Tvetydighet som moderator

: om sambandet mellan moraliska intuitioner, attityd till tvetydighet och fördomar

Abstract

With a sample of 430 participants this study aimed to investigate if the relationship between the individual’s moral foundations and prejudice attitudes is moderated by the individual’s attitude towards ambiguity, understood as the factors discomfort with ambiguity, moral absolutism and need for complexity. To create a measurement for prejudice attitudes an exploratory factor analysis was performed on the participants positive or negative affective attitude responses towards 21 different social groups and categories. The analysis replicated earlier findings and showed the presence of 3 prejudice factors: derogated-, dangerous- and dissidient groups. To test the main hypothesis 6 multiple regressions controlling for age was performed. The result showed no presence of a moderation effect but there was support for several main effects. Overall the prediction effect for prejudice attitudes was stronger for binding foundations than the individuals attitude towards ambiguity. Binding foundations predicted more prejudice attitudes regardless of type of prejudice but the effect was strongest for prejudice attitudes towards dissident groups. Moral absolutism predicted prejudice attitudes towards dissident- and derogated groups. Need for complexity predicted more prejudice attitudes towards dissident groups. Discomfort with ambiguity predicted less prejudice attitudes towards dissident groups. In comparison moral absolutism showed the strongest prediction effect of the ambiguity factors in predicting attitudes towards dissident groups. Age showed signs of a main effect in that older individuals tended to be more tolerant towards derogated- and dissident groups. Limitations and suggestions for further research is also discussed.