Moral foundations tracked over 200 years of lexicographic data, and their predictors

Michael A. Woodley of Menie; Aurelio José Figueredo; Mateo Peñaherrera-Aguirre; JohnMichael Jurgenssen; Matthew A. Sarraf

doi:10.18778/1898-6773.85.2.04

Authors

Michael A. Woodley of Menie
Aurelio José Figueredo University of Arizona, Tucson, Department of Psychology, AZ, USA
Mateo Peñaherrera-Aguirre University of Arizona, Tucson, Department of Psychology, AZ, USA
JohnMichael Jurgenssen Boston University, Boston, Department of Philosophy, MA, USA
Matthew A. Sarraf

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18778/1898-6773.85.2.04

Keywords:

Asabiyyah, Lexicographic data, Moral foundations, Multi-level selection

Abstract

The prediction that reduction of negative selection decreases group-level competitiveness, as reflected in increased individual-focused and diminished group-focused moral foundations, is tested. To measure this hypothesized shift in moral foundations, we conduct a culturomic analysis of the utilization frequencies of items sourced from the moral foundations item pool, tracked among Britannic populations from 1800 to 1999 using Google Ngram Viewer. The resultant higher-order factor, which tracks increasing individualizing values and decreasing binding values, is termed Asabiyyah (capturing social cohesion and collective purpose). Two predictors of this factor are examined: change in the strength of intergroup competition and change in levels of indicators of developmental instability. Both the strength of intergroup competition and levels of developmental instability associate with Asabiyyah. Rising developmental instability mediates the impact of inter-group competition, indicating that reduced between-group competition might have relaxed negative selection against mutations, which might reduce Asabiyyah via their effects on inter-genomic transactions. These results must be interpreted carefully, given the clear real-world evidence that explicit commitment to group-oriented values often features in harmful and maladaptive social and political ideologies of an extreme character.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Bachmann SO, Cross E, Kalbassi S, Sarraf MA, Woodley of Menie MA, Baudouin SJ. 2018. Protein pheromone MUP20/Darcin is a vector and target of indirect genetic effects in mice. bioRxiv 1–20.
View in Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1101/265769

Bolt J, Inklaar R, de Jong H, van Zanden JL. 2018. Rebasing ‘Maddison’: New income comparisons and the shape of long-run economic development. GGDC Research Memorandum 174.
View in Google Scholar

Budnik A, Henneberg M. 2017. Worldwide increase of obesity is related to the reduced opportunity for natural selection. PLOS ONE 12:e0170098.
View in Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0170098

Colleran H. 2016. The cultural evolution of fertility decline. Phil Trans R Soc B 371:20150152.
View in Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2015.0152

Costello TH, Bowes SM, Stevens ST, Waldman ID, Tasimi A, Lilienfeld SO. 2022. Clarifying the structure and nature of left-wing authoritarianism. J Pers Soc Psychol 122:135–170.
View in Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1037/pspp0000341

Cross ESR. 2019. Investigation of social olfaction in a Neuroligin 3 Knockout mouse model. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, School of Biosciences, Cardiff University, UK.
View in Google Scholar

Curzan A. 2009. Historical corpus linguistics and evidence of language change. In: A Luedeling and M Kytö, editors. Corpus linguistics. Berlin, Gruyter. 1091–1108.
View in Google Scholar

Darwin C. 1871. The descent of man, and selection in relation to sex. London: John Murray.
View in Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.2092

Dawkins R. 1981. Selfish genes in race or politics. Nature 289:528.
View in Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/289528a0

Del Giudice M. 2012. The twentieth century reversal of pink-blue gender coding: a scientific urban legend? Arch Sex Behav 41:1321–1323.
View in Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-012-0002-z

Figueredo AJ, Gorsuch R. 2007. Assortative mating in the Jewel wasp: 2. Sequential canonical analysis as an exploratory form of path analysis. J Ariz-Nev acad sci 39:59–64.
View in Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.2181/036.039.0204

Figueredo AJ, McKnight PE, McKnight KM, Sidani S. 2000. Multivariate modeling of missing data within and across assessment waves. Addiction 95 Suppl 3:361–380.
View in Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1360-0443.95.11s3.6.x

Figueredo AJ, Peñaherrera-Aguirre M, Fernandes HBF, Lomayesva SL, Woodley of Menie MA, Hertler SC, Sarraf MA. 2019a. The Ecology of Empire: The dynamics of strategic differentiation-integration in two competing Western European biocultural groups. PLS 38:210–225.
View in Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/pls.2019.12

Figueredo AJ, Peñaherrera-Aguirre M, Fernandes HBF, Lomayesva SL, Woodley of Menie MA, Herter SC, Sarraf MA. 2019b. War and Peace: A diachronic social biogeography of life history strategy and between-group relations in two Western European populations. J Methods Meas Soc Sci 10:36–75.
View in Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.2458/v10i1.23522

