When Worlds Collide: Moral Conviction, Motivation to Convince and Negative Emotions in Interpersonal (Dis)agreement

Uilkema, Anne-Meike (2025) When Worlds Collide: Moral Conviction, Motivation to Convince and Negative Emotions in Interpersonal (Dis)agreement. Bachelor thesis, Psychology.

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Abstract

This study explored how moral conviction and the motivation to convince influence negative feelings during discussions about a polarizing topic. Participants (N = 324) engaged in online conversations with individuals who either shared their opinions or held opposing views. Our research design included the conversation containing two conditions (agreement vs. disagreement), a pre-conversation questionnaire and a post-conversation questionnaire. We predicted and found that greater moral conviction was linked to an increased motivation to convince. However, we found no evidence for our prediction that moral conviction would increase the experience of negative emotions during the conversation. Instead, disagreement was the strongest predictor of negative emotions. Lastly, we predicted that a high motivation to convince someone of their opinion would strengthen the relationship between moral conviction and the experience of negative emotions. We found that this moderation functioned in the opposite direction: lower motivation to convince amplified the effect of moral conviction on emotional responses. Though not all hypotheses were supported, these unexpected but interesting findings highlight the complexity of polarization as a phenomenon. Future research should therefore further explore how moral conviction and the motivation to convince shape emotional outcomes in polarized conversations.

Item Type:	Thesis (Bachelor)
Supervisor name:	Koudenburg, N.
Degree programme:	Psychology
Differentiation route:	None [Bachelor Psychology]
Date Deposited:	04 Jul 2025 10:11
Last Modified:	04 Jul 2025 10:11
URI:	http://gmwpublic.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/5264

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