Why moral psychology needs personality psychology

Bibliographic Data

ID19281997
AuthorsJessie Sun (0000-0001-6764-0721, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences Washington University in St. Louis St. Louis Missouri USA, corresponding author), Luke D Smillie (0000-0001-5148-8358, Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences The University of Melbourne Melbourne Victoria Australia)
Year2024
Volume92
Issue3
Pages653-665
Publication date2024-06-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Personality (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0022-3506 • E-ISSN: 1467-6494
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/jopy.12919
PMID38450583
OpenAlexW4392561123
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited143

People vary in how they perceive, think about, and respond to moral issues. Clearly, we cannot fully understand the psychology of morality without accounting for individual differences in moral functioning. But decades of neglect of and explicit skepticism toward such individual differences has resulted in a lack of integration between moral psychology and personality psychology—the study of psychological differences between people. In recent years, these barriers to progress have started to break down. This special issue aims to celebrate and further increase the visibility of the personality psychology of morality. Here, we introduce the articles in this special issue by highlighting some important contributions a personality‐based perspective has to offer moral psychology—particularly in comparison to the currently prominent social psychological approach. We show that personality psychology is well‐placed to (a) contribute toward a rigorous empirical foundation for moral psychology, (b) tackle the conceptualization and assessment of stable moral tendencies, (c) assess the predictive validity of moral traits in relation to consequential outcomes, (d) uncover the mechanisms underlying individual differences in moral judgments and behavior, and (e) provide insights into moral development. For these reasons, we believe that moral psychology needs personality psychology to reach its full scholarly potential

Asian psychology · Basic science · Cognitive psychology · Conceptualization · Differential psychology · Epistemology · Moral development · Moral disengagement · Moral psychology · Moral reasoning · Morality · Personality · Personality psychology · Social cognitive theory of morality · Theoretical psychology · Behavioral Health and Interventions · Personality Traits and Psychology · Psychology · Psychology of Moral and Emotional Judgment · Social Psychology

Tools

Open DOIOpen Access