Morality and environment: Analyzing the effect of the moral foundations on attitudes towards the environment in Italy

Abstract

The state of the environment is a critical issue in Italy, and attitudes towards the environment among Italians are mixed. Recent research has found that attitudes towards the environment can be predicted from the moral foundations, which can be interpreted as attitudes towards moral principles. Consistent with this research, the current research found that the individualizing foundations (i.e., concern for the state of an individual) predicted positive attitudes towards the environment, whereas the binding foundations (i.e., concern for the state of a larger group) predicted negative attitudes towards the environment. Pro-environment attitudes could be driven by the desire to protect individuals via protecting the environment, whereas anti-environment attitudes could be driven by a desire to maintain the status quo. The implications of these results are discussed.