
Īlthough the initial development of moral foundations theory focused on cultural differences, subsequent work with the theory has largely focused on political ideology. Its authors remain open to the addition, subtraction, or modification of the set of foundations.


The theory proposes six foundations: Care/Harm, Fairness/Cheating, Loyalty/Betrayal, Authority/Subversion, Sanctity/Degradation, and Liberty/Oppression. It has been subsequently developed by a diverse group of collaborators and popularized in Haidt's book The Righteous Mind. It was first proposed by the psychologists Jonathan Haidt, Craig Joseph, and Jesse Graham, building on the work of cultural anthropologist Richard Shweder. Moral foundations theory is a social psychological theory intended to explain the origins of and variation in human moral reasoning on the basis of innate, modular foundations.
