Moral foundations theory in autism spectrum disorder: A qualitative investigation.
Autistic adults center moral talk on care and fairness, so build social-skills lessons on those same pillars.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Granieri et al. (2020) talked with autistic adults about right and wrong. They used moral foundations theory, a list of five big moral themes: care, fairness, loyalty, authority, and purity.
The team asked open questions. They wanted to know which themes felt most important to the speakers.
What they found
Every adult named care and fairness first. They still noticed the other three, but those took a back seat.
The authors say a bigger numbers study is needed. Still, the pattern was clear in the stories they heard.
How this fits with other research
Lim et al. (2016) looked at the same age group and saw lower sociomoral scores in autistic adults. That sounds like a clash, but the 2016 team used written tests, not open talk. Tests miss nuance, so the gap may be method, not morals.
Caldwell-Harris et al. (2024) reviewed writings by autistic authors. They found a strong dislike for social rank and a wish for equal ties. That lines up perfectly with the care-fairness focus seen here.
Silke et al. (2020) also used relaxed interviews. They learned that social drive in autistic men is alive yet tangled. Together, the three studies show: ask, don’t assume—autistic adults explain their views when given space.
Why it matters
Skip deficit labels. When you need to teach social rules or resolve peer conflict, frame lessons around care and fairness. Those values already resonate. Start there, then branch out if loyalty, authority, or purity topics arise. Use open questions like “Who could be hurt?” or “Is that fair?” to keep the chat grounded in the moral language your learners already use.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Morality is important for how humans treat each other and non-human animals. Differences in moral thinking have been found between autistic and neurotypical individuals. This research has relied on ways of thinking about moral psychology that suggest that mature morals develop as individuals learn to take the perspectives of others. Yet, even autistic individuals, who sometimes differ in their ability to take others' perspectives, make moral judgements that are similar to neurotypical individuals. Moral foundations theory suggests that moral psychology is not hierarchical but differs depending on culture. This theory could therefore help make sense of similarities and differences in autistic and neurotypical moral thinking. Moral foundations theory has not yet been investigated among autistic individuals. In this study, we interviewed autistic adults as a first attempt at understanding how moral foundations theory fits with autistic moral thinking. We found that all five moral foundations of moral foundations theory were represented in the interviews, yet certain foundations appeared more prominent than others. The autistic adults interviewed in our study discussed issues of care and fairness more than of loyalty, authority or purity when prompted to discuss moral transgressions. Future research should use quantitative methods to compare groups of autistic and neurotypical individuals to clarify similarities and differences in moral thinking between the groups.
Autism : the international journal of research and practice, 2020 · doi:10.1177/1362361320939331