An Examination of Agreement and Disagreement in Perceptions of the Morally Exceptional

One potential barrier to the psychological study of the morally exceptional is the possible subjectivity in what constitutes a morally exceptional person. The primary purpose of this research was to determine the degree to which studying moral exceptionalism is subjective by examining agreement and disagreement in perceptions of moral exemplars across people. To the extent that agreement existed, the second purpose was to identify personality characteristics that may comprise the core of perceived moral exceptionalism across people. To the extent that disagreement existed, the third purpose was to determine which personality characteristics of moral exemplars people disagreed on and the reasons that may be driving disagreement. Across two studies, there existed widespread agreement on the characteristics of moral exemplars. In comparison to other figures, moral exemplars were perceived to have better moral recognition abilities, stronger concerns for harm and fairness, increased preferences for deontological reasoning, stronger moral affect, more central moral identities, increased self-control, and an increased frequency of moral behaviors. Disagreement was primarily restricted to the religiosity and group-oriented values of moral exemplars and mainly occurred along political and religious lines. Overall, this research provides a firm foundation for the study of moral exceptionalism based on consensus.

Grantor dc:publisher

Wake Forest University

Year dc:date.issued

2018

Author dc:creator

• Luke, Dillon

• agreement

Language dc:language.iso

en

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/10339/90691

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:wakespace.lib.wfu.edu:10339/90691