Cross-Cultural Insights into Moral Expansiveness: Selective Valuation of Nature Versus Humans

Abstract

Recent research reveals that people show differential levels of moral concern between the natural world and human outgroups. Yet, this evidence that some individuals morally value non-humans to a greater extent than humans stems from limited U.S. samples, warranting broader investigation. Here, we present evidence from a pre-registered secondary analysis of multinational surveys, including college student samples (k = 42, N = 7,443) and nationally representative data from the World Values Survey and European Social Survey (k = 86, N = 640,178). Our findings indicate that at least 25% of individuals report valuing nature over humans, while roughly 35% state they prioritize humans over nature. National characteristics explain 5%-7% of variance in moral worth attributions, with preferential valuation of nature being partly attributable to greater country-level environmental performance and human development. Valuing nature over humans predicts pro-environmental attitudes and, to a lesser extent, outgroup bias. However, we did not find clear indications of inherent trade-offs between valuing nature and valuing humans. These findings stress the need to refine conceptual frameworks of moral concern, which could in turn provide insights for addressing a diverse array of urgent humanitarian and environmental challenges.