The moral foundations theory (MFT) is an influential multifactorial model that posits how decision-making in the moral context originates from a set of six intuitive moral foundations: care, fairness, authority, loyalty, purity, and liberty. The established measure of these foundations—the Moral Foundations Questionnaire (MFQ)—has been used extensively in a range of empirical projects. However, recent analyses of its factor structure and the internal consistency of each of the foundation clusters have called its validity into question. In this paper, data from a large sample of British voters were used to re-examine the factor structure of the MFQ. As opposed to a 6-factor structure, only three meaningful clusters emerged in an exploratory principal factors analysis (Study 1; N = 428): traditionalism, compassion, and liberty. This structure was broadly confirmed in an independent sample (Study 2; N = 322). Concurrent validity was established via correlations with measures of ‘social change’ and ‘systemic inequality’ insecurities (Study 1) and voting behaviour and preferences (Study 2). Significant differences on each of the three factors of the revised MFQ (MFQ-r) were observed between the voters of different political parties (Study 1) and sides of the Brexit issue (Study 2). Implications for moral foundations theory and its measurement are discussed.

中文翻译：

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道德基础问卷的因子结构再分析

道德基础理论 (MFT) 是一个有影响力的多因素模型，它假定在道德背景下的决策如何源自一组六个直观的道德基础：关怀、公平、权威、忠诚、纯洁和自由。. 这些基础的既定衡量标准——道德基础问卷 (MFQ)——已广泛用于一系列实证项目。然而，最近对其因子结构和每个基础集群的内部一致性的分析对其有效性提出了质疑。在本文中，来自大量英国选民的数据被用来重新审视 MFQ 的因子结构。与 6 因素结构相反，在探索性主要因素分析（研究 1；N  = 428）中只出现了三个有意义的集群：传统主义、同情心和自由。这种结构在一个独立样本中得到了广泛证实（研究 2；N = 322）。同时效度是通过与“社会变革”和“系统性不平等”不安全感（研究 1）以及投票行为和偏好（研究 2）的测量相关联来建立的。在不同政党的选民（研究 1）和英国脱欧问题的各方（研究 2）之间，观察到修订后的 MFQ (MFQ-r) 的三个因素中的每一个都存在显着差异。讨论了道德基础理论及其测量的含义。