Department of Psychological Science, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, United States of America.
Department of Psychology, Macalester College, St. Paul, MN, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2021 Mar 26;16(3):e0248928. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0248928. eCollection 2021.
Children's movies often provide messages about morally appropriate and inappropriate conduct. In two studies, we draw on Moral Foundations Theory (MFT) to derive predictions about actual depictions of morality, and people's preferences for different moral depictions, within children's movies. According to MFT, people's moral concerns include individualizing foundations of care and fairness and binding foundations of loyalty, authority, and sanctity. Prior work reveals that although there are political differences in the endorsement of these two broad categories-whereby stronger political conservatism predicts stronger binding concerns and weaker individualizing concerns-there nonetheless is broad agreement across political identity in the importance of individualizing concerns. We therefore predicted that heroes would value individualizing foundations more than villains, and that despite political differences in preferences for moral messages, there would be more agreement in the importance of messages promoting individualizing concerns. In Study 1, we coded heroes and villains from popular children's movies for their valuation of moral foundations. Heroes valued individualizing concerns more, and binding concerns less, than villains did. Participants in Study 2 considered moral dilemmas faced by children's movie characters, and rated their preferences for resolutions that promoted either individualizing or binding foundations. Although liberals preferred individualizing-promoting resolutions and conservatives preferred binding-promoting resolutions, there was stronger agreement across political identity in the importance of individualizing concerns. Despite political differences in moral preferences, popular depictions of children's movie characters and people's self-reported moral endorsement suggest a shared belief in the importance of the individualizing moral virtues of care and fairness. Movies are often infused with moral messages. From their exploration of overarching themes, their ascription of particular traits to heroic and villainous characters, and their resolution of pivotal moral dilemmas, movies provide viewers with depictions of morally virtuous (and morally suspect) behavior. Moral messaging in children's movies is of particular importance, since it is targeted at an audience for which morality is actively developing. What moral messages do filmmakers (and consumers, including parents) want children's movies to depict? Are these preferences related to people's political identity? And what are the actual moral depictions presented in movies? In the present two studies, we draw on an influential theory of moral judgment-Moral Foundations Theory-to develop and test predictions about the depiction of morality in children's movies.
儿童电影经常传达有关道德行为适当与不适当的信息。在两项研究中，我们借鉴道德基础理论（MFT），从实际描绘道德行为以及人们对儿童电影中不同道德描绘的偏好两个方面做出预测。根据 MFT，人们的道德关注点包括关心和公平的个体化基础以及忠诚、权威和圣洁的约束基础。先前的工作表明，尽管在这两个广泛类别（更强的政治保守主义预测更强的约束性关注和更弱的个体化关注）的支持方面存在政治差异，但在个体化关注的重要性方面，不同政治身份之间存在广泛的共识。因此，我们预测英雄会比反派更重视个体化基础，并且尽管在道德信息偏好方面存在政治差异，但在强调个体化关注的信息的重要性方面会有更多共识。在研究 1 中，我们为受欢迎的儿童电影中的英雄和反派编码了他们对道德基础的重视程度。英雄比反派更重视个体化关注，而较少重视约束关注。在研究 2 中，参与者考虑了儿童电影角色面临的道德困境，并对促进个体化或约束基础的解决方案的偏好进行了评分。尽管自由派更喜欢促进个体化的解决方案，而保守派更喜欢促进约束的解决方案，但在个体化关注的重要性方面，不同政治身份之间的一致性更强。尽管在道德偏好方面存在政治差异，但儿童电影角色的流行描绘和人们自我报告的道德支持表明，人们普遍相信关心和公平等个体化道德美德的重要性。电影通常充满了道德信息。从对总体主题的探讨，对英雄和反派角色的特定特质的归因，以及对关键道德困境的解决，电影为观众提供了道德上有道德（和道德上可疑）的行为描绘。儿童电影中的道德信息尤其重要，因为它针对的是正在积极发展道德的观众。电影制作人（和消费者，包括家长）希望儿童电影描绘什么样的道德信息？这些偏好是否与人们的政治身份有关？电影中呈现的实际道德描绘是什么？在本两项研究中，我们借鉴了一种有影响力的道德判断理论——道德基础理论，以对儿童电影中的道德描绘做出预测并进行测试。
