Frans de Waal once said that ‘the sturdiest pillars of human morality are compassion and a sense of justice’. Others might define morality rather differently, perhaps pointing to an intrinsic sense of ethical awareness, trustworthiness, respect and altruism. Irrespective of how we may define morality, however, each of us is acutely aware when it is missing, recognising its absence from the rising sense of injustice we may feel when witnessing the aftermath. Furthermore, it appears that the majority of us are so familiar with this feeling that we strongly believe that morality is in decline, a belief which inevitably contributes to the high level of anxiety that permeates society. Not being able to rely upon shared values and basic moral principles in our dealings with others is at best unsettling and at worst a recipe for chronic anxiety, causing us to hesitate when reaching out to others for help. And yet it is against this backdrop that a study by Mastroianni and Gilbert, published recently in Nature (618:782-789), offers hope by challenging this core belief.
By analysing surveys about moral values conducted between 1949 and 2019, Mastroianni found strong evidence for the perception of declining morality: in response to 84% of questions, respondents reported that, in their opinion, moral values had declined. This finding was by no means limited to western cultures, being prevalent in surveys from 59 different countries, suggesting it to be a global phenomenon. Nor could it be attributed to particular people groups since the belief was shared by people of all ethnicities, gender, age, political persuasion and educational background. Furthermore, with a sample size in excess of 12 million, the study could hardly be criticised for being unrepresentative! But Mastroianni and Gilbert went further, asking whether there was objective evidence of declining morality from historical surveys used to assess the current state of morality of a respondent’s contemporaries. Surprisingly, when asked about individuals they knew personally, the perception of morality changed dramatically: there was no evidence that respondents judged their peers morality more harshly, their perceptions remaining surprisingly constant over time, a finding which strongly suggests that the almost universal perception of declining morality is a widespread myth that has little basis in reality.
The consequences of such a widespread misconception are potentially significant. In 2015, a survey revealed that 74% of Americans felt that addressing the moral decline of the nation should be one of the government’s top priorities. And yet such a mandate would require the allocation of dwindling resources to resolve an issue which is largely imaginary. But the study also provides compelling evidence of the widespread phenomenon of ‘confirmation bias’ to which each of us is prone: the tendency to selectively catalogue evidence that supports our preconceived ideas while discounting uncomfortable evidence to the contrary. Perhaps by uncovering a cognitive bias at work on such an industrial scale, the study may help challenge a widespread assumption and begin to allay a common source of anxiety. Restoring a sense of trust in the moral values of those with whom we interact may have far-reaching consequences for the mental health not only of individuals, but of society as a whole.
(Image courtesy of Claudio Schwarz and Unsplash)