MORAL ASSERTIVENESS: UNDERLYING FACTORS, CORRELATES, AND PREDICTED BEHAVIOURS

Abstract

Meaningful variability exists in the way people assert their morals on the world around them. Whether engaging in open discussions or posting on social media, this range of moral behaviour has only been studied tangentially from perspectives such as political engagement. In order to initiate research into such moral acts, this paper introduces the term Moral Assertiveness (MA) to encapsulate the beliefs and behaviours that underlie them and proposes an MA scale to investigate such phenomena. The exploratory factor analysis uncovered three distinct underlying factors in the form of Proactive MA, Authoritative MA, and Antagonistic MA. Proactive MA exhibited good convergent and predictive validity, showing a pattern of correlates and predictions that make it a promising tool for use in moral psychology. Authoritative MA had sparser promising patterns of correlates and predictions, but this was likely a result of only consisting of cognitive items. Antagonistic MA was not included in these further analyses due to its poor internal consistency likely due to containing only two items. This pioneering study sets the basis for the MA scale’s potential expansion and further studies into this understudied range of moral behaviours.