Priming family values: How being a parent affects moral evaluations of harmless but offensive acts

Ethically adrift: How others pull our moral compass from true North, and how we can fix it

“…In keeping with the idea that social groups can be elicited subtly (Tajfel & Turner, 1979), simple role model primes, such as thinking of one"s parents, have been shown to help people improve their moral judgment and regulate their moral behavior. Eibach, Libby, and Ehrlinger (2009) found that, after a parental role is primed, parents express more moral disapproval of offensive acts than do people without children. In a similar vein, Fitzsimons and Bargh (2003) found that priming different types of relationship partners (e.g., a friend or mother rather than a coworker) could produce positive, goal-directed behavior such as helping.…”

Individual differences in activation of the parental care motivational system: Assessment, prediction, and implications.

“…Because social norms provide buffers against threats of various kinds, this may have implications for moral judgments. Indeed, when parents are reminded that they are parents, they judge norm violators more harshly (Eibach, Libby & Ehrlinger, 2009). If activation of parental care motives-even among nonparents-mimics this risk-averse parental mindset, the PCAT should be positively correlated with the harshness of moral judgments-especially those involving threats to child welfare.…”

The vigilant parent: Parental role salience affects parents' risk perceptions, risk-aversion, and trust in strangers

“…A recent study found that parents' moral judgments became more paternalistic when their parental role was salient than when it was non-salient (Eibach, Libby, & Ehrlinger, 2009). Building on this methodology, the present studies manipulated the salience of the parental role to test whether parents perceive greater risk (Study 1), make more risk-averse choices (Study 1), and trust strangers less (Study 2) when their parental role is salient than when it is nonsalient.…”