Gorsuch RL. 1983. Factor Analysis (2nd ed.). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
View in Google Scholar

Gorsuch RL. 2016. UniMult: For univariate and multivariate data analysis. Altadena, CA: UniMult, Inc. Available at: https://unimult.000webhostapp.com/ [Accessed 30 May 2022].
View in Google Scholar

Graham J, Haidt J, Nosek BA. 2009. Liberals and conservatives rely on different sets of moral foundations. J Pers Soc Psychol 96:1029–1046.
View in Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1037/a0015141

Greenfield PM. 2013. The changing psychology of culture from 1800 through 2000. Psychol Sci 24:1722–1731.
View in Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797613479387

Graham J, Nosek BA, Haidt J, Iyer R, Koleva S, Ditto PH. 2011. Mapping the Moral Domain. J Pers Soc Psychol 101:366–385.
View in Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1037/a0021847

Haidt J. 2007. Moral psychology and the misunderstanding of religion. Edge. Available at: https://www.edge.org/conversation/jonathan_haidt-moral-psychology-and-themisunderstanding-of-religion [Accessed 30 May 2022].
View in Google Scholar

Haidt J. 2008. Morality. Perspect Psychol Sci 3:65–72.
View in Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-6916.2008.00063.x

Haidt J. 2012. The righteous mind: Why good people are divided by politics and religion. New York: Vintage Books.
View in Google Scholar

Haidt J. 2016. Are moral foundations heritable? Probably. The Righteous Mind. Available at: https://righteousmind.com/are-moral-foundations-heritable-probably/#:~:text=Are%20moral%20foundation%20scores%20heritable,heritable%20nor%20stable%20over%20time [Accessed 30 May 2022].
View in Google Scholar

Hamilton WD. 1971. Selection of selfish and altruistic behavior in some extreme models. In: JF Eisenberg, WS Dillon, editors. Man and beast: Comparative social behavior. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington DC, USA, 57–91.
View in Google Scholar

Hertler S, Figueredo AJ, Peñaherrera Aguirre M. 2020. Multilevel Selection: Theoretical Foundations, Historical Examples, and Empirical Evidence. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.
View in Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-49520-6

Hills TT, Adelman JS. 2015. Recent evolution of learnability in American English from 1800 to 2000. Cognition 143:87–92.
View in Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2015.06.009

Fieder M, Huber S. 2018. Political attitude and fertility: Is there a selection for the political extreme? Front Psychol 9:2343.
View in Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02343

Ibn Khaldun AA-R. 1377/1969. The Muqaddimah: An Introduction to History. NJ Dawood, editor. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
View in Google Scholar

Institute for Economics and Peace. 2020. Global terrorism index 2020: Measuring the impact of terrorism. National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism. Available at: https://visionofhumanity.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/GTI-2020-web-1.pdf
View in Google Scholar

Kalbassi S, Bachmann SO, Cross E, Roberton VH, Baudouin SJ. 2017. Male and female mice lacking Neuroligin-3 modify the behavior of their wild-type littermates. eNeuro 4:e.0145–17.2017.
View in Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1523/ENEURO.0145-17.2017

Kimmerle EH, Jantz RL. 2006. Secular trends in craniofacial asymmetry studied by geometric morphometry and generalized Procrustes methods. In: DE Slice, editor. Modern morphometrics in physical anthropology. Springer, 247–263.
View in Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-27614-9_11

Komlos J, Brabec M. 2010. The trend of mean BMI values of US adults, birth cohorts 1882—1986 indicates that the obesity epidemic began earlier than hitherto thought. Am J Hum 22:631–638.
View in Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/ajhb.21055

Kondrashov AS. 2017. Crumbling genome: The impact of deleterious mutations on humans. Hoboken: Wiley Blackwell.
View in Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118952146

Ladle RJ, Correia RA, Do Y, Joo G-J, Malhando ACM, Proulx R, Jepson P. 2016. Conservation culturomics. Front Ecol Environ 14:269–275.
View in Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/fee.1260

Linksvayer TA. 2007. Ant species differences determined by epistasis between brood and worker genomes. PLOS ONE 2:e994.
View in Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0000994

Lynch M. 2016. Mutation and human exceptionalism: our future genetic load. Genetics 202:869–875.
View in Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1534/genetics.115.180471

Markow TA. 1992. Human handedness and the concept of developmental stability. Genetica 87:87–94.
View in Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00120997

McKnight PE, McKnight KM, Sidani S, Figueredo AJ. 2007. Missing Data: A Gentle Introduction. New York, NY: Guilford Press.
View in Google Scholar

