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TITLE: Moral identity mindsets differentially perceive needy child AUTHORS: Narvaez, Mrkva, Bettonville, Mullen, Delgado, Prister, Ledden, Denkhaus 50 word abstract (48 words) Two studies compared high ethical engagement (relational attunement) identity and high safety (selfprotection) ethical identity on distance estimations of happy and sad baby photos. We found predicted effects. Those with high engagement saw the sad baby closer and those with high security saw the sad baby further away. 500 word summary (454 words) Multiple motivational influences on perception have been found: those who are fatigued or carrying heavy objects or even in a negative mood perceive distances as further away or hills as steeper (Balcetis & Dunning, 2010; Bhalla & Proffitt, 1999; Proffitt et al, 2003; Stefanucci et al, 2008). The research question we address is whether moral motivation affects perception. Triune ethics theory (Narvaez, 2008) contends that people act in accordance with one of three mindsets in a given moral situation—safety (self-protection), engagement (relational presence), or imagination (reflective abstraction). An identity measure for each mindset has respondents rate the importance of a set of traits representing an ethic (Safety: tough, controlled, competitive, unyielding; Engagement: caring, compassionate, merciful, cooperative; Imagination: reflective, inventive, thoughtful , reasonable). In prior studies, high engagement identity was correlated with empathy and action for the less fortunate and high security with the opposite pattern. In study 1 (n=72) we explored whether people who have high Engagement identity scores perceive the target (a needy person) as nearer and whether those who have high Safety identity perceive the target as further away (less desirable). Participants made quick estimations of the distance from themselves to a photograph of either a crying baby, a happy baby, or a neutral “X”. Individuals who scored in the highest tercile on engagement moral identity judged the crying baby photograph to be over 3 feet closer than those in the lowest tercile, while the two groups did not differ on distance estimations for the other objects. Individuals who scored high on the security moral identity measure did not differ from those who scored low on any distance estimations. Study 2 was a replication using a similar design and a shortened measure of security moral identity. Participants (n = 144) were randomly assigned to the crying baby condition or the happy baby condition. Participants who scored in the upper tercile on the Safety moral identity judged the crying baby photograph to be further away than those who scored in the lowest tercile, but did not differ on distance estimations for the happy photograph. Those who scored in the upper tercile of engagement moral identity judged the crying baby to be over 2 feet closer but this did not reach significance (p = .12). However those who scored highest on the empathic concern scale of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index judged the crying baby to be significantly closer than the lowest on empathy. There were no differences for distance estimations of the happy-baby photograph. These data provides initial support that moral mindset and emotional habits can influence perception. The studies offer insight into the construct of moral perception and how people may visually see the same situation differently depending on a habitual moral mindset.