Word embeddings reveal growing moral concern for people, animals and the environment

Leach, Stefan and Kitchin, Andrew P. and Sutton, Robbie M. (2023) Word embeddings reveal growing moral concern for people, animals and the environment. British Journal of Social Psychology, 62 (4). pp. 1925-1938. ISSN 0144-6665

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Abstract

The Enlightenment idea of historical moral progress asserts that civil societies become more moral over time. This is often understood as an expanding moral circle and is argued to be tightly linked with language use, with some suggesting that shifts in how we express concern for others can be considered an important indicator of moral progress. Our research explores these notions by examining historical trends in natural language use during the 19th and 20th centuries. We found that the associations between words denoting moral concern and words referring to people, animals, and the environment grew stronger over time. The findings support widely-held views about the nature of moral progress by showing that language has changed in a way that reflects greater concern for others.

Item Type:
Journal Article
Journal or Publication Title:
British Journal of Social Psychology
Uncontrolled Keywords:
/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/3200/3207
Subjects:
?? moral circlemoral expansivenessmoral progressnatural language processingword embeddingssocial psychology ??
ID Code:
214674
Deposited By:
Deposited On:
15 Feb 2024 12:00
Refereed?:
Yes
Published?:
Published
Last Modified:
12 Oct 2024 00:25