McManus IC, Moore J, Freegard M, Rawles R. 2010. Science in the making: right hand, left hand. III: Estimating historical rates of left-handedness. Laterality 15:186–208.
View in Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13576500802565313

Michel JB, Shen YK, Aiden AP, Veres A, Gray MK, Aiden EL. 2011. Quantitative analysis of culture using millions of digitized books. Science 331:176–182.
View in Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1199644

Moss JT, O’Connor PJ. 2020a. Political correctness and the alt-right: The development of extreme political attitudes. PLOS ONE 15:e0239259.
View in Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0239259

Moss JT, O’Connor PJ. 2020b. The Dark Triad traits predict authoritarian political correctness and alt-right attitudes. Heliyon 6:e04453.
View in Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2020.e04453

Ritz C, Spiess AN. 2008. qpcR: an R package for sigmoidal model selection in quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction analysis. Bioinformatics 24:1549–1551.
View in Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/bioinformatics/btn227

Rohatgi A. 2017. WebPlotDigitizer. Available at: https://apps.automeris.io/wpd/ [Accessed 30 May 2022].
View in Google Scholar

Roivainen E. 2014. Changes in word usage frequency may hamper comparisons of vocabulary skills: an Ngram analysis of Wordsum, WAIS and WISC test items. J Psychoeduc Assess 32:83–87.
View in Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0734282913485542

Roser M, Ritchie H, Ortiz-Ospina E. 2013. World population growth. Available at: https://ourworldindata.org/world-population-growth [Accessed 30 May 2022].
View in Google Scholar

Rühli F, Henneberg M. 2017. Biological future of humankind – Ongoing evolution and the impact of recognition of human biological variation. In: M Tibayrenc and FJ Ayala, edtors. On human nature: Biology, psychology, ethics, politics, and religion. London, UK: Elsevier. 263–275.
View in Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-420190-3.00017-X

SAS Institute Inc. 2015. Base SAS 9.4 Procedures guide: Statistical Procedures (5th ed.). Cary, NC: SAS Institute Inc. Available at: http://support.sas.com [Accessed 30 May 2022].
View in Google Scholar

Smith KB, Alford JR, Hibbing JR, Martin NG, Hatemi PK. 2016. Intuitive ethics and political orientations: testing moral foundations as a theory of political ideology. Am J Pol Sci 61:424–437.
View in Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/ajps.12255

Tooby J, Cosmides L. 1992. The psychological foundations of culture. In: J.H. Barkow, L. Cosmides, J. Tooby, editors. The adapted mind: Evolutionary psychology and the generation of culture. Oxford University Press, 19–136.
View in Google Scholar

Van Valen L. 1962. A study of fluctuating asymmetry. Evolution 16:125–142.
View in Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1558-5646.1962.tb03206.x

Woodley of Menie MA, Fernandes HBF. 2016. The secular decline in general intelligence from decreasing developmental stability: theoretical and empirical considerations. Pers Individ Differ 92:194–199.
View in Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2015.12.035

Woodley of Menie MA, Fernandes HBF, Figueredo AJ, Meisenberg G. 2015. By their words ye shall know them: Evidence of genic selection against general intelligence and concurrent environmental enrichment in vocabulary usage since the mid 19th century. Front Psychol 6:361.
View in Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00361

Woodley of Menie MA, Figueredo AJ, Sarraf MA. 2019. Slowing life history (K) can account for increasing microinnovation rates and GDP growth, but not macroinnovation rates, which declined following the end of the Industrial Revolution. BBS 42, e213.
View in Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X19000098

Woodley of Menie MA, Figueredo AJ, Sarraf MA, Hertler S, Fernandes HBF, Peñaherrera Aguirre M. 2017b. The Rhythm of the West: A biohistory of the modern era, AD 1600 to present. J Soc Political Econ Stud. Monograph Series 37. Washington, DC: Council for Social and Economic Studies.
View in Google Scholar

Woodley of Menie MA, Kanazawa S, Pallesen J, Saraf MA. 2020. Paternal age is negatively associated with religious behavior in a post-60s but not a pre-60s US birth cohort: Evidence for the Social Epistasis Amplification Model. J Relig Health 59:2733–2752.
View in Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-020-00987-9

Woodley of Menie MA, Saraff M, Pestow R, Fernandes HBF. 2017a. Social epistasis amplifies the fitness costs of deleterious mutations, engendering rapid fitness decline among modernized populations. Evol Psychol Sci 3:181–191.
View in Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40806-017-0084-x

Younes N, Ulf-Dietrich R. 2019. Guideline for improving the reliability of Google Ngram studies: Evidence from religious terms. PLOS ONE 14:e0213554.
View in Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0213554