I find it informative (and fun) to review Table 1 in the article and examine some of the traits that are uncharacteristic of someone liked and respected: needy, defensive, indecisive, lazy, and cheap. Recalling the Volkswagen emissions scandal, consumers perhaps care about a companys morality quite deeply, but for different reasons than for why they care about an acquaintances morality. We used two fundamentally different tasks to examine our research questions in order to see whether the results would replicate. Other moral traits, such as purity and wholesomeness, were seen as less important; even less than certain competent traits (e.g., intelligence, articulate). Sometimes honesty can be undesirable, such as the person who is unflinchingly honest even at the cost of feelings (No, I did not need you to tell me my new haircut looks bad). 0000011320 00000 n
Morality on the whole is important, but which moral traits are most important? For example, perhaps morality is especially important when deciding whether we respect a person, but less important whether we respect or understand a person. We all harbor secrets. Second, not all moral traits were equally important. Would you want to know that hes intelligent and outgoing? Get the help you need from a therapist near youa FREE service from Psychology Today. Some research in this area has shown that we see morality as central to identity: Your morality is what makes you you (Strohminger & Nichols, 2014). For example, honesty, purity, and generosity are all elements of morality, but are they all equal in their importance to evaluation? And if someone questions your restaurant choice, for gods sake, dont be defensive about it. 0000009234 00000 n Affiliating with moral people can increase our fitness. If you could know just two or three qualities about Brad, what are the traits that would be most informative to understanding what Brad is like as a person?
0000001045 00000 n startxref (Yes. 138 0 obj<>stream 0000012366 00000 n
Hartley, A. G., Furr, R. M., Helzer, E. G., Jayawickreme, E., Velasquez, K. R., & Fleeson, W. (2016). D. in social and personality psychology at Brown University, has studied the impact of morality, competence, and sociability on different types of evaluative judgments made in everyday life. In the second task, we had participants rate a variety of personality traits and their relationship to people. 0000010278 00000 n
Or that hes honest, compassionate, and kind? 0000003698 00000 n
This is important stuff to know if you want to be a good and successful person, or at least be perceived as such. 119 0 obj <>
endobj
Liking reflects personal interest and attraction toward a person, whereas respecting reflects high regard and deference to a person. Why is a persons morality so important to us? 119 20
0000001144 00000 n Morality is a potent factor when it comes to evaluating others on a global level. What makes me feel that I truly understand who you are as a person? Its unknown whether morality is more important to liking or respect. Its also possible that people simply do not agree on what it takes to understand someone (e.g., I care about morality, but you care more about competence when trying to understand someone). 0000005734 00000 n Cognition, 131, 159171. 0000002327 00000 n My colleagues and I examined these questions through two fundamentally different tasks in this article. Across many traits, honesty, compassion, fairness, and generosity were most important to liking, respecting, and understanding. @? fyO~"]gN6~0auc@YJ[|1+T;bk7Hb+~!4lx;, $l4'03Oa. trailer Morality was central to evaluation.
xb```"i$A9 We care about a persons morality more so than nearly any other factor, including their competence, sociability (friendliness), and a variety of other personality traits. Anna Hartley is a Research Scientist at Amazon in Seattle. Anna Hartley, who earned her Ph. Sometimes we find people who are extremely wholesome and sincere to be insufferable goody two shoes.
What did we find?
Liking and respect are distinct forms of evaluation. 0000005045 00000 n The essential moral self.
Moralitys Centrality to Liking, Respecting, and Understanding Others. 0000001462 00000 n xref Clearly, morality is important in the interpersonal domain, but it would be interesting to know how morality factors in when evaluating companies or political candidates. <]>> What would be the qualities that would make you feel that Brad is a good person? When deciding whether we like, respect, and understand a person, we care most about whether that person is moral, more so than whether he or she is sociable or competent. Which moral traits do we care about? %%EOF 0000001272 00000 n 0 You may be wondering at this point why morality is so important when judging others. Some are big and bad; some are small and trivial. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 106, 148-168. 0000000696 00000 n Ill leave that for a political scientist or sociologist to examine. People are often liked for their communal traits, such as being cooperative and friendly, whereas they are respected for their agentic traits, such as being competent and accomplished. | I do.). Social Psychological and Personality Science, online first. Goodwin, G. P., Piazza, J., & Rozin, P. (2014). %PDF-1.6 % Another equally important, yet distinct form of evaluation is understanding a person. doi: 10.1177/1948550616655359. A lesson for the next time you go to dinner with friends: proactively offer a suggestion of a place to go, be able to get there independently, and dont be stingy when the bill comes. 0000006413 00000 n 0000004365 00000 n However, morality was equally important to liking and respecting a person, yet relatively less important to understanding a person. From an adaptive perspective, moral traits signal to us whether we should approach or avoid and whether we should affiliate with that person. Our results show that we consider moral traits so important in others, in part, because a persons morality can benefit us in some way. What to Look for in a Therapist, The Best Way to Control Unwanted Thoughts, 5 Ways Almost Everyone Misunderstands Emotions, The Favorite Animals of Comparative Psychologists. Moral traits have social value. Researchers have parsed which truths to tell and which not to. Posted July 6, 2016 (Err, no.) Children and Youth Bullied by Adults Need Strategies to Heal, Four Ways Music Strengthens Social Interactions, How We Grieve Changes, Endings, and Unfulfilled Goals. In one task, we had participants rate real people and their personality traits (morality, competence, sociability). For example, evaluating whether we like or respect someone are two forms of evaluation that we make frequently in everyday life. We know less about whether morality is as important when forming more specific types of evaluations. Joachim Krueger, Ph.D., is a social psychologist at Brown University who believes that rational thinking and socially responsible behavior are attainable goals. For example, do I respect my new co-worker who constantly borrows my pens but doesnt give them back? Morality may be central to all three, or it may be more important to one form of evaluation than another. 0000000016 00000 n 0000002997 00000 n 0000007155 00000 n Do I like my neighbor who brought me brownies when I first moved in? Imagine your daughter Bethany brings home her new boyfriend, Brad, for you to meet. Replication is good. As it turns out, morality is the thing we care about most when forming impressions of a person (see Goodwin, Piazza, & Rozin, 2014). And how does morality factor into citizens' perceptions of the presumptive presidential nominees in 2016?
If I know a person is honest and compassionate, then I know that I can associate with that person safely, and can perhaps begin a fruitful relationship with them. 0000008195 00000 n Moral character predominates in person perception and evaluation. Strohminger, N., & Nichols, S. (2014). But little is known about moralitys relative importance to liking, respect, and understanding. Morality is central to liking, respecting, and understanding people. How Stable Are We in Our Relationship Satisfaction? 0000001597 00000 n Reviewed by Ekua Hagan. Psychology Today 2022 Sussex Publishers, LLC, A Decisive Blow to the Serotonin Hypothesis of Depression, When You're Feeling Anxious: Four Types of Self-Care, Do You Have Misophonia? It may be that understanding someone is more complex than liking and respecting, and is affected by a wider variety of personality, behavioral, or relational qualities.
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