plays a much less central role.
2C - "Fairness/reciprocity" plays a nonstandard or small (if any) role in my moral experience.

3A - "Ingroup/loyalty" is of the utmost importance and central to my moral experience.
3B - "Ingroup/loyalty" has some importance in my moral experience but plays a much less central role.
3C - "Ingroup/loyalty" plays a nonstandard or small (if any) role in my moral experience.

4A - "Authority/respect" is of the utmost importance and central to my moral experience.
4B - "Authority/respect" has some importance in my moral experience but plays a much less central role.
4C - "Authority/respect" plays a nonstandard or small (if any) role in my moral experience.

5A - "Purity/sanctity" is of the utmost importance and central to my moral experience.
5B - "Purity/sanctity" has some importance in my moral experience but plays a much less central role.
5C - "Purity/sanctity" plays a nonstandard or small (if any) role in my moral experience.

---

[Whateverist]

In case you missed it this is the video Jörmungandr shared which discusses the five moral dimensions which inspired this ugly poll.

[Excited Penguin]

Hey, it looks like someone chose the exact same options I did. I wonder of this configuration will be a popular one.

1A 2A 3B 4C 5B

[robvalue]

Interesting!

I voted A, A, B, B, C.

For three, I dislike tribalism so this is split. For four, I dislike blind obedience and tradition so this is also split. For five, purity and sanctity I find to be empty concepts.

[Whateverist]

So for myself only 1 and 2 (Care/harm and Fairness/reciprocity) even seemed to be about morality when I first watched the video and thought about the categories.  But upon further reflection I found I could attach moral relevance to each of the other categories.  So I ranked both of them as most central (A) for my own morality.

I ranked 5 and 3 (Purity/sanctity and Ingroup/loyalty) as moderately relevant in my moral experience (B).  On the face of it Purity/sanctity seems to be about religion.  But then I realized that I do esteem authenticity or genuineness highly and unconsciously at least judge myself and others accordingly.  Holiness would probably be the more standard interpretation but I think the way I'm applying the category works too.

In-group/loyalty is decidedly lower in my esteem as moral values but I don't think I'm devoid of it.  In some ways 5 and 3 are opposed with Purity/sanctity focused on the autonomy of the individual while In-group/loyalty is focused one's submission to the social group.  For me, individual autonomy is far more central and a value I hold much dearer but I do find some application for In-group/loyalty in family and in the work place where I was part of a team.  Marriage is important to me too and I think I owe my partner truthfulness and loyalty.  I also feel a strong bond with one of my brothers and with my stepson where "loyalty" fits.  A more standard application would probably be patriotism but I don't find I value that much at all, the social unit on that level is just too big, diverse and impersonal for me to relate to in this way.

The low man on my moral totem pole is definitely Authority/respect (4), a victim of my generation no doubt.  Nonetheless I can find some teeny bit of application in that I place some value in institutions such as the government, justice system and the military.  To the degree that I value these things I find I owe them my respect.  The thing is the respect is for the office or role, to the individual I give automatically only appreciation.  Where I can see that they take their role seriously and carry it out with excellence and dignity, they too get my respect.  But authority I never grant to a man, only to a role.

I didn't check the last box because I actually like polls.  This one is complex and hard to look at, but it is at least on a topic I'm interested in.

[Whateverist]

Hey, it looks like someone chose the exact same options I did. I wonder of this configuration will be a popular one.

1A 2A 3B 4C 5B

Looks like I'm your clone, Pengy.  Like you I put 4 on the lowest rung, you rebel.

[Whateverist]

Interesting!

I voted A, A, B, B, C.

For three, I dislike tribalism so this is split. For four, I dislike blind obedience and tradition so this is also split. For five, purity and sanctity I find to be empty concepts.

I suspect the two we ranked differently, 4 and 5, are owing to interpretation.  I guess I think 3,4 and 5 are all splits.  I wonder what you think of my interpretation of 5 as having to do with authenticity or purity as internal/external consistency?  It sure seems like the category ready made to plunk religion into, but I wonder if you can think of anything else that applies short of holy stuff.

[Excited Penguin]

---

So for myself only 1 and 2 (Care/harm and Fairness/reciprocity) even seemed to be about morality when I first watched the video and thought about the categories.  But upon further reflection I found I could attach moral relevance to each of the other categories.  So I ranked both of them as most central (A) for my own morality.

I ranked 5 and 3 (Purity/sanctity and Ingroup/loyalty) as moderately relevant in my moral experience (B).  On the face of it Purity/sanctity seems to be about religion.  But then I realized that I do esteem authenticity or genuineness highly and unconsciously at least judge myself and others accordingly.  Holiness would probably be the more standard interpretation but I think the way I'm applying the category works too.

In-group/loyalty is decidedly lower in my esteem as moral values but I don't think I'm devoid of it.  In some ways 5 and 3 are opposed with Purity/sanctity focused on the autonomy of the individual while In-group/loyalty is focused one's submission to the social group.  For me, individual autonomy is far more central and a value I hold much dearer but I do find some application for In-group/loyalty in family and in the work place where I was part of a team.  Marriage is important to me too and I think I owe my partner truthfulness and loyalty.  I also feel a strong bond with one of my brothers and with my stepson where "loyalty" fits.  A more standard application would probably be patriotism but I don't find I value that much at all, the social unit on that level is just too big, diverse and impersonal for me to relate to in this way.

The low man on my moral totem pole is definitely Authority/respect (4), a victim of my generation no doubt.  Nonetheless I can find some teeny bit of application in that I place some value in institutions such as the government, justice system and the military.  To the degree that I value these things I find I owe them my respect.  The thing is the respect is for the office or role, to the individual I give automatically only appreciation.  Where I can see that they take their role seriously and carry it out with excellence and dignity, they too get my respect.  But authority I never grant to a man, only to a role.

---

I didn't check the last box because I actually like polls.  This one is complex and hard to look at, but it is at least on a topic I'm interested in.

I had an inkling it was you. Your expanded thinking on the matter aligns perfectly with my own, as well. That's interesting.

The poll was fine, btw, Wtw. I just thought you were being humorous. It's a very neat poll and on an interesting topic at that. It's easy to navigate and fill out.

I wanted to add about the authority part, still. I couldn't agree more.

[Whateverist]

By the way, being a public poll, you can see who voted for what just by clicking on "[Show results]" just below the poll at the top of this page.

[Longhorn]

Too much to brain. I just try to not be a dick