Year: 2017
Type: dissertation
Abstract: Across two studies, we analyzed ideological differences in moral language use based on the moral categories posited by Moral Foundations Theory (MFT): fairness, harm, authority, purity, and ingroup loyalty. In Study 1 we used word counting to assess the moral language used on U.S. political talk shows, finding some support for MFT: Democrats used more language related to fairness and Republicans used more language related to authority. Republicans also used more language related to morality in general. No other differences were significant. In Study 2, we analyzed the Tweets of members of the 115th U.S. Congress, and found that Democrats used more moral language across all MFT categories than Republicans. A time series analysis revealed that these differences are larger after the 2016 Presidential election. These findings suggest that there are differences in moral language use across the political spectrum, and that these differences may be affected by political events.
Source: TSpace (University of Toronto)
Author: Sze-Yuh Nina Wang
Language: English
Subfield: Cognitive Neuroscience
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2991908652