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Seven moral rules found all around the world

February 12, 2019, University of Oxford

Anthropologists at the University of Oxford have discovered what they
believe to be seven universal moral rules.

The rules: help your family, help your group, return favours, be
brave, defer to superiors, divide resources fairly, and respect
others' property. These were found in a survey of 60 cultures from all
around the world.

Previous studies have looked at some of these rules in some places –
but none has looked at all of them in a large representative sample of societies. The present study, published in Current Anthropology, is
the largest and most comprehensive cross-cultural survey of morals
ever conducted.

The team from Oxford's Institute of Cognitive & Evolutionary
Anthropology (part of the School of Anthropology & Museum Ethnography)
analysed ethnographic accounts of ethics from 60 societies, comprising
over 600,000 words from over 600 sources.

Dr. Oliver Scott Curry, lead author and senior researcher at the
Institute for Cognitive and Evolutionary Anthropology, said: "The
debate between moral universalists and moral relativists has raged for centuries, but now we have some answers. People everywhere face a
similar set of social problems, and use a similar set of moral rules
to solve them. As predicted, these seven moral rules appear to be
universal across cultures. Everyone everywhere shares a common moral
code. All agree that cooperating, promoting the common good, is the
right thing to do."

The study tested the theory that morality evolved to promote
cooperation, and that – because there are many types of cooperation –
there are many types of morality. According to this theory of
'morality as cooperation," kin selection explains why we feel a
special duty of care for our families, and why we abhor incest.
Mutualism explains why we form groups and coalitions (there is
strength and safety in numbers), and hence why we value unity,
solidarity, and loyalty. Social exchange explains why we trust others, reciprocate favours, feel guilt and gratitude, make amends, and
forgive. And conflict resolution explains why we engage in costly
displays of prowess such as bravery and generosity, why we defer to
our superiors, why we divide disputed resources fairly, and why we
recognise prior possession.

The research found, first, that these seven cooperative behaviours
were always considered morally good. Second, examples of most of these
morals were found in most societies. Crucially, there were no
counter-examples – no societies in which any of these behaviours were considered morally bad. And third, these morals were observed with
equal frequency across continents; they were not the exclusive
preserve of 'the West' or any other region.

So, among the Amhara, 'flouting kinship obligation is regarded as a
shameful deviation, indicating an evil character." In Korea, there
exists an 'egalitarian community ethic [of] mutual assistance and
cooperation among neighbors [and] strong in-group solidarity."
"Reciprocity is observed in every stage of Garo life [and] has a very
high place in the Garo social structure of values." Among the Maasai,
"Those who cling to warrior virtues are still highly respected," and
'the uncompromising ideal of supreme warriorhood [involves] ascetic
commitment to self-sacrifice…in the heat of battle, as a supreme
display of courageous loyalty." The Bemba exhibit 'a deep sense of
respect for elders' authority." The Kapauku 'idea of justice' is
called 'uta-uta, half-half…[the meaning of which] comes very close to
what we call equity." And among the Tarahumara, 'respect for the
property of others is the keystone of all interpersonal relations."

The study also detected "variation on a theme"—although all societies
seemed to agree on the seven basic moral rules, they varied in how
they prioritised or ranked them. The team has now developed a new
moral values questionnaire to gather data on modern moral values, and
is investigating whether cross-cultural variation in moral values
reflects variation in the value of cooperation under different social conditions.

According to co-author Professor Harvey Whitehouse, anthropologists
are uniquely placed to answer long-standing questions about moral
universals and moral relativism. "Our study was based on historical descriptions of cultures from around the world; this data was
collected prior to, and independently of, the development of the
theories that we were testing. Future work will be able to test more fine-grained predictions of the theory by gathering new data, even
more systematically, out in the field.

"We hope that this research helps to promote mutual understanding
between people of different cultures; an appreciation of what we have
in common, and how and why we differ," added Curry.

The full paper, "Is it good to cooperate? Testing the theory of morality-as-cooperation in 60 societies," can be read in Current
Anthropology.

Explore further: Advocating for social issues at work more likely to
succeed linking morality and mission, study says

More information: Oliver Scott Curry et al. Is It Good to Cooperate?
Testing the Theory of Morality-as-Cooperation in 60 Societies, Current Anthropology (2019). DOI: 10.1086/701478

Journal reference: Current Anthropology https://phys.org/news/2019-02-moral-world.html

--
Steve Hayes
http://www.khanya.org.za/stevesig.htm
http://khanya.wordpress.com

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