Thoughts About Moral Foundations Model

There are some earlier thoughts on Haidt's Moral Foundations model. It occurred to me that in a number of social science models, there is no linkage to biological structures as possible bases for the proposed model. Take the moral foundations model with the six foundations: The six foundations are Care/harm, Fairness/cheating, Liberty/oppression, Loyalty/betrayal, Sanctity/degradation, Authority/subversion.



We can link these criteria to the triune brain. From the triune brain perspective,

• Care/Harm arises out of the neo-cortex. It requires some degree of simulation / mirror neuron capability to to be able to "feel/sense" what another is experiencing.
• Fairness / cheating may be arising also out of the new-cortex as it requires some degree of abstract computation / mirroring of scales.
• Loyalty / betrayal could be arising out of a combination of limbic and neo cortex. We begin to see herd behavior in higher order mammals. That form of grouping is akin to loyalty. The  notion of betrayal seems to arise out of some degree of computation of expected behavior over time. The degree of temporal modeling may be arising out of the neo cortex.
• Authority / subversion could also be viewed a combination of limbic and neo cortex functionality. 
• Sanctity/degradation could also be viewed as a combination of limbic and neo cortex.
• Liberty/oppression could also be viewed as a combination of limbic and neo cortex. 

The idea here with the biological structures is that it may be an issue of degree of activation of each level of neurology in an an individual that give them  their "moral foundations" character. These degrees of activation may result in the six foundational categories.

Source: Moral Foundations website:
1) Care/harm: This foundation is related to our long evolution as mammals with attachment systems and an ability to feel (and dislike) the pain of others. It underlies virtues of kindness, gentleness, and nurturance.
2) Fairness/cheating: This foundation is related to the evolutionary process of reciprocal altruism. It generates ideas of justice, rights, and autonomy. [Note: In our original conception, Fairness included concerns about equality, which are more strongly endorsed by political liberals. However, as we reformulated the theory in 2011 based on new data, we emphasize proportionality, which is endorsed by everyone, but is more strongly endorsed by conservatives]
3) Loyalty/betrayal: This foundation is related to our long history as tribal creatures able to form shifting coalitions. It underlies virtues of patriotism and self-sacrifice for the group. It is active anytime people feel that it's "one for all, and all for one."
4) Authority/subversion: This foundation was shaped by our long primate history of hierarchical social interactions. It underlies virtues of leadership and followership, including deference to legitimate authority and respect for traditions.
5) Sanctity/degradation: This foundation was shaped by the psychology of disgust and contamination. It underlies religious notions of striving to live in an elevated, less carnal, more noble way. It underlies the widespread idea that the body is a temple which can be desecrated by immoral activities and contaminants (an idea not unique to religious traditions).

6) Liberty/oppression: This foundation is about the feelings of reactance and resentment people feel toward those who dominate them and restrict their liberty. Its intuitions are often in tension with those of the authority foundation. The hatred of bullies and dominators motivates people to come together, in solidarity, to oppose or take down the oppressor. We report some preliminary work on this potential foundation in this paper, on the psychology of libertarianism and liberty.