Popular Saying and Moral Judgment: The Influence of Proverbs on Moral Intuition

Abstract

The present research explores whether popular proverbs can shape moral intuitions and influence people's moral judgments. A two-response experimental paradigm was used to obtain participants' evaluations of immoral behaviors that were condemned or condoned using popular proverbs. When used to condemn immoral behaviors, proverbs increased the strength of participants' moral intuitions—making their judgments more polarized, confident, and resistant to response revision. When used to condone immoral behaviors, proverbs did not change moral judgment (i.e., immoral behaviors were still considered unacceptable) but weakened participants moral intuitions—making their judgments relatively less polarized and confident. Our results further suggest that the cognitive ease of processing associated with proverbs contributes to explaining their impact on people's moral judgments.