Impact of moral conviction on social networking: Roles of seeking cognitive consistency and shared reality in opinion homophily

Abstract

Moralisation of political attitudes can contribute to conflicts among individuals and groups, fostering societal polarisation. People are inclined to communicate more with others who share political beliefs, particularly when these beliefs are moralised. However, the reasons for seeking moral similarity are not entirely clear. The authors investigated two theoretical explanations that people find others who reinforce their moral values more likeable because interacting with like-minded others (1) maintains their internal cognitive consistency and (2) contributes to creating a shared reality, thereby satisfying epistemic and relational motives. Four online studies revealed a consistent pattern of moral homophily. Participants with stronger moral convictions were more inclined to communicate with others holding similar attitudes. In contrast, moral conviction hardly influenced the avoidance of others who differed in attitudes. As for the motivations underlying moral homophily, our results consistently showed that a composite variable of epistemic trust and relational motivation on a potential communication partner, two major consequences of shared reality creation, plays a vital role. In contrast, cognitive dissonance hardly functioned as a mediator. Finally, meta-analyses across the studies confirmed the robust nature of moral homophily. Implications of moral conviction through moral homophily are discussed from the perspective of shared reality theory.