Cultural variation and similarity in moral rhetorics - Voices from the Philippines and the United States

Past research on morality has emphasized a single justice-based moral ethic . Expanding this conception of morality, Shweder has proposed a universal t axonomy of three moral rhetorics related to justice, interdependence, and p urity. Five studies tested the hypothesis that American morality emphasizes the justice-based rhetoric, whereas Filipino morality is represented by al l three rhetorics. In the first three studies, American examples were modal ly justice based, whereas Filipinos generated examples in approximately equ al proportions from each rhetoric. In Study 4, Americans rated justice-base d rules higher on criteria of morality than rules from other rhetorics; Fil ipinos rated rules from all three rhetorics as moral. In Study 5, the assoc iation between anger and moral violations was stronger for Americans than f or Filipinos, consistent with American emphasis on the moral stature of jus tice. Discussion focused on the origins and consequences of the American em phasis on rights and the balanced representation of morality observed in Fi lipinos.