IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/intell/v111y2025ics0160289625000339.html

Higher cognitive ability linked to weaker moral foundations in UK adults

Author

Listed:
  • Zakharin, Michael
  • Bates, Timothy C.

Abstract

Existing research on the relationship between cognitive ability and moral foundations has yielded contradictory results. While some studies suggest that higher cognitive ability is associated with more enlightened moral intuitions, others indicate it may weaken moral foundations. To address this ambiguity, we conducted two studies (total N = 1320) using the Moral Foundations Questionnaire-2 (MFQ-2) with UK residents. Both Study 1 and Study 2 (preregistered) revealed negative links between cognitive ability and moral foundations. In Study 1, structural models showed negative links between general intelligence (g) and both binding (−0.24) and individualizing (−0.19) foundations. These findings replicated closely in Study 2, with similar coefficients (−0.25 and − 0.18, respectively). Higher verbal ability was specifically associated with lower purity scores. These findings suggest a negative association between cognitive ability and moral foundations, challenging existing theories relating to intelligence and moral intuitions. However, causal direction remains uncertain.

Suggested Citation

  • Zakharin, Michael & Bates, Timothy C., 2025. "Higher cognitive ability linked to weaker moral foundations in UK adults," Intelligence, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:intell:v:111:y:2025:i:c:s0160289625000339
    DOI: 10.1016/j.intell.2025.101930
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160289625000339
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.intell.2025.101930?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Michael Zakharin & Timothy C Bates, 2021. "Remapping the foundations of morality: Well-fitting structural model of the Moral Foundations Questionnaire," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(10), pages 1-26, October.
    2. Otero, Inmaculada & Salgado, Jesús F. & Moscoso, Silvia, 2022. "Cognitive reflection, cognitive intelligence, and cognitive abilities: A meta-analysis," Intelligence, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    3. Edwards, Tobias & Giannelis, Alexandros & Willoughby, Emily A. & Lee, James J., 2024. "Predicting political beliefs with polygenic scores for cognitive performance and educational attainment," Intelligence, Elsevier, vol. 104(C).
    4. repec:plo:pone00:0042366 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Florian Dürlinger & Jakob Pietschnig, 2022. "Meta-analyzing intelligence and religiosity associations: Evidence from the multiverse," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 17(2), pages 1-28, February.
    6. Lin, Chien-An & Bates, Timothy C., 2022. "Sophisticated deviants: Intelligence and radical economic attitudes," Intelligence, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    7. Reynolds, Matthew R. & Hajovsky, Daniel B. & Caemmerer, Jacqueline M., 2022. "The sexes do not differ in general intelligence, but they do in some specifics," Intelligence, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    8. Benjamin D Douglas & Patrick J Ewell & Markus Brauer, 2023. "Data quality in online human-subjects research: Comparisons between MTurk, Prolific, CloudResearch, Qualtrics, and SONA," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 18(3), pages 1-17, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Edwards, Tobias & Dawes, Christopher T. & Willoughby, Emily A. & McGue, Matt & Lee, James J., 2025. "More than g: Verbal and performance IQ as predictors of socio-political attitudes," Intelligence, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    2. Kit S. Double & Hester Xiao & Rebecca T. Pinkus & Sarah A. Walker & Carolyn MacCann, 2025. "You Feel Better When Your Partner is Emotionally Intelligent: Self-Rated Emotional Intelligence Shows Partner Effects on Subjective Wellbeing," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 26(5), pages 1-17, June.
    3. Avalos-Trujillo, Luis, 2025. "Upstream reciprocity in the battle of good vs evil," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 152(C), pages 371-395.
    4. Sandra Starke & Iveta Ludviga, 2025. "Sustained Learning as a Dynamic Capability for Digital Transformation: A Multilevel Quantitative Study on Workforce Readiness and Digital Services in Healthcare," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(20), pages 1-20, October.
    5. Gignac, Gilles E. & Zajenkowski, Marcin, 2025. "Humans peak in midlife: A combined cognitive and personality trait perspective," Intelligence, Elsevier, vol. 113(C).
    6. Van Droogenbroeck, Ellen & Willems, Kim, 2025. "Unpacking preferences for surprise subscription boxes - A Kano-based study of present, former, and non-users," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    7. Nicolas Eber & Patrick Roger & Tristan Roger, 2024. "Finance and intelligence: An overview of the literature," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(2), pages 503-554, April.
    8. da Silva, Lucas Paulo, 2026. ""What Kind of Bias Do I Want?" How Cross-Pressured Voters Select Political Media," SocArXiv 6rxve_v1, Center for Open Science.
    9. Huber, Christoph & Rose, Julia, 2025. "Presenting return charts in investment decisions," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 46(C).
    10. Steffen Ahrens & Ciril Bosch-Rosa & Thomas Meissner, 2022. "Intertemporal consumption and debt aversion: a replication and extension," Journal of the Economic Science Association, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 8(1), pages 56-84, December.
    11. Öztürk, İbrahim & Lehtonen, Esko & Madigan, Ruth & Lee, Yee Mun & Aittoniemi, Elina & Merat, Natasha, 2025. "Cross-country differences in willingness to use conditionally automated driving systems: Impact of technology affinity, driving skills, and perceived traffic climate," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    12. Capraro, Valerio & Rodriguez-Lara, Ismael, 2025. "Moral preferences in ultimatum and impunity games," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 117(C).
    13. Fossen, Frank M. & Neyse, Levent & Schröder, Carsten, 2025. "Does Cognitive Reflection Relate to Preferences and Socioeconomic Outcomes?," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 3(2), pages 303-343.
    14. Jastrzębski, Jan & Chuderski, Adam, 2022. "Analytic thinking outruns fluid reasoning in explaining rejection of pseudoscience, paranormal, and conspiracist beliefs," Intelligence, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    15. Bates, Timothy C., 2025. "Cognitive rationality is heritable and lies under general cognitive ability," Intelligence, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    16. Hayes, Adam S. & Pellandini-Simányi, Léna, 2025. "The upside of uncertainty: how counterfeit risk in secondary markets influences primary luxury sales," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 201(C).
    17. Polat, Ä°nci & Sesliokuyucu, Osman & Dogan, Seden & Cobanoglu, Cihan, 2026. "Investigating the impact of innovative behavior on customer experiential value and satisfaction in the airline omnichannel environment," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
    18. Mihael A. Jeklic, 2023. "Can you trust your lawyer's call? Legal advisers exhibit myside bias resistant to debiasing interventions," Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 20(2), pages 409-433, June.
    19. Minh-Tay Huynh, 2025. "Individual Data-Driven Mindset and Decision-Making Performance: The Mediating Roles of Effort and Persistence," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 27(6), pages 2511-2538, December.
    20. Oberleiter, Sandra & Fries, Jonathan & Schock, Laura S. & Steininger, Benedikt & Pietschnig, Jakob, 2023. "Predicting cross-national sex differences in large-scale assessments of students' reading literacy, mathematics, and science achievement: Evidence from PIRLS and TIMSS," Intelligence, Elsevier, vol. 100(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:intell:v:111:y:2025:i:c:s0160289625000339. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/intelligence .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.