1999/05/01 by Paul Rozin · 6 citations
Neuroscience · Social Sciences · Decision Sciences · Psychology · #Psychology of Moral and Emotional Judgment #Psychology of Social Influence #Ethics in Business and Education #Disgust #Psychology #License #Social psychology #Developmental psychology #Law #Political science
paper · doi:10.1111/1467-9280.00139
openalex publication_date 1999/05/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
Moralization is the process through which preferences are converted into values, both in individual lives and at the level of culture. Moralization is often linked to health concerns, including addiction. It is significant because moralized entities are more likely to receive attention from governments and institutions, to encourage supportive scientific research, to license censure, to become internalized, to show enhanced parent-to-child transmission of attitudes, to motivate the search by individuals for supporting reasons, and, in at least some cases, to recruit the emotion of disgust. Moralization seems to be promoted in predominantly Protestant cultures and if the entity is associated with stigmatized groups or harmful to children. The recent history and current status of cigarette smoking in the United States are used to illustrate moralization.