The Effects of Moral Framing on Environmental Attitudes

Authors

Ashlyn Bodily, Brigham Young University
Darren Hawkins, Brigham Young University

Keywords

environmental issues, political landscape, conservative values

College

Family, Home, and Social Sciences

Department

Political Science

Abstract

Environmental issues are especially controversial in the current political landscape The purpose of this project was to better understand the effect of framing environmental issues in terms of the following values: (1) harm: disliking pain in others, (2) fairness: justice according to shared rules, (3) loyalty: standing with and sacrificing for your group, (4) authority: deference to tradition and legitimate authority, and (5) purity: avoiding that which is disgusting and revering that which is sacred. We were particularly interested in the effects of the loyalty and purity treatments, as these are frames that are not traditionally engaged in environmental messages. We hypothesized that the loyalty and purity frames would have a stronger effect than the other frames among conservative subjects, as these are more conservative values.

Recommended Citation

Bodily, Ashlyn and Hawkins, Darren (2019) "The Effects of Moral Framing on Environmental Attitudes," Journal of Undergraduate Research: Vol. 2019: Iss. 2019, Article 39.
Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/jur/vol2019/iss2019/39