Women globally place higher importance on moral identity than men

People all over the world consider morality a part of who they are, but how they express it depends heavily on their age, gender, and cultural background. A large new study maps out these differences, revealing that women generally value moral traits more than men do and that younger people in highly competitive societies care deeply about showing their morals to others. These results were recently published in the Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology.

Morality involves caring about fairness, justice, and the welfare of others. It acts as a core psychological need for many people, giving them a sense of being a good person. Yet individuals differ in how strongly they tie moral characteristics to their personal identity.

Psychologists divide this moral identity into two related concepts. Internalization measures the extent to which a person views moral traits as a private, central part of their self-concept. Symbolization measures how much a person values expressing their morality in ways that other people can see, such as through observable actions or group affiliations.

Both aspects predict real-world prosocial behavior, like volunteering and donating to charity. Most previous research on moral identity relied on samples from Western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic nations.

Researchers Mariola Paruzel-Czachura and Cillian McHugh wanted to understand how these two aspects of moral identity vary across the globe. By looking at a broader range of countries, the researchers hoped to figure out whether existing assumptions about the moral self are universally human or culturally specific.

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The researchers analyzed an existing dataset containing survey responses from 46,490 adults across 67 countries. This qualifies as a large study. Participants filled out a questionnaire assessing how much they valued having nine specific moral traits: caring, compassionate, fair, friendly, generous, helpful, hardworking, honest, and kind.

Participants rated their agreement with statements about these traits on an 11-point scale. The researchers then calculated separate scores for internalization and symbolization.

The researchers also gathered country-level data on several cultural dimensions. These included established metrics assessing a society’s acceptance of hierarchy, its focus on community versus the individual, its emphasis on competition, and its comfort with ambiguity. They also included indices of cultural tightness, which measure the strictness of social norms and a society’s tolerance for people breaking those rules.

Using statistical models that accounted for individuals nested within specific nations, the researchers examined how age, gender, and cultural environment related to participants’ moral identity scores.

The analysis revealed that women scored higher than men on both the private and public components of moral identity. This difference was particularly consistent for internalization. In 41 countries, women scored higher than men on internalization, while men scored higher in only two countries. Women scored higher on symbolization in 21 countries, while men scored higher in only one country.

The researchers predicted this gender outcome based on the idea that moral identity is closely linked to the ethical domain of care. Broad cross-cultural evidence indicates that women, on average, place greater emphasis on caring for others than men do. This stronger commitment to care likely contributes to the self-definitional importance of being a moral person.

The relationship between age and moral identity was also nuanced. When looking at the global population as a single group, older age seemed associated with slightly lower moral identity scores. But when the researchers accounted for the specific country each participant lived in, they found the opposite pattern. Within individual countries, older adults tended to place slightly more importance on having moral traits and on being recognized for them than younger adults did.

Cultural environment also shaped how people viewed their morality, especially regarding public expression. Participants reported higher symbolization in societies that are more collectivistic, meaning social life is tightly structured around community and relationships. Publicly displaying moral traits might help people maintain harmony and social acceptance in these environments where interpersonal reputation carries heavy consequences.

Symbolization was also higher in countries with greater acceptance of unequal power and hierarchy. In these societies, demonstrating socially valued qualities might help individuals navigate status differences and signal their reliability to others.

In cultures that prioritize competition and visible success, younger participants showed higher symbolization. For younger adults focused on establishing their social networks and standing, building a visible moral reputation acts as another form of social achievement. Older adults in these same cultures did not show this pattern, perhaps because their social standing is already established through stable roles.

The private side of moral identity showed a different pattern regarding culture. Internalization was higher in societies that focus on community over the individual. It was also higher in countries with lower acceptance of power inequalities, and in places with lower uncertainty avoidance, which are societies more comfortable with ambiguity.

The strictness of a society’s norms also played a role. In cultures with broad, strictly enforced social rules, people generally reported higher levels of both internalization and symbolization. When community expectations are rigid and closely monitored across many areas of life, internalizing those norms and displaying them to others becomes a central part of everyday functioning.

The results were not statistically significant for other cultural dimensions, such as a society’s focus on long-term future goals or its indulgence of personal desires. These factors did not meaningfully alter how strongly people valued having moral traits.

The study relied on older cultural indices that might not perfectly capture modern societal values. Social norms shift over time, and a country’s historical ranking on a cultural dimension might not reflect its current state. The associations between culture and moral identity found in this data were generally modest in size.

The questionnaire used to measure moral identity was originally developed in the United States. It relies on a specific list of moral traits focused on care and fairness. This list might not fully capture the moral ideals of non-Western cultures, where duty, loyalty, or religious devotion might be considered more central to being a good person. Differences between countries might partly reflect how well these specific traits align with local moral priorities.

Future research could address these limitations by developing measurement tools tailored to diverse cultural perspectives. Assessing cultural values directly from the participants at the exact same time as moral identity would also provide a more precise picture of how societies shape the way people view themselves.

The study, “Who Cares More About Having Moral Traits? Evidence From 67 Countries,” was authored by Mariola Paruzel-Czachura and Cillian McHugh.