Research

Here you can find info on the active lines of research I am currently working on:

Moral Elevation, Social Identity, Prosocial Intentions

People may experience moral elevation when witnessing uncommon moral virtue and may be more prone to engage in moral behaviors. However, people can potentially perceive outstanding moral exemplars as threats to their self-concept and consequently derogate them. This research aims at investigating the role of social identity in moderating individuals’ responses to uncommon moral behaviors.

Find out more on OSF: https://osf.io/42pmg/

Pro-environmental Positive Behaviors, Morality and Moral Rebels

Pro-environmental positive behavior is one of main interests for policymakers in a period in which both citizens and institutions believe climate change and environmental sustainability to be very sensitive issues. The main objectives of this line of research are the following:
a) to investigate which are the socio-psychological factors that play a role in the emergence of pro-environmental behaviors as a consequence of institutional communication on the topic;
b) to investigate the role of morality in pro-environmental behaviors and how moral norms can be used to frame institutional communication campaigns aimed at promoting pro-environmental behavioral change; c) to investigate intra-group evaluations of moral rebels related to pro-environmental issues and the effect of these evaluations on behavioral changes.

From Moral Deviant to Moral Influencer: Moral Convictions as a Tool for Social Change

In recent times, individuals had to deal with many topics (e.g., Climate Change, Covid19, Vaccines, War, etc.) that required continuous adaptation of their opinions, as well as to take position on the interpretation of events. Some studies showed that individuals tend to polarize their attitudes toward sensitive social issues, and to approach debates in terms of what is morally right or wrong (Skitka, 2010). The present research aims at providing a deeper understanding on processes such as moral convictions and moral deviance; at exploring how the counter-tending expression of moral deviants can indirectly influence the opinions of other ingroup members and promote social change; finally, at exploring how group members’ prototypicality impacts on other ingroup members’ evaluations, behavioral intentions, and attitudes.

Find out more on OSF: https://osf.io/pt932/